ERICA DUNOMES

There is nothing more that a woman desires, after getting married and starting a family, than to have a happy home. But most women find that soon after they say, “I do”, obtaining that desire becomes the hard part. They discover that what they thought they knew about what it takes to have a happy home, is really not what it takes at all. Here are three books to read to have a godly happy home.

I was one of those women. As a little girl growing up, I role played being that woman. I had the job, the marriage, the family, and the home I wanted. Life was happy. Home was happy.

I just knew that when I was finally old enough to obtain those things that I was going to be so good at living the role I had always played. It was going to be great. Easy. Home would be happy.

Boy, was I wrong.

Having a happy home was nothing like easy. There was so much work that had to be put into it. The naive little girl that I had been, soon grew up to be a lost and confused woman. It seemed that my happy home had become so far out of my reach.

What was I missing?

Things had not gone as I had role-played or envisioned. I was married with a family. However, my home was far from happy. Something was missing, but I didn’t know what. Consequently, I found myself soon screaming and asking for help. I found myself crying out to God.

I will lift up my eyes to the hills. From whence comes my help? My help comes from the LORD, who made heaven and earth.

~Psalm 121:1,2

Would you believe me if I told you that my help came in the form of books? No lie. It started with this one particular book at first. Let me tell you … it was God-sent. I share all about my experience with this book here.

One book soon turned to three books. They’re all by Christian teacher, author and speaker Elizabeth George. Imagine that! Through these books, God gave me direction. And it was all that she wrote. Pun intended.

The 3 books that I read that started me on my journey to a having a godly happy home – all by Elizabeth George:

A Woman After God’s Own Heart by Elizabeth George
Talk about truly God-sent. I came across this book at my mother’s house. It was sitting on her end table by her bed. The title caught my eye. After having read of the story of David in the Bible; how he was a man after God’s own heart. I had to get my hands on this book. What did Elizabeth had to say about becoming this woman? I asked my mom if I could read it. However, I didn’t read it right away. But once I opened it up, I couldn’t put it down. Her wisdom and insights were the exact thing that I needed. After all, at that time, I was a wife and mother without direction and in desperation for guidance.

A Woman’s High Calling by Elizabeth George

This book laid it all out for me. It encouraged me to godly living by way of my speech, personal discipline, marriage, family and more. He reshaped my heart and character to be able to enable me to live it out. Lastly, how I was to be. I still pull this one out too.

Life Management for Busy Women by Elizabeth George

These books were written in the exact order in which I am sharing them with you. It’s also the exact order in which I read them. So, after God gave me direction and changed my character, He then gave me specific areas to focus on while laying out the necessary guidelines and how-to’s for those areas. This book helped to solidify those areas for me. Just as timely as the other two of Elizabeth’s books were and still are, so is this one.

These books are not to be your main source of direction. Likewise, they are simply just tools that help give clarity where clarity is needed.

Let me stop for a minute and make something very clear. The Word of God, the Bible, will always be my number one source to go to for all of life’s issues. It is my Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth.

However, it is written within the Bible where God states that young women should have older women who are able to teach them what it is that they need to know to prosper and live their lives to the glory of God, so that His word will not be blasphemed (Titus 2:3-5). Elizabeth George, through her books, was one of those women for me. I am truly eternally grateful unto God that He sent her my way when He did.

Here are a few Bible verses that are referenced throughout these books that speak concerning the home:

• The wise woman builds her house, but the foolish pulls it down with her hands. ~Proverbs 14:1
• She watches over the ways of her household, and does not eat the bread of idleness. ~Proverbs 31:27
• The older women likewise, that they be reverent in behavior, not slanderers, not given to much wine, teachers of good things – that they admonish the young women to love their husbands, to love their children, to be discreet, chaste, homemakers, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be blasphemed. ~Titus 2:3-5

Have you ever seen the movie “War Room?” Please say that you have. It is perfectly okay if you haven’t. You can find out more about it here. I am mentioning it because there is just a particular part that I briefly want to tell you about.

Two of the star cast in this movie are Priscilla Shirer and Karen Abercrombie. Abercrombie portrays and older woman (Miss Clara), seasoned in her faith, who teaches Elizabeth (Shirer) who is a younger woman, not so seasoned in her faith, about prayer; using it to pursue a closer relationship with God, develop a much stronger faith, and fight the good fight for her marriage. By way of heeding to the voice and wisdom of Miss Clara (Abercrombie), Elizabeth (Shirer) ends up allowing God to save her troubled marriage.

The reason this example is so powerful is because it’s exactly what, in so many ways, Elizabeth George did for me. And now I’m sharing these books with you in hopes that somehow, you will allow her to do it for you.

Is it time for you to start your journey to having a happy home?

I’ve said this before. Let me say it again. I don’t know what your relationship status is like. Are you a young single person? You may be a single mother with children. Divorced? Just like me, you may even be married and just going through a bit of a tough time. It matters not what the case is right now.

Even so, you need sound biblical wisdom and guidance. By the same token, your happy home will only be happy by way of the effort you put into getting it to be that way. However, by reading the books suggested above, you can take out some of the guesswork to where you won’t have to figure it out on your own.

God did that for me. Don’t you want to let Him do that for you too? I do. Yes, Friend, I want that for you.

My reason for suggesting that you read these books to obtain a happy home is simply because they suggest making your home happy by doing it God’s way. From experience, I have learned that anytime you do something God’s way, you are bound to be happy. Even when the times get tough.

Some people may say that that’s just my opinion. But I am going to say that it is my truth. I am a witness. I have learned it and, by the grace of God, I am living it.

Here’s the ultimate truth:

The most important work you will ever do will be within the walls of your own home.

~Anonymous