Hello friends! Welcome to my new weekly newsletter and podcast. Each week, we’ll be chatting about all things femininity, marriage, motherhood, and/or homemaking as well as answering anonymous reader questions and chatting about one of my very favorite topics — books! A few notes before we get started: ICYMI, premium subscribers can access our book club discussion on Live Not By Lies and Ephesians here (or you can upgrade to join, we’d love to have you). Also, I want to mention that my intimate mentorship community for women, Liberated Surrender, is now just $10 a month. The group is designed to give support, guidance, and feedback to devout Christian women exploring and growing in their femininity as God designed it. (Tap here to learn more.) Finally, my very favorite company for Bible study resources, The James Method, has just restocked their bestselling verse-mapping journal, which I’ve shared with you all several times! Use my code “ISA10” to save 10% and help support two Christian-mama-owned companies in one! OK, enough housekeeping, let’s dive in: The women at the well: femininity in redemption This morning, I was so blessed by a reading from a Bible study on femininity I just started from my friend Brittany of A Catholic Convert. No, I’m not Catholic, and yes, this study is absolutely worth doing regardless of your denomination (also there is a third Christian-mama owned business you can support if you purchase her study through her Etsy shop — I have no formal affiliation, just a happy customer). The reading was from Genesis 24, when Abraham’s servant is sent to find a wife for Isaac and ultimately encounters Rebekah, after praying for the right woman for his master’s son to give him water and then offer to water his camels, as well. It struck me that the incident really beautifully parallels Jesus’ encounter with the Samaritan woman at the well in John 4, when He tells her He is well aware of her less-than-chaste past and nonetheless reveals Him to her as the Messiah of God. In Rebekah’s encounter with the servant, she runs home to her family to tell her his news. The Samaritan woman, after her conversation with the Lord Jesus, runs back to her village to tell the men she thinks he might be the Christ. While Rebekah was a virgin who had known no man, the Samaritan woman has had several husbands and is living with a man she’s not married to. The parallels to the children of Israel and the redeemed Bride of Christ are so deep and so powerful; it never ceases to amaze me how these themes are woven throughout scripture so intricately and all trace back to the beauty and drama of the creation account and the establishment of humanity — and its ultimate fall from grace — upon the finishing touch of Eve’s creation from Adam and for Adam. Writer though I am, it’s almost difficult to put into words, but I know this much: sisters, we are redeemed. No matter our past, when we come to Christ fully bared, He covers us with His love and Salvation. It was this message on the Samaritan woman that saved me 13 years ago, and it is the perfect picture of feminine grace and chastity in Rebekah that I know Christ’s Lordship in my life produces. You are a daughter of God and a sister, bride, lover to Christ your Lord. Never forget this. Dear Helpmeet Each week, I’ll be answering anonymous reader questions for my new “column,” Dear Helpmeet. Upgrade to ask your questions or, if you’re already a premium subscriber, visit this page to access the private submission form. Q: I’ve been praying for more discipline and consistency with my routines. No matter what I do, I always seem to drop something. If I have a win in one area, I fail at something else. I could not possibly relate to this more. This was where I was at for years, and it was really exhausting and discouraging. The absolute first thing I would recommend is to prioritize God and your relationships. Not necessarily the perfect Bible study and prayer routine, but a rich spiritual life in whatever way makes sense for you. You also can’t see prioritizing your relationships as doing certain things for or with your family members, because when these routines get disrupted, you can easily feel frustrated. Prioritize the people and cultivate a warm, patient heart towards them, through all the disrupted routines and plan changes. Next, cull everything in your life you possibly can. It’s far worse to try the same tasks over and over and always fail than to simply give up. This can take a lot of humility; we often want to hold on to the dream that we can stick to our perfect routine or finally complete all those projects, but we are causing so much detriment to our mental peace by clinging on to these dreams. Let go, aim far, far, lower, and you’ll start to get an accurate gauge of what you can get done each day. Then, one step at a time, it’s much easier to work in the tasks you’d like to get to and refine your routine to an effective, productive, rewarding one. The Book Stack As per usual this week, I am listening to yet another Agatha Christie novel, The Pale Horse. I find all her novels so incredibly deep and profound, so much more than the cozy whodunnit she’s generally associated with. The dialogue between the characters and the displays of human nature just make me think so much, especially with the backdrop of the quickly changing post-WWII world that her novels are often set before. Meanwhile, the latest installment of my apparent obsession with books on masculine and feminine polarity is the book His Brain, Her Brain by Barb Larimore and Walt Larimore M.D. This books combine brain science and scriptural wisdom to explain not only how different we are, but how God designed us perfectly to be different! Finally, I stumbled across a cozy vintage English countryside romance author recently, D.E. Stevenson. It centers around four sisters living in a village during WWII, and it’s very sweet and light without being too frivolous or cheesy. What are you reading, friend? I’d love to hear in the comments! Thanks so much for joining me today. If you are enjoying A Homemaker’s Manifesto, tell a friend, I’d be so grateful! Have a beautiful week. This is a public episode. 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