Submission

Submission. What thoughts do you have when you hear that word mentioned? Is it that of someone with no backbone or who has no will? Perhaps it's someone who is weak and gets run over by others. Is submission something that you desire or something that repulses you?

For me and my marriage, submission is not something that I run away from or hate. It's something that I love and that I embrace. I like submission. Is it easy? No. Is it called of me to do by God? Yes. I'm thankful that my husband also knows and understands the word submission and he always takes my opinions and thoughts into consideration, prays over it and seeks counsel when he needs to, and then comes to a final decision. I know that the final decision was made with lots of thoughts and prayer.

John Piper says it best in his book The Momentary Marriage when he says what submission is not:

• It is not agreeing with everything my husband says.
• It does not mean leaving my brain or will at the wedding altar.
• It does not mean every effort to avoid changing my husband.
• It does not mean putting the will of my husband above the will of Christ.
• It does not mean that I get my personal/spiritual strength primarily through my husband.
• It does not mean that I act out of fear.

What Piper says submission is: "Submission is the divine calling of a wife to love and affirm her husband's leadership and help carry it through according to her gifts." This is the submission I embrace in my walk with Christ and in my walk with my husband.