#2lbcf

Asking as someone who doesn't like Reformed theology much who wants to know what its followers like about it.

Thank you for this question. I'm going to do my best to answer it while saying up front that I'm not discussing doctrine. I'm not a good debater. I'm taking your kind question as a subjective question, not one that wishes a doctrinal answer or a compare and contrast with other denominations answer.

For me personally, two things that I love about Reformed theology are this:

A High View of God. Reformed Baptists hold and teach a high view of God, His goodness, transcendence, simplicity, and attributes. The higher my view of God, the greater and more wonderful my salvation is. I also deeply appreciate the focus being on God and not on me and my feelings. This equips me to view myself correctly and not be overwhelmed by my feelings which are many and a bit all over the place.

I love the truth of Christian liberty expounded in our Confession: (I also love our confessionalism because it provides clarity and safety.) The liberty which Christ has purchased for believers under the gospel, consists in their freedom from the guilt of sin, the condemning wrath of God, the severity and curse of the law, and in their being delivered from this present evil world, bondage to Satan, and dominion of sin, from the evil of afflictions, the fear and sting of death, the victory of the grave, and everlasting damnation: as also in their free access to God, and their yielding obedience unto Him, not out of slavish fear, but a child-like love and willing mind. All which were common also to believers under the law for the substance of them; but under the New Testament the liberty of Christians is further enlarged, in their freedom from the yoke of a ceremonial law, to which the Jewish church was subjected, and in greater boldness of access to the throne of grace, and in fuller communications of the free Spirit of God, than believers under the law did ordinarily partake of. (2LBCF 21.1)

I think that might be one of the most beautiful lists ever penned by man.

I'm going to tag @walkingthroughthisworld who can check me if I put anything wrong or unclearly.

-The Return of the King by JRR Tolkien

I love that this line captures how you feel at this point in the story. The long battle is over and the age of the King has begun, and you weep. You weep because it has been hard. You've fought and crawled and despaired with the Fellowship every step of the way, and now their work is done and they're healed. Tears flow like wine at the victory.

My second book about the Indianapolis was a great follow up to the first one by Lynn Vincent. This book was shorter, less detailed, and easily readable in about 5 or 6 hours. This actually might be the better book to read first, as it provides a quicker synopsis of the overall event.

Either way, the harrowing experiences of these men should never be forgotten.

Winter can be harsh and hard, as many of us Texans learned early in 2021. But part of being a Proverbs 31 woman is being prepared, cheerfully prepared. Take the long dark cold of winter and make her your handmaid for planning, nesting, tending, and loving your family.

When I am sad

I watch war movies to cry.

Overwhelmed?

I watch war movies to gain perspective.

Afraid?

To find my courage.

Longing for love?

To remember friendship.

Lonely?

To see brotherhood.

Lost?

To find my home.

When life weighs so much, when I'm sad, overwhelmed, afraid, longing for a true and real love, lonely, and lost, I watch war movies to cry, to gain perspective and courage, to be reminded of friendship and brotherhood, to find home.

I watch war moves to hold onto faith not sight.

When the road becomes unbearable, we homemakers continue to create beauty and comfort as an act of rebellion. I’m not kidding. We roll up our sleeves and tend our homes. Do you know what our enemies hate? Wise women loving and tending our hearths. This, this work we do of cooking, cleaning, loving, raising, beautifying, serving, and so much more,  is an act of defiance and rebellion against the world, her lies, and her darkness. It requires great courage to provide comfort during chaos. It takes great courage to stay at the work when the world is crumbling. We feel just a bit now, the sting that comes with homemaking because the world doesn’t love us. The world says that being a homemaker is a failure. They say that tending your hearth is just an excuse for laziness. They don’t want us here. They don’t want us loving our husbands, raising our children, growing our plants, cooking our food, nesting, creating and holding memories. Why? Because those things produce strong families and strong second generations. Those things bind us together on a deep level and people bound together by food, drink, and shared stories are hard to separate. This is why serving your church is such a mighty thing. Feminists complain that women in the church are relegated to kitchen and nursery duty. Where do you think binding happens? The next generation of faithful laymen and women, deacons and deacons’ wives, pastors and pastors’ wives are raised in our homes. The feeding of people is one of the most gracious and gathering gifts we can enact. Subtle, small, insignificant things like cooking, cleaning, washing, and serving add up to a group of people united together. That’s not insignificant. 

I know that this is stretching the homemaker focus a bit, but it is important to remember that each of us in each of our homes is an individual, with our own personal tastes and interests. That is part of what makes home home. Home is where the wife is. Not a cardboard cutout of a women, but a true, living, breathing, human being with a soul. It's important that we embrace this. It keeps us from creating unfair comparisons between our homes, husbands, and families.

What is something unique about you that sets the aesthetic of your life and your home? Music? Art? The stories you tell? How does that thing you were created to love flavor your homemaking, tangibly or intangibly?

For me, it's war movies. This is my exploration of why war movies are so important to me as a Christian and as a wife.