My So-Called Life as a Proverbs 31 Wife (2011) and My So-Called Life as a Submissive Wife (2013) by Sara Horn, Harvest House Publishers.
Try to ignore the dorky picture on the cover of the Proverbs 31 book. Really, the book isn’t like that at all.
I’m not sure how I ran across these books, but I think they popped up on an Amazon.com page when I was looking at something else.
I liked the “so-called” part, as she didn’t seem to be taking herself too seriously. Sara Horn is a Christian writer and speaker who decided to write these books simply as honest narratives of what happened in her life when she decided to tackle these two biblical ideas. At first the books seemed a little too much like a diary or a blog, with detailed descriptions of her various activities. Fairly early on in the Proverbs 31 book we’re treated to a step-by-step dissertation on how Sara makes spicy lasagna roll-ups, and I wondered if I really wanted to keep going. And it seemed kind of silly to me that she’d think that because the woman in Proverbs (whom she calls Martha 31) made sashes, she, Sara, should learn to knit and sew. So she buys a sewing machine that she hardly ever uses and knitting supplies which produce only a wannabe scarf with holes in it. But it’s obvious that Martha 31 isn’t making those sashes as a hobby; she “delivers them to the merchant” to be sold. So Sara’s activities as a writer and speaker, the demands of which cause her much agonizing, are actually much more in line with the biblical model than any kind of craft activity, as she brings in much-needed money to her family thereby.
I think these books are valuable because they document the back-and-forth, push-and-pull pattern that many women, Christian and non-Christian, go through as they evaluate how they should set their priorities as wives, mothers and wage earners. Sara’s transparency, which at first can seem almost off-putting, becomes more endearing as the books progress. If nothing else, we’re reminded that the attractive young women with the cute husband and the well-behaved little kid has her own struggles; no one’s life is perfect or uncomplicated. While I may have snorted (a little) at some of her efforts to be a submissive wife (texting your husband to see what he thinks about the emergency supplies you’re buying as a hurricane bears down?), she has to be given full credit for her honesty. Full props to her for her eagerness to take Bible commands seriously. And she’s also pretty funny. I’ll end with a piece of advice she gives in the introduction of the submission book to any wife whose husband has given her a copy of it:
And just because of the title, if you know nothing else about this book, or about me, and you’re feeling a little annoyed at your spouse right now, maybe a little frustrated, quite likely wondering if you’ve just been insulted or told something you don’t want to hear, or aren’t ready to hear . . . If that’s the case, then you definitely have my permission to do one very important thing with this book before you give it back.
Hit him with it.
Sorry it’s not a hardback. I recommend two hands.