The Curse!

     Since I don’t think any men will be reading this devotion, let me tell you that I hate monthly periods. I am SICK, SICK, SICK of them!! I don't have a cute nickname for them because I don't think they deserve a cute name.  I think there should be a rule that states the younger you started the earlier you get to quit. I figure I have had periods for 40 years now; minus the three years I didn’t have them due to pregnancies and breast feeding. That means I have had them for 37 years. At an average of 5 days, I have had a period for 2200 days; or a little over six years worth of periods! Makes you sick to look at it like that doesn’t it! Some say it is because of the curse on Eve. I really only see scripture speak of ‘pain in childbirth’ as part of the curse. However, before sin there was paradise. I can’t imagine having the pain, the emotions, the swelling, and the headaches in paradise; so maybe it was.

     I have to admit that there is another part of the curse that I hate even more and I have lived with every single day for almost 30 years now. Scripture continues the ‘curse’ or discipline for the sin Eve let come into their lives by saying that a woman shall desire her husband but he will rule over her. Two point to clarify before we go on. One, it is not only Eve’s fault. We each allow sin in our lives on a daily basis. We are all in the same boat. Two, the word rule is for another day but don’t instantly build a defense about a word that our loving God uses and man has abused. Going on; we instantly think the word ‘desire’ has a sexual or passionate tone. It does not. The Hebrew meaning of the word means that we will want to walk over our husbands, or we will want to usurp their leadership. Due to sin, it is now in our nature. However, God comes back and says no matter how much you want to rule, lead, usurp; our husbands are to lead! God put in an order. Not a favor system! Dwayne and I believe that we are to work as hard as possible to come up with a solution that fits us both but when we can’t; it is his responsibility to make the decision and he will be accountable for that decision. Dwayne knows that it is important to listen to my thoughts and feelings and to weigh them with what he feels God is telling him. Even though we live this out in our marriage, even though I do not have a problem with God’s order and actually find security in it, and even though I want to respect Dwayne and his leadership; my sinful nature tries to usurp his leadership continuously. I use to say daily I fought it but with age and tiredness from the fight, I would say I still do it regularly.
     There was freedom for me to know that this internal fight to lead my husband is not something that I alone experience. It is what every wife experiences. No wife is immune. It is something we need to strive to control but it has become a part of our sinful nature. It is important for older women to teach the younger women how to fight this part of us. It is important for younger women to talk to older woman and learn. This is something we all have in common. How are you doing in your fight?

To the woman He said: “I will make you pains in childbirth very severe; with painful labor you will give birth to your children. Your desire will be for your husband, but he’ll rule over you.”

Genesis 3:16