This week's devotion is entitled:
Last week I talked to the guys about what they needed to do to spiritually prepare for marriage, and this week I'll be talking to the girls. Stick around though, guys, this is the kind of woman you need to look for to marry.
Who can find a virtuous and capable wife? She is worth more than precious rubies. Her husband can trust her, and she will greatly enrich his life. She will not hinder him but help him all her life. She finds wool and flax and busily spins it. She is like a merchant's ship; she brings her food from afar. She gets up before dawn to prepare breakfast for her household and plan the day's work for her servant girls. She goes out to inspect a field and buys it; with her earnings she plants a vineyard. She is energetic and strong, a hard worker. She watches for bargains; her lights burn late into the night. Her hands are busy spinning thread, her fingers twisting fiber. She extends a helping hand to the poor and opens her arms to the needy. She has no fear of winter for her household because all of them have warm clothes. She quilts her own bedspreads. She dresses like royalty in gowns of finest cloth. Her husband is well known, for he sits in the council meeting with the other civic leaders. She makes belted linen garments and sashes to sell to the merchants. She is clothed with strength and dignity, and she laughs with no fear of the future. When she speaks, her words are wise, and kindness is the rule when she gives instructions. She carefully watches all that goes on in her household and does not have to bear the consequences of laziness. Her children stand and bless her. Her husband praises her: "There are many virtuous and capable women in the world, but you surpass them all!" Charm is deceptive, and beauty does not last; but a woman who fears the LORD will be greatly praised. Reward her for all she has done. Let her deeds publicly declare her praise.
~Proverbs 31:10-31 (NLT) (Note: Ladies, while you may not be the best seamstress, the parts about sewing and spinning you can replace with your career and/or duties as a housewife.)
Similarly, teach the older women to live in a way that is appropriate for someone serving the Lord. They must not go around speaking evil of others and must not be heavy drinkers. Instead, they should teach others what is good. These older women must train the younger women to love their husbands and their children, to live wisely and be pure, to take care of their homes, to do good, and to be submissive to their husbands. Then they will not bring shame on the word of God.
~Titus 2:3-5 (NLT)
In the same way, their [the elders'] wives are to be women worthy of respect, not malicious talkers but temperate and trustworthy in everything.
~1 Timothy 3:11
You wives will submit to your husbands as you do to the Lord. For a husband is the head of his wife as Christ is the head of his body, the church; he gave his life to be her Savior. As the church submits to Christ, so you wives must submit to your husbands in everything.
~Ephesians 5:22-24
Now ladies, some of you may be thinking that you're too independent to be submissive to your husbands. Today's society even tells us that it's wrong and degrading to be submissive to our husbands, but maybe that's because they have a misunderstanding of what being submissive means (and because Satan uses the media as much as he uses anything else to corrupt God's Word). Being submissive to your husband does not mean staying home all day long doing nothing but caring for babies while vaccuuming and wearing an apron, then sleeping with him when he gets home and cooking for him at his whim. Some women choose to live that way, and there is nothing wrong with it, but that's submissive plus. Submitting to your husband means just what the verse says: submitting to them the same way you do to the Lord. If God tells you to get up and move 5000 miles away, you should do it without a fight. The same thing goes for your husband. You should love God unconditionally and above all things. The same thing goes for your husband (except that he comes after God in priority). There is nothing wrong, embarrasing, or degrading about submitting to your husband; and there is everything Godly about it. These are the things you should work for to be spiritually prepared for marriage.
Guys, these verses describe the kind of woman you should look for to marry.