Feminine Appeal (New Expanded Edition with Questions)

Absolutely loved this one.

The past few months my husband and I have really been working on re-orienting ourselves to Jesus Christ and deepening our faith. This book was an easy read, but not a shallow read - even though I (perhaps pridefully) think I know a fair bit about femininity, I gained some new insights and a whole lot of needed encouragement.

Many of us today, especially converts, have few role models of biblical submission to follow. I always love reading a book that gives me that feeling that I am walking in the footsteps of other Christian women. The chapter at the end about “Margaret” made me tear up - and inspired me to do more simple things like inviting people for dinner, etc. Hospitality is something I really can work show more on, even in this busy season.

Note for Catholic friends: this book seemed pretty “non denominational” to me, and I didn’t find anything incongruent with Catholic teaching. I’d definitely recommend this to any Christian woman. :) show less

The basis of this book is the Bible; plain and simple.

Carolyn leads readers through chapters based on the following topics:

1 The Delight of Loving my Husband
2 The Blessings of Loving my Children
3 The Safety of Self-Control
4 The Pleasure of Purity
5 The Rewards of Kindness
6 The Beauty of Submission

Such books often seem to be written in a loftier-than-thou format which can be off-putting. Mrs. Mahoney, however, expresses her own disappointment in her own ability to live up to what she feels are worthy goals. Readers will be encouraged rather than discouraged.

In, fact, I should attempt to be as honest as Carolyn, is...
I think this is the book that I shared with some moms in one of our previous homeschool groups. It caused some conflict. The show more other mom took issue with something in the book. If I am not mistaken about which book it was, Carolyn mentioned something to the affect that sex was created for pleasure. The other mom argued that the express reason behind the creation of sex was procreation, only.

The King James Bible states:
Genesis 2:18a
"18And the LORD God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper meet for him."

Webster defines a help meet or helpmate as:
one who is a companion and helper; especially : wife

Genesis 2:22-25
22And the rib which the LORD God had taken from man, made He a woman and brought her unto the man.
23And Adam said, "This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man."
24Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife; and they shall be one flesh.
25And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed.

I believe that God created woman for man because man was lonely. Adam hadn't even realized that yet. God knew. Adam needed a companion; someone to be a soul-mate. Someone with whom he could share his body, mind, and soul. Intimacy.

I believe God created woman for man so that they could share sexual intimacy...and procreate.

Can you even imagine procreation...the creation of lots of offspring...without the anticipated emotional support of a helper? I know, today many people choose to go it alone. Personally, I feel that's a really hard road to choose and it isn't the one I chose.
I can support others who do and I know it isn't easy an easy path.
Heck, parenting isn't easy even with a devoted spouse!

I am thankful for the man in my life; David. He is a God-given treasure. Our marriage is a blessing to me. We still treasure moments of intimacy and I believe that is just one of the threads that holds us firmly together in God's hands.
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This is an expansion on my marriage and intimacy blog series:
My Favorite Books on Marriage and Intimacy Are... show less

Carolyn Mahaney gives 7 virtues of a Godly wife and mother in this book. She helps us seek to be a Titus 2 woman, by helping see how we can delight in loving our husbands, realize the blessings in loving in our children, having self-control, purity, kindness and submission in our lives and the honor of working at home. She was very practical, honest and used God's Word as the final authority, which is the best attribute of any book I read. Well worth your time to read this book! In today's world the issues in this book she deals with are contrary to how many people think. It is refreshing to read a biblical view on how we as women can and should be living.

I am so grateful to have this book as a resource to help define my womanhood and not the trash of feminism that stripped away the God-given role of women. This book elevates the role of women and brings back the joy of caring for your husband, children and home.

This book was written both young women looking to live out their faith in their lives and for older women who want to take up the challenge to provide both good teaching and good example to younger women.