Heaven at Home by Ginger Plowman

A review of sorts, for Heaven at Home by Ginger Plowman.

Some days I really blow it.  Today was one of those days.

I was crabby and snappy and really resentful towards Brian.  The details really don’t matter, and it doesn’t matter how I justify it.  Let’s just say I let my temper get the best of me.  One minute I’m quoting a Joyce Meyer talk in my head and the next I’m listing all the ways I’m right and he’s wrong.  Grrrr, I thought.  I’ve had it!!

Fast forward a couple hours.  I was indulging in some long overdo “Me” time: a soak in the bath complete with vanilla scented bubble bath, a glass of iced tea, a bowl of popcorn, and a good book.

Brian (upon hearing the popping):  Are you really going to take popcorn in the bath with you??

Me:  Yes.  I am.  (bathroom door shuts)

As a further side note, Abbie, if you’re reading this let’s both pretend it was air popped locally grown popcorn and definitely not my secret stash of microwave junk leftover from a movie night gone wrong.   I’m doing pretty good with Real Food, promise.

Anyway, back to the original story.

So, there I was, soaking and reading.  Reading, my dear friends, a book about how to love your husband and children well and create a God-filled home life.  The subtitle is Establishing and Enjoying a Peaceful Home.  Oh, the irony.

I’m breezing through, reading about parenting strategies and thinking this all sounds lovely but Kent’s a little young so I’ll have to revisit this book in a year or two.  I love the way she really pushes having a patient spirit and turning children toward the Lord for guidance instead of just pushing them to behave “because they should” or “because I said so”.  Yup, good ideas, those.

And then I get to pg. 149, Chapter 15: Demonstrating Grace in Parenting.  Here Ginger shares the story of an acquaintance.  She had big goals for her marriage and her children.  She was a perfectionist of sorts.  She used a lot of charts, systems, routines, etc. to work towards this life she envisioned.  Remind you of anyone?

You’ll have to pick up the book to get the whole story but if you guessed she had a change of heart you’re right.  She was thinking all along that all of her hard work would produce Godly children who grew in to spirit-filled adults.  In the end, though, she realized that she couldn’t have it all by her own efforts – she had to refocus her life and her family on Him and His strength.  He gives grace for a reason – we NEED it!!

Oh boy… this is a BIG deal for someone like me.  Big, big deal!  We will get burnt out, we cannot do it all, there are not enough man-made gadgets or time-saving tricks to allow us to get it all done.  Fortunately, we don’t have to do it alone.  Reading that was so comforting for the perfectionist in me.

There are many, many more good points brought up in this book.  Time after time I would have little epiphanies.  This one will have a permanent spot in our growing library and should be reread once a year or so.  There is just a ton of material there.

I really didn’t take this book seriously at first… I expected it to be a little lightweight and geared towards woman who are way ahead of me spiritually and just in need of a little fine-tuning.  Instead, it left me feeling refreshed and ready to do my best – but not striving to do it all.

Overall:  Don’t skip this one.  It’s a good read, ladies!  5 out of 5 chicks!

 

 

P.S.  If you relate to this you might also enough this post I stumbled across recently.

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