What a coincidence! Carrie Underwood is on the cover of people magazine in an article called "Mommy guilt is real!" where they interviewed her and she confesses to feeling guilty over everything involved in leaving her baby for rhe first time to go back to work.

One thing everyone can agree on though, is that family is a large part of any holiday celebration.

Issues like this have a way of wrapping around the nerve wires of a woman’s mind and prohibiting her {and in turn, her family} from enjoying the holidays at all. If we can read ‘The Little Engine That Could’, we can trick or treat and talk about Santa. These things are trivial and even if they were not, our husbands are the decision makers. I know it’s tough to obey when the rubber meets the road and we actually have to obey, but that is how this goes.

Start some traditions like passing out tracts for Halloween or for Christmas bring the biblical recollections of Christ’s birth into your child’s mind. Sing Christmas hymns, read the story from the gospels over dinner on Christmas Eve and have full faith that God knew what he was doing when he placed husbands in charge and gave them the authority to make decisions.

Things like dressing up for Halloween, Santa, too much t.v. exposure, which friends are permissable, etc. are just not our place to decide.

Holidays are about fellowship and we are breaking that fellowship when we dwell on things like this and don’t trust our husbands will make a good decision. Husbands tend to want to recreate their cherished childhood memories for their kids while women tend to react out of fear and so they want to just shut down the holiday altogether but focusing on fellowship and family would be such a win-win.

I just love posts like this! What a great testament of her love for him and his love for her in cherishing this! It just so happened that as I was reading this post, my husband texted me and so I asked him what his favorite thing about being married to me was and so he answered. {Lori, I tried adding a screenshot pic to this comment but I don't know if BlogSpot works the same as Wordpress so it may not register.}

In case it doesn't show, it says "You are my favorite thing about being married to you! I can't choose just one thing because everything you do is so much more than I deserve! Your a wonderful mom, and a amazing, beautiful, sexy as h*ll, perfect wife."

My husband shows me he loves me through his actions day to day but when he says things like this, it brings me such joy! I love him! My favorite thing about being married is definitely the security factor too. Not just financial or provisionary security, but the marriage vow itself. The security that through his promise in marriage, I know that I am blessed with this man for all his or my life! He isn't going anywhere and that is comforting, lol, because I sure have made mistakes!

Dear Lori,
Thank you for this post. You are such an inspiration and role model to me. I have realized that with a growing and strengthening relationship with God, all motivations to be more worldly or to not acknowledge sin for what it is in an attempt at acceptance from others has slowly faded away. I used to be quick to agree for the sake of "being likable" but now, I have a firm and solid hold on God's Word. I am persuaded that it is 100% God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness. Had I not seen this modeled out so eloquently from you, I would have continued to struggle in this area because I have been so conditioned to strive to be likable by the world, instead of God. Thankfully, you are willing to stand firm even in the face of opposition and therefore, people like me, whom you've mentored, are also willing to do this! You are fountain of Truth. Love, Psalm1Wife

You have added some great insight here Kelley! Thank you for the encouragement!

Hi Mbb,
I am so glad that you have found this post helpful! Have a great weekend!

Thank you everyone for the kind words about this post. Katie, I responded to you upthread!

Dear Katie,
I hope that I am not too late to the party and that you will see my response. I am 26 and I have three little boys. They are 3, 2 and almost 1. I want to tell you some of the things that I do at home in order to continue a sex life even with young ones.

I am going to be honest here, and I hope that my frankness is simply helpful to you or others like me! My husband nor I have ever struggled with thyroid problems or the like, so you should consider that and correlate my life with yours accordingly.

My husband and I usually have sex every other day during the week. He gets home late and our kids do no go to bed for another two hours, during the week, we wait until 8:00 when the kids are asleep before we are intimate. However, you can get your husband excited by sending texts to him or even pictures of you in a cute teddy or something.

Also, if your kids are as young as mine, you can do other more obvious things that they do not understand that signal to your husband you are ready for sex with him i.e. lay some lingerie on the bed or put on high heels.

On the weekends, we always put a movie on for our kids or else have sex during their nap time. I cannot stress how important it is to have nap times for your kids! During the week, I like to lay my boys down at different times because then I can have one on one time with them but on the weekends, we lay them down all at once so my husband and I can have one on one time. If they do not nap, like I said before, put a movie on or if they're older, have them read quietly in their room.

If your kids inquire about what you're doing in the bedroom, be honest with them. Tell them that mom and dad need special time alone everyday and when they're even older, you can actually show them the importance of sex in marriage by modeling it often in your own life. It is really wonderful (I believe Debi Pearl said this in other words) for your kids to know that their parents have sex together frequently. They need to know that sex is a wonderful thing in the one and only right context: marriage.

I am sorry that you struggle with health problems that may inhibit your sexual desire and like I said before, that needs to be a consideration but if you keep your heart open and keep praying about it, you may see that desire come back! Just remember that sexual desire for your husband is tied strongly with your respect for him so you also might want to reconsider that aspect of your thought process, you must, MUST have respect for your husband in order to be aroused by him so find his respectable qualities and dwell on those.

Lastly, I know that probably most, if not all of you will disagree here, but as Lori has rightfully been pointing out lately, we are no longer under the law. God created the Mosaic law to show all of us how far short we would fall by attempting to enter heaven through completing good works. Therefore, God's commands concerning "that week per month" are no longer commands that must be followed, just like the eating of pork, etc. We must follow all of God's commands that are made to keep us righteous, but His lawful commands specifically for Jewish culture, are no longer ours to follow. So, we do not follow the rule that there is no sex during that week of the month in our marriage. However, if this does not fit into your lifestyle, than that is completely fine and dandy. Paul says: "“All things are lawful,” but not all things are helpful. “All things are lawful,” but not all things build up." This issue can easily fall into that category. Just because we can do it during that time, doesn't necessarily mean that you must do it during that time.

Take care and I will pray for you, sweet lady! Love, Psalm1Wife

You explained this very well, Lori. Very good post!

We like to use verses like: "But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart." to feed our own imperative and by doing so, we are missing the point and molding the Bible to fit into our own personal box. What happens if we do that by using a verse like: "Curse God and die!" You see? If we do not understand the context, we are simply playing Bible verse Russian roulette.

I am so thankful that God included all of the Old testament and the gospels because they are full of admonitions and stories to help us and they also show God's relentless mercy for His people. We must remember, however that there was a curtain divide and we are on this side- the side that Paul is on. Thank you Lord for you grace! The Lord's grace was abounding in the OT when he readily forgave entire towns like Ninevah when they turned from their wicked ways. The Lord's grace was abounding during Jesus' ministry and it shows in verses like this: "And he said unto her, Thy sins are forgiven." Now, His grace abounds by offering His son as a sacrifice for all of our sins! The entire Bible shows us God's mercy but we are in the tail end of this beautiful story. Praise the Lord!

If we remember the plot we can understand that Jesus was talking to Jews, as a Jew. Yes, we can learn about our enormous shortcomings from Jesus' teaching by keeping a perspective that you show when you say: "He narrowed the Law to the extreme so people would see their desperate need for a Savior and how far every single person is from the perfection a Holy God demands." I would much rather be well versed on the overall plot of the Bible than concentrating on all of the exceptions or phrases and then ending up plucking out my eye.

Amen, sister!