Christian writer Rachel Held Evans has been very vocal about her choice to leave the Evangelical Church in favor of the Episcopal denomination at the age of 29. As a result, many of her personal relationships were severed because she was considered a traitor to her faith.
Despite these hard times, she maintains she is thankful for being brought up in an Evangelical household and sites her parents as incredible teachers in life and love.
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Here are five of her most positive messages about home life:
1. “My parents — committed evangelicals — taught me, by example, to be compassionate, empathetic, patient, forgiving, open, inclusive, curious, and kind. They taught me to focus on the most important thing — Jesus — and to hold the rest of my theological and political beliefs with an open hand. They gave me the space I needed to become my own person with my own faith, and they were never afraid to say, “I don’t know” when that was the truth. No parents are perfect, but mine have been pretty great.”
2. “I think a lot of Christian women feel like they’re always falling short of some sort of biblical ideal — that they’re not sufficient homemakers, that they aren’t ‘gentle and quiet’ enough, that they have to impose a hierarchy onto their marriage even if it doesn’t feel right. I’m hoping that by demonstrating that none of us are actually practicing consistent ‘biblical womanhood’ I will encourage women to cut themselves and one another some slack. There is no mold we have to cram ourselves into. There is no ideal. There is no blueprint. There is only the common call to follow Jesus, to love the Lord with all our heat, soul, mind, and strength, and to love our neighbors as ourselves. As challenging as that is, it’s also quite liberating in its simplicity.” (Source:
“Women of God” Magazine)
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3. “Before I took on this project (her book ‘A Year of Biblical Womanhood’), I confess that I nursed a subtle condescension toward women who make homemaking their profession. Probably because I suck at cooking and cleaning, I told myself that such a life must be filled with boredom, repression, and legalism. That all changed in November, when I devoted the month to homemaking and found my tasks not only challenging and creatively stimulating, but also packed with opportunities for spiritual growth.”
4. “There are still people in my life who I'm desperately trying to convince I'd make a worthwhile friend despite my shifting perspectives on faith.”
5. “I pray not only for my own bread, but for ours. I ask forgiveness not only for my own sins, but for our sins. I ask not merely for my own protection and guidance, but for the protection and guidance of the whole Church.”
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