Book Review: My So-Called Life as a Proverbs 31 Wife

My So-Called Life as a Proverbs 31 Wife:
A One-Year Experiment...and Its Surprising Results
by Sara Horn
Harvest House Publishers
Pub Date: 09/01/2011
Retail: $12.99
ISBN: 9780736939416
Genre: Christian, Home & Garden, Nonfiction, Parenting & Families, Religion & Spirituality

“Author Sara Horn always admired the Proverbs 31 wife, but when she became a busy writer and mother, she deemed this model to be dated and impossible. Or is it? Join Sara as she heads into a one-year domestic experiment and offers full access to see if this biblical model can be embraced by a modern woman—even one who can’t sew.

With humility and humor, Sara sets out to pursue the Proverbs 31 characteristics through immersing herself in all things domestic, but when her family's situation changes and she must return to a full-time job, she's forced to look at the Proverbs 31 woman with a whole new viewpoint. Through it all, she and readers discover:

• what it means to be a godly woman and a wife
• how investing in family and faith refines priorities as a spouse and a parent
• how mistakes are opportunities for growth

This thought-provoking, surprising, and entertaining personal account will inspire women to try their own experiments in living out God’s purpose for their lives.”

So that is what the publishers says about this book… and I agree!! This is a great book! When I started the book (at 2am, I might add) I was pretty sure that I was not going to like it. And it wasn’t because of the cover (I have been known to dis a book because of the cover and this one is a cute cover!). I have always- as long as I have known and understood just what a Proverbs 31 woman really is like- had a feeling that a woman like that is impossible to emulate.

It starts out with Sara at church with her family and the pastor is talking on the importance of the wife in the family. He outlines the Proverbs 31 woman. Sara digs her nails into her legs with the rebellious spirit that she has towards the “Proverbs 31” woman. She gets home and thinks about sermons given about the men in the family: short list compared to the Proverbs 31 list. I can totally relate!! The book goes through the mental war she has with herself about why she such issues with and has a difficult time relating to the Proverbs 31 woman. It says she’s always ‘admired’ but I’m not so sure that’s the word I would use I love the name she chooses for ‘her’: Martha 31 (a modern Martha Stewart meets Old Testament Proverbs 31 kind of thing).

I thoroughly enjoyed reading about Sara’s climb to the top- her ambitions and desires- as well as her struggle to be more like the Proverbs 31 woman. She does say a lot during the book (over and over) that she feels that her quest is more of a fail than a success but really as you read the book, you should totally be able to see the growth that Sara has during this time. A lot happens in her life and she relates it all with humor and candidness. Reading the book, she seems ‘normal’. Not like some authors of Christian help books for women/mothers who appear to be fairly perfect (not meaning to demean those authors). She also points out that in our culture women often do not want to be the help-meet to their husbands, like they are a secondary thought. Woman want to have something more- success and possibly the attention and praise when having done a ‘job’ well-done.

The modern Proverbs 31 woman is totally attainable…and personally, I don’t think one would even need to know how to sew to qualify A fear of the Lord is the most important attribute for a Proverbs 31 woman. The rest is good and all but this is the most important. And an after thought on the writing in this book. If you are looking for one that outlines what to do to be a Proverbs 31 woman, you will be disappointed with the style in this book. It is more a life-application style. Sara tells her story and intertwines the verses from Proverbs 31 into her life. Then she lets us see how she applied it in her situation.

I received an Advanced Galley Book form from Harvest House Publishers via Net Galley. I wasn’t required to write a review and definitely not a positive one but this is a great book!