Passionate Housewives Desperate for God [Paperback]

Jennie Chancey (Author), Stacy McDonald (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 24, 2007

Have you struggled to reconcile God's vision of virtuous womanhood with worldly myths that marginalize and mock the role of the homemaker? Do you wrestle with cultural messages that demean the homemaker s calling and exalt instead the emotionally androgynous power-woman---the wife whose worth is measured only by the degree of her self-ambition, the shape of her body, or her money-making skills?

Delightfully fresh and honest, Passionate Housewives Desperate for God debunks the modern 'desperate housewife' myth and provides fresh vision for the homemaker. Hear a former Christian feminist share how she went from a die-hard homemaker-in-training to a dedicated career woman, and then back again---after God gripped her heart. See the hollow counterfeit of whitewashed feminism and me-ology destroyed. And consider the beautiful picture painted in Scripture of the truly fulfilled homemaker who glories in the hopeful calling God created for her.

Pull up a chair, dust off the cookie crumbs, and join Jennie Chancey and Stacy McDonald as they they lay aside demeaning stereotypes like the 'Stepford wife,' and reveal the 1950s' 'perfect homemaker' trap. Laughter and tears will flow, and hopefully you will be infused with a renewed vision for victory as a wife and mother. Discover what it means to be a passionate housewife 'desperate' for God alone!

Editorial Reviews

Review

Passionate Housewives Desperate for God is an exceptionally well written book. Jennie Chancey and Stacy McDonald do not pretend to be the perfect wives, mothers, and homemakers, but they do have a heart for God and His glory. Both of them see the role of the wife and mother as God's high and holy calling, and they exhort us through Scripture and practical examples to, by God's grace, fulfill that calling. This book will make you think, will convict you, and will, as the subtitle states, give you a 'fresh vision for the hopeful homemaker.' I highly recommend this book. --Martha Peace, author of The Excellent Wife

Jennie Chancey and Stacy McDonald have spoken the Truth with a capital 'T' in their wonderful book Passionate Housewives Desperate for God. Totally grounded in Scripture, this book winsomely presents the true picture of a godly homemaker. Prepare to be stimulated, challenged, and encouraged as a woman. This book is a real gem! --Vickie Farris, wife of HSLDA founder, Michael Farris, Esq.

As a mother of eight, I am encouraged to see this book published to help women who desire to walk as passionate servants, who want to 'do the right thing,' and who love the natural yearnings which God created in them. We all have a longing to create, cultivate, and faithfully nurture the gifts God has given us. When the gifts come in the form of family, we would do well to listen to the Biblical wisdom of Stacy and Jennie to counteract the Western culture s strident cry for self-assertion. I gladly recommend this book for all women who want to honor Him and help others (even a two year old!) to glorify Him by dying to self with joy and thanksgiving. He is worthy of our efforts, and these two authors cheer us on to Biblical femininity. --Valerie Shepard, daughter of Elisabeth Elliot

About the Author

Stacy McDonald
Stacy is the thankful wife of Pastor James McDonald, the contented mother of ten children, and a soon-to-be first-time grandmother. Mrs. McDonald is also author of the life changing book, Raising Maidens of Virtue: A Study of Feminine Loveliness for Mothers and Daughters. She has been blessed with the opportunity to teach women around the globe on issues relating to the roles of a wife and mother, homeschooling, and Christian decorum. Stacy and her husband, along with their children, reside in Central Illinois and operate Family Reformation ministries, dedicated to the reformation of the Christian family.

Jennie Chancey Jennie is the wife of Matthew Chancey and the happy mother of eight children, whom the Chanceys homeschool. When not cramming lots of reading into 'spare' moments, Jennie enjoys playing with her children, sewing, traveling with her family, and contemplating the mysteries of God's amazing universe. Jennie edits LadiesAgainstFeminism.com, a site which brings together writers from all over the world to expose the damaging effects of feminism and celebrate the beauties of biblical womanhood. She also owns the successful home-based Sense & Sensibility Patterns, begun when she was a newlywed to inspire women to embrace their femininity.

Product Details

• Paperback: 206 pages
• Publisher: The Vision Forum, Inc.; 1st edition (October 24, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1934554154
• ISBN-13: 978-1934554159
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.4 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (66 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #165,027 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

63 of 70 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Reviving for a Discerning Reader January 15, 2008

By Timothy Raymond

Format:Paperback

First, let me say I think you should read this book. Buy it, borrow it, or get it from the library if you don't want to pay for it, but it's certainly worth the read. Second, let me say that while I am a stay-at-home mom, I have worked outside the home before kids, and I have 2 not 12 (nor do I think the Lord has 12 in our future). I told my husband while reading the book, "I agree with so much of what they say, just not with some of what I know they mean by what they say." While I have strong disagreements with some of the Vision Forum worldview, and would advise all who read this book not to take it - or any other books from VF or anywhere else - without much discernment, I think that this book encourages a fresh look at what homemaking can hold and shines a light at subtle ways that even biblical-worldview-believers neglect to value things that God values. In my reading, I was challenged many times to go before the Lord about selfishness and pride in my own life. The authors put Scripture throughout all the book, so the Lord was able to draw my attention to His Word and breathe fresh life into some verses through the context of the book. I was instructed, reminded, and challenged to make sure my opinions and convictions were not just ideas I had come up with myself.

75 of 92 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars I don't have to be perfect??? Thank you!!!! November 27, 2007

By The Anderson Family

Format:Paperback

The sin of alcoholism in my fathers life led to my mother leaving him when I was less than 6 months old. She walked several miles with 3 children under 3 to the nearest phone booth and called my grandfather to come and pick her up. Hours later in a fury, my father followed us to my grandparents house and proceeded to shoot my grandfather five times. Thankfully he survived and we had already been swept away to a far off town where we couldn't be hurt. My father went to jail for attempted murder and my mother divorced him. By the time I was two, my mother had found the perfect man and remarried. He later adopted me when I was in first grade and is the only father I have ever know and loved! He too had been divorced and had three children from his previous marriage. My dad was an honest man who lived up to his responsibilities and a great deal of his paycheck went to pay child support. You can't exactly get child support from a man in prison though and so my mom had to get a job to help pay the bills. My mother worked full time. My father worked full time and a part time job in the evenings cleaning banks, to which he took us with to help out.

I tell you all of this history because it is important for me to tell you I did not have a stay at home mom who taught me all the ins and outs of cooking and cleaning and sewing and taking care of my family. It doesn't mean she didn't love us but she was on such a tight schedule of sneaking in a few hours of sleep between 2 am and 7 am and getting the rest of her daily chores done before having to be at work by 1 p.m. that she didn't have time to teach us. She just had to get it done! My father taught us kids the basics of cleaning and some cooking. I knew how to cook when I got married because I had worked in a restaurant for two years but I was not used to the role of Ms Happy Homemaker. Top that off with marrying into a family where everyone seemed to be in competition to be the best, or enjoyed showing off all their many artistic talents, to which you had nothing to "trump" them with, and it led to feeling pretty downtrodden and worthless. Many times I couldn't even figure out why my husband had liked me, let alone fallen in love with me when there were obviously so many better examples of a perfect housewife and mother all around us. I thought, "How in the world did he end up with me?"

Passionate Housewives Desperate for God is one of the few books I have ever read that helped me lay aside my doubts of self worth as a mother, as a teacher, as a wife. I don't have to be perfect. God doesn't ask that of me. He only asks that I give Him my best and to let Him work that into His best! This books tells me I don't have to give up outward beauty and become a matronly homemaker in order to be beautiful for God but that I can be both beautiful on the inside and the outside. This book tells me I do not have to go about my daily chores as a Stepford wife, living life in a robotic vacuum, but that I can abide safely in the knowledge that I am prized for my individuality, for my insight, for my love and passion for serving God. I do not need to worry that the newly married wife with every perfect hair in place, or the mother of many with her children sitting properly with hands neatly clasped in their lap in church are worth any more to God than what I am worth. God shares His love equally! This book helped me to understand that what is good and helpful for my husband isn't what is good and helpful for another's husband. I need to focus on my husband. I need to focus on my children. I need to focus on my household. Everything else is just a picture show and, while they might give me great ideas, it doesn't necessarily mean all those great ideas work for me.

Jennie Chancey and Stacy McDonald will keep you interested in reading to the end with the way they tackle all the lies and deceits spread by feminine warriors of the world. Many times in my reading I wondered had they been a fly on my wall living my life along with me. No, they didn't have to be. The lies of perfection have been spread so far and wide within our society that every mom on every corner is shouting "SEND ME SOME ADVICE I CAN USE!!" Jennie and Stacy did just that!!

220 of 282 people found the following review helpful

1.0 out of 5 stars passionate about being a housewife but not about this book November 19, 2007

By Karen F. Campbell

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

Since I have been a conservative Christian for 44 years and a housewife and homemaker for 33 years, have homeschooled a large family, and have grown children walking with the Lord, one might think that this book resonated with me and that I loved it. After all, I have spent most of my life living the life this book describes and would encourage other wives and mothers to do likewise. Serving a husband and family is an incredible and high calling.

But I was greatly disappointed in Passionate Housewives.

I believe the Word of God to be sure and true and applicable to all people in all times and in all places. In this book, Jennie Chancy and Stacy McDonald attempt to Americanize and Westernize Scripture, imposing their own worldview onto passages like Titus 2, instructing all women that it is a Biblical mandate, foreordained before creation, to live just like them.

One interesting theme the runs throughout the book, and that shouldn't be taken lightly, is that anyone who is a Bible believing Christian, but who differs from them on any point concerning the roles of women, is a "white washed feminist" and is headed down a path to worst destruction than secular feminism has produced. This is poppycock.

You must remember that the authors are both hardcore Dominionists who believe in only one role for all women within the Kingdom of God, that is, to be wives and homemakers. They consider anyone outside that paradigm, single women, barren women, those women who have given their lives to missionary work, those who have already raised children, etc. to be outside the "prescriptive will of God," indeed, they are said to be "blaspheming God's name" (sinning) if they are not at home.

As with every book published by Vision Forum, there is a one-size-fits-all approach that teaches that family life centers around the father of the home, rather than Jesus Christ, making for a patriocentric lifestyle that is merely idolatry rather than genuine Biblical Christianity.

I would encourage any husband who sees his wife with this book in her hand, to take it immediately to his pastor and elders and ask for their opinion on the Biblical soundness of the teachings it contains. Ask your leaders about Dominion Theology and the National Center for Family Integrated Churches. Become a Berean, doing all that you can to understand the context in which this book was written and then decide how "Biblical" it is. To blindly accept this book as truth for all women without doing your homework will be to your own folly and that of your family.