Episodes
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The point of our faith is not to argue it well, but to sincerely and genuinely believe what is unchangeable about Godâs design and plan.
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RECOMMENDED READING:
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The God Who Is There by Francis Schaeffer
Mama Bear Apologetics by Hillary Morgan Ferrer, et al
The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self by Carl Truman
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This week, we are discussing classical Christ-centered femininity, the focus of my little âmanifestoâ here, and why it all centers around homemaking.
This is the podcast version of the post, Classical Christian femininity in a post-truth world where you can read more at length about my seven points of classical Christian femininity.
Also, I shared a bit about scripture meditation and how this can help with our first point: surrender.
Check out The James Method for the scripture memorization journal I mentioned that would be a wonderful way to start a regular habit of scripture meditation. Save 10% with my code: âIsa10.â
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Episodes manquant?
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A quick chat this morning about a womanâs feminine value as it is defined by God, not the world or our own misconceptions.
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Hello friends! Welcome to my new weekly newsletter and podcast. Each week, weâll be chatting about all things femininity, marriage, motherhood, and/or homemaking as well as answering anonymous reader questions and chatting about one of my very favorite topics â books!
A few notes before we get started:
ICYMI, premium subscribers can access our book club discussion on Live Not By Lies and Ephesians here (or you can upgrade to join, weâd love to have you).
Also, I want to mention that my intimate mentorship community for women, Liberated Surrender, is now just $10 a month. The group is designed to give support, guidance, and feedback to devout Christian women exploring and growing in their femininity as God designed it. (Tap here to learn more.)
Finally, my very favorite company for Bible study resources, The James Method, has just restocked their bestselling verse-mapping journal, which Iâve shared with you all several times! Use my code âISA10â to save 10% and help support two Christian-mama-owned companies in one!
OK, enough housekeeping, letâs dive in:
The women at the well: femininity in redemption
This morning, I was so blessed by a reading from a Bible study on femininity I just started from my friend Brittany of A Catholic Convert. No, Iâm not Catholic, and yes, this study is absolutely worth doing regardless of your denomination (also there is a third Christian-mama owned business you can support if you purchase her study through her Etsy shop â I have no formal affiliation, just a happy customer).
The reading was from Genesis 24, when Abrahamâs servant is sent to find a wife for Isaac and ultimately encounters Rebekah, after praying for the right woman for his masterâs son to give him water and then offer to water his camels, as well.
It struck me that the incident really beautifully parallels Jesusâ encounter with the Samaritan woman at the well in John 4, when He tells her He is well aware of her less-than-chaste past and nonetheless reveals Him to her as the Messiah of God.
In Rebekahâs encounter with the servant, she runs home to her family to tell her his news.
The Samaritan woman, after her conversation with the Lord Jesus, runs back to her village to tell the men she thinks he might be the Christ.
While Rebekah was a virgin who had known no man, the Samaritan woman has had several husbands and is living with a man sheâs not married to.
The parallels to the children of Israel and the redeemed Bride of Christ are so deep and so powerful; it never ceases to amaze me how these themes are woven throughout scripture so intricately and all trace back to the beauty and drama of the creation account and the establishment of humanity â and its ultimate fall from grace â upon the finishing touch of Eveâs creation from Adam and for Adam.
Writer though I am, itâs almost difficult to put into words, but I know this much: sisters, we are redeemed.
No matter our past, when we come to Christ fully bared, He covers us with His love and Salvation. It was this message on the Samaritan woman that saved me 13 years ago, and it is the perfect picture of feminine grace and chastity in Rebekah that I know Christâs Lordship in my life produces.
You are a daughter of God and a sister, bride, lover to Christ your Lord. Never forget this.
Dear Helpmeet
Each week, Iâll be answering anonymous reader questions for my new âcolumn,â Dear Helpmeet. Upgrade to ask your questions or, if youâre already a premium subscriber, visit this page to access the private submission form.
Q: Iâve been praying for more discipline and consistency with my routines. No matter what I do, I always seem to drop something. If I have a win in one area, I fail at something else.
I could not possibly relate to this more. This was where I was at for years, and it was really exhausting and discouraging. The absolute first thing I would recommend is to prioritize God and your relationships. Not necessarily the perfect Bible study and prayer routine, but a rich spiritual life in whatever way makes sense for you. You also canât see prioritizing your relationships as doing certain things for or with your family members, because when these routines get disrupted, you can easily feel frustrated. Prioritize the people and cultivate a warm, patient heart towards them, through all the disrupted routines and plan changes.
Next, cull everything in your life you possibly can. Itâs far worse to try the same tasks over and over and always fail than to simply give up. This can take a lot of humility; we often want to hold on to the dream that we can stick to our perfect routine or finally complete all those projects, but we are causing so much detriment to our mental peace by clinging on to these dreams.
Let go, aim far, far, lower, and youâll start to get an accurate gauge of what you can get done each day. Then, one step at a time, itâs much easier to work in the tasks youâd like to get to and refine your routine to an effective, productive, rewarding one.
The Book Stack
As per usual this week, I am listening to yet another Agatha Christie novel, The Pale Horse. I find all her novels so incredibly deep and profound, so much more than the cozy whodunnit sheâs generally associated with. The dialogue between the characters and the displays of human nature just make me think so much, especially with the backdrop of the quickly changing post-WWII world that her novels are often set before.
Meanwhile, the latest installment of my apparent obsession with books on masculine and feminine polarity is the book His Brain, Her Brain by Barb Larimore and Walt Larimore M.D. This books combine brain science and scriptural wisdom to explain not only how different we are, but how God designed us perfectly to be different!
Finally, I stumbled across a cozy vintage English countryside romance author recently, D.E. Stevenson. It centers around four sisters living in a village during WWII, and itâs very sweet and light without being too frivolous or cheesy.
What are you reading, friend? Iâd love to hear in the comments!
Thanks so much for joining me today. If you are enjoying A Homemakerâs Manifesto, tell a friend, Iâd be so grateful! Have a beautiful week.
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Welcome to my new weekly podcast where we will be discussing faith, virtue, and womanhood, answering anonymous reader/listener questions for my Dear Helpmeet advice âcolumn,â and chatting books, current events, culture, and more.
Please subscribe to A Homemakerâs Manifesto on Substack for more, and make sure to upgrade to a premium subscription for access to the Dear Helpmeet submission form, book club discussions, and more exclusive content.
Doing so helps support my page and keeps it free from Big Tech influence or censorship!
For great Bible study tools and resources including the verse mapping journal I mentioned on this podcast, check out The James Method and save 10% by using my link.
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It was such a joy to chat with my dear friend Alison about her personal testimony out of the new age and how the Christian faith is where she has found, by far, the most fulfilling expression of femininity.
(Apologies for the poor sound quality in the first few minutes! It improves as the podcast goes on, I promise!)
Alison and I recently joined forces to create a unique mentorship group for Christian women who are seeking to grow in their femininity through faith.
Request more information on how to join: Liberated Surrender
Follow Alison on Instagram or visit her website here.
Also, please subscribe to A Homemakerâs Manifesto blog and podcast to support my work and receive free updates in your inbox and the Substack app.
Are you interested in marriage but youâre sick of hookup culture on mainstream dating apps? Join The Courtship Network to find like-minded singles who share your values and convictions.
Other resources I love:
Araza Beauty creates nourishing, good-for-you makeup that looks amazing and supports a good cause: part of every purchase is donated to support survivors of sex trafficking and abuse.
The James Method is one of my favorite Bible study tools for digging deep into the Scripture and branding Godâs Word on your heart through verse mapping, memorization, and meditation.
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Today we are chatting about holistic health from a biblical perspective. I share a bit about my childhood with a crunchy mom, how this paradigm has influenced me throughout my life, my current interest in herbalism, and whatâs in my modern apothecary.
Resources:
The Practice of Traditional Western HâŠ
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This week we discuss what Godâs supremacy means for earthly governance, how we can love our country while being truthful about its imperfections, and how re-learning U.S. and world history from a Christian perspective helped me grow in my faith and understanding of God.
Right now, Iâm offering annual subscriptions to my premium community including book club and exclusive podcasts for just $20 a year.
Upgrade today and youâll automatically be entered to win a pair of Bluetooth headphones, three audiobooks of your choice, and more.
Meanwhile, my good friend Alison and I have launched a mentorship group for Christian women who are looking to grow in their journey of biblical womanhood and submission to Godâs design.
It is an intimate community to provide support and understanding as we holistically pursue Christ-centered femininity and would love to have you join us if it sounds like a good fit.
Also, if you are single and looking for a like-minded spouse: Iâve been so pleased to partner with The Courtship Network, a new platform that is seeking to defeat hookup culture and help marriage-minded men and women get married.
Sign up today and help support this page!
Recommended resources:
Pagan Christianity, Frank Viola
Worth reading if you donât agree with him, it actually really softened my heart to institutional church history into the revival movements of the U.S. and is a great snapshot of church history if itâs new to you.
Live Not By Lies, Rod Dreher
A look at what it was like to be a member of the Christian resistance behind the Iron Curtain; it is mandatory reading for any believer living in todayâs current cultural climate in my very humble opinion.
The Right Side of History, Ben Shapiro
Whether you are a fan of Shapiro or not, he nonetheless delivers an excellent overview of Western civilization and thought that is a great antidote to modern revisionist history.
The Patriotâs History of the United States, Larry Schweikart, Michael Allen
I was always looking for the anti-The Peopleâs History of the United States, which was written by Howard Zinn and inspired much of the populationâs general distortion of U.S. history
America, Dinesh DâSouza
DâSouza is a Christian who immigrated to the United States from India as a young man. His refutation of left-wing revisionist history is not free of his own perspective, but it is both passionate and excellent.
101 Bible Verses That Shaped America, Robert J. Morgan
This is a wonderful work of both history and devotion and gives a great look at just how much faith indeed did define the paradigm of many of our nationâs great leaders.
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Eveâs creation, the virtue of homemaking, why we need to be careful discussing this issue in an earthly or legalistic mindset, and my raw, honest take on the Transformed Wife.
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In Episode 2 of A Homemakerâs Manifesto Podcast, we chat with Anneliese of Feminine Not Feminist about feminism, the effects of the Fall and Eveâs curse on our marriage, combating affirmation culture with personal responsibility, embracing the process of constant growth, and more.
Follow Anneliese at @feminine_not_feminist on Instagram and her podcast, Feminine Not Feminist.
You can find Isa at A Homemakerâs Manifesto on Substack and @a.homemakers.manifesto on Instagram.
Books mentioned:
The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self by Carl R. Trueman
Love Thy Body by Nancy R. Pearcey
The Household and the War for the Cosmos by C.R. Wiley
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Hello friends!
I have been publishing podcasts with each of my posts lately which I have been really enjoying, but in the next few weeks it is going to be expanding to include some awesome guests along with regular episodes on all of the topics we cover here.
Today I sat down to share a bit about me and my background and what drove me from a progressive feminist upbringing to embrace biblical patriarchy, what it means to be a âkeeper at homeâ in an era of career women, and some practical tips for shifting your habits and mindset so your husband can relax when he gets home from work.
A Homemakerâs Manifesto is the podcast companion to my independent publication over on Substack.
Please subscribe for regular blog posts and podcast updates, right now you can save 50% for one year to access the full site and twice as much content including a book club, exclusive current events round-up and more!.
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It is a common refrain among traditionally-minded women that a man should be able to come home to a clean home and relax, rather than be bogged down with requests to help with dishes, diapers, or other sundry household tasks.
This is a piece of advice that I consider to be quite valuable, personally. Many women, particularly in the busyness and chaos of a household with babies and small children, look forward to their husbandâs return from work as an opportunity to get some help with their own âjobâ at home, an occupation that we all know does not end at the close of business, like the 9-5 that breadwinning husbands typically work.
Yes, household chores are a normal part of adulting, but it is an aspect of family life that often causes tensions when duties are not shared. This is yet another reason why having a full-time homemaker is such a benefit to any family.
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So it stands to reason that a full-time homemaker should be willing to make sure her husband can, at the very least, come home and relax when heâs just finished his primary responsibilities for the day.
This common bit of advice, however, often seems to translate to many as the moral imperative that women should ânever ask your husband to help with housework.â
Encouraging struggling wives who are at home full time to take on the duties of a full-time homemaker without expecting their husbands to help is simply not the same thing as believing a man must never touch a broom or help out with bath time. We are all adults, and itâs hard for a man to raise young children without participating in family life, in whatever form that might take.
But if he is working full time to support his family, we extend very solid advice to his wife when we encourage her to design their family life so that he can relax and enjoy his family at the end of the day.
We do not need to view this as a strict rule but rather a way of life in which a wife cheerfully works towards creating a nice home environment for this to happen, as he works full time to provide for her.
To say that a man âshouldnâtâ have to help out with household chores if he works full time and his wife is a homemaker is like saying a woman âshouldnâtâ have to work if sheâs married and ought to be cared and provided for.
Itâs just a belief about how to extend support and care to oneâs spouse, based on typical, sensible generalities about men and women and how to run and provide for a household.It is an admonishment to a spouse to cheerfully work to make the other one comfortable in a very sensible, enjoyable, mutually beneficial way and to plan to make sure that they can both relax when he gets home.
I believe that this issue is most often addressed because wives who stay at home full-time feel resentful that their husbands get home from full-time jobs and do not want to help out with childcare and cleaning.At least, virtually every discussion Iâve seen about this topic involves women admonishing men and other women that âmen are adults they live there tooâ so it certainly shouldnât be a womanâs sole responsibility to do household chores.
Meanwhile, women who admonish other women to let their husbands relax and not have to worry about chores when they get home are doing so for the aforementioned reasons â because itâs a great way to love on and appreciate your husband, youâre an adult and live in your home too and are also financially provided for, and homemaking is simply not anywhere near as grueling as we seem to have accepted it as. Here's the hard truth: after decades of combating the presumptions of feminism about homemaking, a lot of women have opted to compare homemaking to a full-time job, a practice which unfortunately simply makes it sound, just as the feminists falsely claim, like literal slavery.
Because if homemaking is just like a job, itâs a 24/7/365 job.
But this is simply not the case.
Women have managed to assume sole responsibility over household chores with small children running underfoot for literal millennia, and we have more technology and resources to make our tasks easier than ever before. I know it often doesnât feel like it, but you are capable of managing your house well enough to not have to dump a bunch of chores on your husband when he gets home.
Every husband has his flaws, and a wife will do well to exercise tact and patience when she is struggling unreasonably and her husband wonât support her, yes. But trust me, most responsible men will do their âmanâ chores around the house that often go unappreciated by their wives, if we somehow need further reason to appreciate the work they do for their families when they are working full time.
And generally, a lot of men are going to be way more likely to see a need and pitch in to help if itâs not being shrilly demanded of them at the end of a long day. Itâs not crazy to suggest that any adult human being be patient and considerate when wishing someone would help them out with the tasks that are otherwise generally delegated to them.
After all, a housewife is going to be far more pleasant and eager to manage the home if she feels appreciated, am I, right ladies?On who, then, is the onus to ensure this symbiosis of consideration and pleasantness can occur? Whoever it is who thinks it ought to â but the hard part is that he or she is then the only person whose behavior can be changed.
Man or wife, none of us can morally control the free will of another person, and certainly not with constant contentions nor abuse and tyranny.
So if we want to admonish men to pitch in and help with the duties of family life even if he works full-time, fine. But this is hypocritical and ineffective if we do not also admonish women to do their best to manage the household smartly and â far more importantly â lovingly and patiently. No one can expect to nag their way into healthier and happier marriages. But we can all encourage each other to love selflessly, do unto others, and learn to expect the best from our spouses.
Thereâs no reason this canât extend to housework, too.
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How cherishing the idyllic â even on social media and TV â can bring us genuine joy.
Read full post at IsaRyan.Substack.com
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On Monday, the Senate took one step further towards passing the so-called Respect for Marriage Act that would codify the Supreme Court ruling Obergefell v. Hodges, which made same-sex marriage legal across the country, into federal law.
The bill has been rightly criticized for the threat it poses to the sacred right to oppose and not be compelled to legitimize same-sex marriage â an urgently valid concern, considering the legal persecution of Christians like baker Jack Phillips and florist Barronelle Stutzman in the wake of the Obergefell decision.
Read full post at IsaRyan.Substack.com.
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Actress Anne Hathaway joined the ladies of âThe Viewâ this week and shared a passionate appeal for legalized abortion that echoes some of the most popular pro-abort arguments yet woefully lacks any sound basis in reality.
Praised by the mainstream media for her âpowerfulâ appeal, Hathaway defended abortion with many eloquent, emotive words that ultimately said nothing at all.
Observe:
âWhen you are a young woman starting out your career,â Hathaway explained, confidently reiterating the longstanding pro-abortion argument that unplanned babies can âruinâ a womanâs career potential. âYour reproductive destiny matters a great deal.â
This is itself predicated on the assumption that a womanâs âcareerâ is not necessarily worth avoiding sexual contact with members of the opposite sex, but is worth poisoning or dismembering an unborn baby in the womb.
Hathaway does not, however, consider herself to be callous towards unborn babies. She also echoed the arguments made by the racist, eugenicist members of the early 20th Century Progressive movement by continuing on to say that it can also be an act of âmercyâ to destroy unborn life in the womb.
âMy own personal experience with abortion, and I donât think we talk about this enough, abortion can be another word for mercy,â the actress told the all-woman panel.
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She continued on to argue that this is because âno two pregnancies are alike.â
So, âit follows that no two lives are alike, it follows that no two conceptions are alike. So how can we have a law, how can we have a point of view on this that says we must treat everything the same?â
"When you allow for choice, you allow for flexibility, which is what we need in order to be human,â she declared.
âBy the way, this is not a moral conversation about abortion,â Hathaway also said. âThis is a practical conversation about womenâs rights ⊠and the freedom we all need to be able to choose and build our lives.â
These are the sorts of comments that I frequently get on social media when I post anti-abortion messages, and many American women would nod emphatically along with Hathaway as âThe Viewâ hosts undoubtedly did as she declares âflexibilityâ is âwhat we need in order to be human.â
Yet do they stop to consider if it is remotely true?
It takes no great intellectual prowess to refute this flimsy argument, as âflexibilityâ is not what we need to be human; this is simply not a thing.
What is a thing, however, is the postmodern moral truism that âchoiceâ and âfreedomâ are necessary human rights, at least when it comes to abortion, a womanâs role in her home, and alternative sexual lifestyles.
We have collectively accepted as a modern people the fiercely protected taboo that it is fundamentally wrong to inhibit another personâs life, that morality is relative, and that no one has a right to âtell anyone else what to doâ (sexually, at least, they seem fine inhibiting all sorts of other aspects of our lives, as seen over the last two years).
Yet all law and order and social structures meant to protect the vulnerable and hold the strong accountable for their actions and responsibilities are entirely based on inhibiting human choices that might be destructive to other human beings, to some degree at least.
So itâs ultimately a total non-argument to say something should be legal because, âchoice.â
âFlexibilityâ is no great virtue in and of itself. Itâs certainly not cherished by progressives when confronted with the possibility that white people might not want to take personal responsibility for systemic racism, for example, and it wasnât that long ago that the vast majority of morally convicted Americans would all agree that there should be no flexibility when it comes to sexually assaulting women and children.
I must note that, far too often, Christians end up defending this same kind of âflexibilityâ when it comes to issues clearly outlined by Scripture; while Christian liberty is very real and can be nuanced as far as what it looks like in the lives of individual believers, it has become all too common to extend this argument of personal conviction to suit the worldâs idea of dangerously subjective moral standards, particularly when it comes to sexual and reproductive ethics.
At the end of the day, Anne Hathaway may be a well-known actress, but she is just another American woman who has swallowed and now promulgates the nice-sounding, but logically baseless arguments that lawmakers whose campaigns are supported by Planned Parenthood repeat to preserve the institution of government-sanctioned abortion.
âFlexibilityâ is not what makes us human. In fact, I doubt Hathaway or anyone else who supports abortion can satisfactorily define what it is that makes us human â because when you refuse to acknowledge that it is the fact that we were created in the image of a perfect almighty God that makes us human, anything goes.
And thatâs the kind of moral flexibility that could quickly lead to âmercyâ killings of the physically unfit, terminally ill, mentally deficient, or even (hello, Nazi Germany?) those perceived as dangerous or antisocial to the status quo.
You simply cannot bank your entire argument defending the deliberate taking of a human life on âflexibility.â
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