A More Excellent Way of Marriage

Hi All.

I am in Ephesians this week. I am trying to read the word as real and living. There is truth there that applies to my life. As I read Eph 5:22-33 I find myself wondering.. okay Lord... I can ignore this now.. This part... does not apply... NEXT...

All these years... so called friends... your too fat, your need to dress up, your too assertive, or wear makeup in order to get a guy..'Christian women' who would tell me to just look for a decent guy that believes in God...A good Jewish guy would do or Catholic. I found single woman greatly outnumber single men at the churches I had gone to in the past... beside... American men... are not attracted to short, chubby ladies... now... if I lived in Italy.... Ha.... I must move to Italy!

One of the last weddings I went to.. this Pastor told the bride 'smart women have a harder time submitting to their husbands' as if to admonish her. Two couples I loved... one husband abandoned his wife another one left the wife of his youth for a friend of mine. The husband who abandon his family... I use to think he was a 'great guy'. Both families were devastated. A wreck was left in the wake of that mess. I have seen so much pain through the years and unhappiness in people I come to care a lot about yet some people seem to get by with okay marriages.. yet there is still seems to be something missing.

How is this 'marriage' thing supposed to work? Is all hope lost? Can a believing man demand his wife submit to him? It says in the book here as he throws it in front of her face... A woman who complains about her husband to me yet at the same time.. demeans him in front of others... or places her own needs and wants before those of her husbands.

Is there a better way? There are marriage books out there... I have read of few..
the five love languages.. other christian hype...there is some value is understanding how the opposite sex thinks.. yet

What speaks to me about this passage of scripture...is Christ.. who gave Himself up for the Church... He will wash the church (us) in his word, sanctify (set apart), and present the church holy blameless to Himself.. He wants this for His church.. which includes both men and woman.. we are to submit to His word.. putting others first before themselves. For wives, this would be their husbands.. Out of Love for their Lord and Savior... they will submit to their husbands putting his needs first..
Husbands.. will love their wives... even to death on the cross.. As Christ gave Himself for the Church..

God the Creator of both men and woman... has determine this is the more excellent way. He knows man... Husbands long for the respect of their wives.. Wives long for the care and protection of their husbands..

This goes against the very grain of society today... What can God show me... the short fat lady...This was His plan from the beginning.. I can pray for those who are married that they would follow His plan.. It is the best way.