There is a clear distinction between being a strong woman and wanting to be independent.
Being strong is encouraged by the word of God.
Proverbs 31:17 NIV
[17] She sets about her work vigorously; her arms are strong for her tasks.
Being independent is encouraged by the world.
I remember desperately trying to hold onto my independence as a strong woman when we first got married, feeling overwhelmed to not “lose” myself completely in marriage and let a “man” tell me what to do and run my life.
The word independence is defined as being self-reliant, self-dependent, self-sufficient, all good words if you’re single and probably how you should be before you get married.
However, the Bible says we are one, it also says my husband is head over me and I must submit to his leadership.
The word one means a single unit, there is no self-reliance, self-dependency, self-sufficiency indicated here, only inter-dependence between my husband and I.
We need to stop listening to the lies of being “independent women” when we are married. It is impossible to be worse off when you lose your independence in marriage, God doesn’t instruct us to do anything that will harm us, only that which will ultimately bless us.
Ephesians 5:31 NIV
[31] “For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.”
Ephesians 5:22-24 NIV
[22] Wives, submit yourselves to your own husbands as you do to the Lord. [23] For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior.
God bless you,
@helperwife