Joy Bowser- A Wife and A Witness

Joy Bowser- A Wife and A Witness Ursula Hill Gorman ‘A Wife and A Witness, Loving your spouse to the lord’ by Joy Ellen Review Bo

09/22/2026

Worship in Spirit and Truth
Ephesians 6:1-4
"6 Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. 2 Honor your father and mother (which is the first commandment with a promise), 3 so that it may turn out well for you, and that you may live long on the earth.

4 Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord."

Thoughts- I have been all of these things mentioned here, except a father, I've heard this passage all my life. I had a loving and generous dad. I was his princess, just ask my four brothers. I was his only princess except for mom. He looked at her as if she was his everything, and she was. My husband looks at me the same way. It's that love! When love is in the house this passage is not difficult to keep. But when fear, anger, misunderstanding are allowed to exist in a house, it is easier to be provoked, angry and fearful. So how to fix that? We look again at submission. We think we are to submit as an act of approval. It isn't. It is an act of surrender. Husbands surrendering their needs and desires to the Lord for the sake of his family, whom he loves almost as the Lord himself. Wives, surrendering their opinions, their wants and needs, to the husband who stands before God, responsible and in humbleness to God as he interacts in his decisions for his family. Children, surrendering themselves to the will of their parents, fathers and mothers, to be made complete and whole, before God. Brought up in God's word. Allowing God to work inside of you to be the better person that your Heavenly Father can see within you. Living in peace with your parents as you work your life closer and closer to God, no matter your age. Respectfully caring for them, carrying their burdens, living with them if necessary and keeping them safe till God calls them home. There is no greater call to worship than to be a caretaker for your family. To your children first and then to your parents. With willing and grateful hearts.

09/22/2026

Worship in Spirit and Truth
Ephesians 5:25-33
"25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her, 26 so that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, 27 that He might present to Himself the church in all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that she would be holy and blameless. 28 So husbands also ought to love their own wives as their own bodies. He who loves his own wife loves himself; 29 for no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ also does the church, 30 because we are parts of His body. 31 For this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh. 32 This mystery is great; but I am speaking with reference to Christ and the church. 33 Nevertheless, as for you individually, each husband is to love his own wife the same as himself, and the wife must see to it that she respects her husband."

Thoughts- Does your husband love you in this way? I don't want the quick answer here. I want the thought about, considering the facts look from an unbiased person perspective. Sometimes as women we don't see the forest for the trees. In my first book A Wife and A Witness, I covered this passage in Chapter 2- Submit-Whether Or Not You Think He's Fit.
I chose that title on purpose because it follows the idea that I had heard so many times from those women from my old church. As wives each one of them decided that their unbelieving husband or their "non-attending" husband, maybe their opinionated husband or their not always smart husband, whatever label they chose to use- they gave themselves a pass for submitting to their husband.
I can tell you it was honestly more difficult to submit to my husband when he was a Christian husband than when he was not.
Why? Because non-Christian husbands don't always think of themselves as leaders of the household. Most think of democracy and if there is a disagreement there will be a discussion and a compromise. Many couples have separate checking accounts and continue to make their own decisions. Christian marriage is more inclined to take to heart the teaching of two becoming one in all areas not just sexually and that is bound to bring up issues that will require someone to make a decision and someone else to feel "not heard' unless the husband loves as Christ loved the church. The bride of Christ finds itself provided for over and above what she can hope or think because died for her and in his inheritance all that he has belongs to her. He sees the church perfect and blameless and beautiful!
So let me ask you this, when you submit to your husband do you do it in a way that makes you look beautiful to your husband? When you are submitting to Christ do you submit in the same way? Or do you do both, kicking and screaming as you try to submit to the request, either by Jesus himself or by your husband? This passage asks us to submit to our husbands in the same way we submit to the Lord...Take your time as you consider your answer.
Consider this at the same time-"Does this (passage) mean that the woman is nothing in God's eyes without the husband? No it means she is everything in the eyes of her husband and God is glorified in that!"

09/20/2026

Worship in Spirit and Truth
Ephesians 5:22-24
"22 Wives, subject yourselves to your own husbands, as to the Lord. 23 For the husband is the head of the wife, as Christ also is the head of the church, He Himself being the Savior of the body. 24 But as the church is subject to Christ, so also the wives ought to be to their husbands in everything."

Thoughts- Today's thoughts go back to 47 years ago. Attending a small Pentecostal Church in rural Ohio. There were many women attending without their husbands. I was a single young lady, with a desire to be married to Christian man. Discussions regarding marriage with many of these women brought forth a concenses of
" My husband isn't Christian so I don't have to submit to him. I do what I want, Jesus is my only authority." I knew in my heart that this opinion was not scripturally correct." I was not surprised a decade later to find that congregation closing its doors. I was never really certain of what had happened there as Bill and I left the congregation very shortly after our marriage, but we were excited when two of the best "grandma figures" from that church came and joined us in our new congregation at Neapolis.
What does how we submit to our spouse have to do with our worship? It has everything to do with our relationship to the Lord. It has everything to do with how we see our spouse. It has everything to do with how we look to others in the faith who are looking to us for encouragement and strength by our examples.
If we are not loving and submitting to our spouse (and for wives that means RESPECT (Spell it like Aretha if you like) If we are not treating our spouse in the ways of I Corinthians 13 4-8; we are treating our worship to God in the ways of I Corinthians 13:1-3.
"If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. 3 If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing."
If we came into the marriage as a Christian, we have promised our spouse "to love, honor and obey and our keep ourselves to him as long as we both shall live." If we fail to keep that promise because our husband is not a Christian, we have lied to him. That is on us- not on him. (See I Corinthians 7:1-17) Take your time reading that passage- let the Holy Spirit convict you, if necessary.
If you came into the marriage as equally yoked unbelievers and you have come to find God's salvation for yourself, how can you give up hope for your husband to find it also? He will not find it if you walk away from your marriage vows. You must woo your husband to find love and grace through your love and mercy to Him through the Holy Spirit living inside you. Submission is a good first step.
Christ is our example. As we submit lovingly to Christ as our head, He will lovingly help us to restore our marriages as well.

09/19/2026

Worship in Spirit and Truth
Ephesians 5:15-21
"15 So then, be careful how you walk, not as unwise people but as wise, 16 making the most of your time, because the days are evil. 17 Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. 18 And do not get drunk with wine, in which there is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit, 19 speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with your hearts to the Lord; 20 always giving thanks for all things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to our God and Father; 21and subject yourselves to one another in the fear of Christ."

Thoughts- What do you do with your time? What does your "walk" look like? How does your calendar fill up? If you are like us and retirement age- it's probably full of doctor appointments. We are also heavily engaged right now with soccer season and football games for our grandchildren. Church events are there also. I also spend a good share of my time taking a cousin to his doctor appointments and am on call to assist an elderly friend with taking her to places that are outside her comfort zone to drive anymore.
That being said, I spend way too much time on social media- it has become a rabbit hole for me. I can pick up my phone to text or call someone, manage to click on Facebook and two hours later, I still haven't called or texted the person and have probably forgotten who it was I was calling or texting. I am admitting it (confessing) today and hope to make wiser use of my time going forward. I even have a plan for making it happen.
Don't get me wrong, I enjoy seeing posts from family and friends and keeping up with people from our past. BUT I also know that a lot of posts of political persuasion divide and cause arguments among family and friends. I don't want to be a part of that. I believe that we can find mutual ground. I am also trying to limit those kinds of posts as far as sharing but I may share a few here and there and I am hoping if you disagree and want to say something negative that you will just scroll on. If you can say something positive please do so! We need to learn to "find the good" to "see the truth." You may not "like" the truth. It may convict you a pinch, or it may cause you to pause and think. Say that, "Joy, I don't necessarily agree but I see some truth..." That's all I am asking. I try to do the same. We need to learn to communicate well.
A lot of what is on Facebook is what my grandkids call "Clickbait." I often get suckered into the 20 minute story lines. That needs to stop, I don't need to waste my time on that.
I have Bible Studies to do, meditations to have and share, a book to write, another two to market, a husband to care for and kids and grandkids to be with. God doesn't care if I am on Facebook today or not. He does care if I am ministering to people and sometimes Facebook is that reach. But it isn't the only thing to do today.
It is as dangerous to me as the alcohol is to the believer. It can take over and grieve the Spirit just the same as dependance on alcohol and debauchery. It takes our focus off Christ and what He has done for us!
Guard your time. Make it pleasant, keep it pure, spend it with those that you love. Show grace and mercy and kindness, compassionate in all that you do! Submit to one another in the love of Christ!

09/18/2026

Worship in Spirit and Truth
Ephesians 5:6-14
"6 See that no one deceives you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. 7 Therefore do not become partners with them; 8 for you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord; walk as children of light 9 (for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness, and truth), 10 as you try to learn what is pleasing to the Lord. 11 Do not participate in the useless deeds of darkness, but instead even expose them; 12 for it is disgraceful even to speak of the things which are done by them in secret. 13 But all things become visible when they are exposed by the light, for everything that becomes visible is light. 14 For this reason it says,

“Awake, sleeper,
And arise from the dead,
And Christ will shine on you.”

Thoughts- I just came from sitting in a waiting room in a local hospital where I listened to a couple people talk about the current state of our society. As I listened I was aware that these two people were probably from different political parties but they were actually saying the exact same things, It was apparent that the issue they saw predominately true is people don't speak the truth. We don't know what to believe, there are no rights for the common law abiding citizens and no economic relief for the middle class. But no one will speak that truth. Have you wondered why people are unable to speak the truth? No one knows what the truth is! We live under the effects of darkness. It permeates what we see, what we hear, what we believe and eventually it leaves us void of even the most elemental truths that we knew before. We are stripped of our "common sense" as we listen to educated people speak of things that make no sense at all but back it up with terminology and letters behind their names that no one knows what they mean. We accept what these people tell us as "the gospel truth." While pushing the true "GOOD NEWS OF JESUS further and further away. Our greatest and earliest universities in this country were began as schools of religious instruction and today there is no such instruction available in any of them.
The Apostle Paul says it plainly to the church at Ephesus. When we are deceived by the empty words of this world, we become sons of disobedience rather than the sons of God. We then receive the wrath of God rather than the GRACE of God! OUR CHOICE- Words full of light are words of compassion, faith, hope, love, encouragement, conviction, strength. These are words that are spoken by the power of the Holy Spirit from the mouths, minds and hearts of true believers, true followers of God. We are the ones who are being silenced under the lies of "separation of church and state", "we were never a Christian nation," "one should never talk about religion or politics" and another dozen or so platitudes I could add. We call it "politically correct" while in reality it is "spiritual corruption" and a "spiritual searing" of all that is holy being able to be transmitted into our hardened hearts.
This is the best part of the passage right here- "13 But all things become visible when they are exposed by the light, for everything that becomes visible is light. 14 For this reason it says,

“Awake, sleeper,
And arise from the dead,
And Christ will shine on you.”
I want to be enlightened by the light of Christ my Savior! I want to see and know the TRUTH which is Christ! I want to remain awake and warn those who are still in the darkness!

09/17/2026

Worship in Spirit and Truth
Ephesians 5:1-5
"5 Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children; 2 and walk in love, just as Christ also loved you and gave Himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma.

3 But sexual immorality or any impurity or greed must not even be mentioned among you, as is proper among saints; 4 and there must be no filthiness or foolish talk, or vulgar joking, which are not fitting, but rather giving of thanks. 5 For this you know with certainty, that no sexually immoral or impure or greedy person, which amounts to an idolater, has an inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God."

Thoughts- One of the first signs of worship when you have an idol, a sports hero, a movie star, a musician is imitation. For those who are sports fanatics- we have to wear "their" jersey. We may spend over $100 to get the jersey of their team with "their" number on it. We want to identify with that person. We may try to dress similar to the movie star or the singer. Michael Jackson's fan base, might where the black parachute pants, black dress shoes and a glove on their hand. Tom Cruse fans may get their hair styled like his and get the aviator sun glasses. We want to identify with those who we "worship."
We don't often carry that over to spiritual life. Many of us hold our "fan-anctics" in higher regard than our spiritual condition. Football on Sunday may take precedence over worship services if we are fortunate enough to have season tickets to events. Even at elementary and high schools levels we encourage sport over athletics in not voicing opinions when our children's activities keep them from Godly spiritual education opportunities.
Instead- We are to be imitators of God! We are to look and act as His kids! We must put off the ways of those around us. We aren't of this world. We don't have to 'Identify" as anyone in it. We don't have to dress the way they dress, talk they way they talk, live like they live. In fact, God tells us to flee from it! No one who lives like the world will inherit what God has for us! It is all in or all out. I want to live "ALL IN!"

09/16/2026

Worship In Spirit and Truth
Ephesians 4:25-32
" 25 Therefore, ridding yourselves of falsehood, speak truth each one of you with his neighbor, because we are parts of one another. 26 Be angry, and yet do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, 27 and do not give the devil an opportunity. 28 The one who steals must no longer steal; but rather he must labor, producing with his own hands what is good, so that he will have something to share with the one who has need. 29 Let no unwholesome word come out of your mouth, but if there is any good word for edification according to the need of the moment, say that, so that it will give grace to those who hear. 30 Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. 31 All bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and slander must be removed from you, along with all malice. 32 Be kind to one another, compassionate, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you."
Thoughts- How do we "grieve the Holy Spirit?" By walking in ways contrary to God's plan. We grieve the Holy Spirit by walking in ways that are fleshly and demonic, disobedient to the laws of God. When we are sealed by the Holy Spirit of God, we are "Kept" by God for our eternal reward. He places that seal upon us. We are a letter "sealed" by a seal bearing the symbol of our Father, our Lord, our Master. To be opened again to the fleshly desires, our human-ness, our bent to sin over again, causes grief to the One Who is given to us to protect, and comfort. Instead the Spirit must again convict and bring us back to holiness in Christ. When we allow our seal to be broken, we give the devil back power to deal in and through us all over again and our reputation, our testimony, our witness now becomes tarnished and unreliable to those we are leading to Christ.
Instead, we are to be kind, compassionate, forgiving one another just as Christ forgives us!

09/16/2026

Worship In Spirit and Truth
Ephesians 4:25-32
" 25 Therefore, ridding yourselves of falsehood, speak truth each one of you with his neighbor, because we are parts of one another. 26 Be angry, and yet do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, 27 and do not give the devil an opportunity. 28 The one who steals must no longer steal; but rather he must labor, producing with his own hands what is good, so that he will have something to share with the one who has need. 29 Let no unwholesome word come out of your mouth, but if there is any good word for edification according to the need of the moment, say that, so that it will give grace to those who hear. 30 Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. 31 All bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and slander must be removed from you, along with all malice. 32 Be kind to one another, compassionate, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you."

Thoughts- How do we "grieve the Holy Spirit?" By walking in ways contrary to God's plan. We grieve the Holy Spirit by walking in ways that are fleshly and demonic, disobedient to the laws of God. When we are sealed by the Holy Spirit of God, we are "Kept" by God for our eternal reward. He places that seal upon us. We are a letter "sealed" by a seal bearing the symbol of our Father, our Lord, our Master. To be opened again to the fleshly desires, our human-ness, our bent to sin over again, causes grief to the One Who is given to us to protect, and comfort. Instead the Spirit must again convict and bring us back to holiness in Christ. When we allow our seal to be broken, we give the devil back power to deal in and through us all over again and our reputation, our testimony, our witness now becomes tarnished and unreliable to those we are leading to Christ.
Instead, we are to be kind, compassionate, forgiving one another just as Christ forgives us!

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Liberty Center, OH
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