Today we welcome Sis of  Passionate Christian Marriage.  Sis ministers to women who are in difficult marriages.  Her vulnerability increases the power of her insights.  Her love and understanding of Christ’s redemption is inspiring.  She touches my heart when I read her words.

Please continue reading Sis’ words as she imparts a merciful and weighty ponderance in, “The Help.”

 Starting In A Place Of Brokenness

There’s this movie called “The Help” that came out a few years ago.  It takes place in the 1960’s and is about relationships between white and black people (with a focus on the women) during the civil rights era.  It’s an amazing movie with fascinating characters and a great message, but today I’m feeling inspired to write about a small part of the movie that spoke to me.

There was a love triangle between Hilly, Johnny, and Celia.  Hilly and Johnny had been dating forever, he was the richest boy in town and she was the prom queen.  She was a strong Christian, a leader, and successful at what she did.  Johnny left her and spontaneously married Celia from the poor south.  Celia tried to dress like Marilyn Monroe, she wore her sweaters too tight, and she was obviously trashy….although very beautiful.  Celia had no idea how to fit in and all the girls hated her anyway because she dressed so sexy and she had stolen Johnny from Hilly.

Hilly followed the rules, she dressed conservatively and she was president of the women’s society.  By all outward appearances, Hilly was a better catch and Johnny was being stupid and marrying a girl just because she was sexy and pretty.  It appears like Johnny was being foolish and would grow to regret it.  But Celia had a redeeming feature that I think about often.

Celia was broken and humble.

Johnny rescued her from a horrible life of poverty, she had no idea why he came and got her.  He set her up in his mansion and she had no idea how to take of it, how to be a wife, she couldn’t even cook for him without burning everything.  She was obviously a bad wife, and then she hired a maid and the maid cooked for her and taught her how to cook and she lied to Johnny pretending the meals were made by her.  She was also drunk most of the time (which was because of some Indian tonic she was taking to try to get pregnant).

As a woman, it’s easy to hate Celia, to dismiss her as a whore; but Johnny saw something in her he couldn’t resist, and I think it was her humility.  Celia would do anything to please Johnny, she knew she didn’t deserve him, she couldn’t get anything right, but her heart was in the right place with him.  She started in a place of brokenness.

I think God wants us to start in a place of brokenness with Him too.  Christ is not only our example and our Savior, He is our vine that we are grafted on to.  He can’t use us until we die to ourselves and let Him do His work in us.  It makes sense why He visited the thieves and the prostitutes, it is impossible for Him to transform someone who doesn’t die to Him and as long as we’re “following the rules” and doing things right on our own, there is no need for us to die.

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I’m Sis…follower of Christ, wife, and mother of three daughters.  I blog over at Passionate Christian Marriage.  I have a passion for helping marriages.