Read Maya And The Tough Guy for Free Online Page B

it.”
    “That’s right,” Mrs. Kratz said.
    Addy put her hand up. “I just feel it relevant to point out that the same verse tells husbands the same thing. The husband isn’t to withhold sex from his wife. In fact, every verse in the New Testament that we use to define a wife’s duty in marriage, has equal and equivalent direction for the husband. Submission and self-sacrifice are virtues of all humans, not just wives.”
    Mrs. Kratz gave her a pressed-lip smile. “Yes, dear. But I have no authority to speak to men about their duties to their wives. All I can do is help myself and my fellow women better themselves as wives and mothers. You’ll understand, one day, assuming you plan to marry.”  
    Addy fell back in her chair. She shot Maya a shrug and an eye roll. Maya tried not to smile.  
    “Now, what about if you feel your husband is too demanding?” a woman asked. “I mean, I work full time and bear sole responsibility for the house and kids. The last thing on my mind when I fall into bed at night is pleasing my husband. Is it unreasonable for me to ask him to—forbear—at least until the weekend?”
    “How about it, class?” Mrs. Kratz asked. “Anyone?”
    Maya timidly raised her hand. Whenever these classes addressed the topic of marriage, which they almost always did, she tended to apply them to her fantasy marriage to her fantasy Prince Charming in her fantasy, two-story Colonial with a white picket fence. “I think as long as there’s respectful communication on both sides, it’s okay to let him know that you’re overburdened and need some space.”
    Another tight-lipped smile from Mrs. Kratz. “That may be what you think, Maya, but we concern ourselves with what the scripture says. What does this scripture tell us?”
    “To roll over and take it for the team,” Addy said.
    “Addison!” her mother gasped from the other side of her.
    Maya bit her lip. “It says to submit to our husband’s needs.”
    “That’s right. Lesley, if you’re feeling overburdened, just remember: God first, then husband, then children. Your housework and career come in a distant fourth and fifth. If you don’t have time for your husband, then your life is too filled with ungodly interests.”
    Seemed a little harsh. But Maya wasn’t one to judge. After all, Mrs. Kratz was in her thirty-fifth year of happy and stable marriage.
    “What about in situations of abuse?” another woman asked. Maya barely knew her, and there was no indication she was targeting her question towards Maya. In fact, she might not even know of Maya’s history, but the question still hit Maya hard.
    “Class?” Mrs. Kratz asked.
    “If you’re in an abusive relationship, you need to get out. If he’s unfaithful, you can divorce him and remarry, but if he’s not, you just have to stay single,” said a woman.
    This was one of those rules Maya intended to break and then hope God’s grace covered her. She didn’t want to be alone forever. Sure, now was not the time for romance with kids to raise and a life to get together, but she was still a young woman. She still had hopes and dreams and one of those dreams was to fall in love with a nice guy and have him love her in return.
    “Right,” Mrs. Kratz said. “Of course, political correctness and pop psychology would never allow the world to accept the idea of a woman staying with her abusive husband. But there are situations wherein women have remained in abusive marriages. By continually submitting to their husbands as Christ’s church is to submit to Christ, these women have won their husbands over to the path of righteousness and are now in loving, gentle relationships.”
    Maya blushed to her hairline. It felt like a judgment on her own actions. It wasn’t as though she didn’t have enough self-doubt. Now to hear this, from a respected lady of the church, it weighed her down.  
    She felt like slinking under the table and hiding for the rest of the class. She thought about the