Chapter 1 - Chelsie

I grew up in a dysfunctional family. My mother was a pastor's kid (PK) and against a host of counsel married a non-christian. She invested a great deal of time and effort into bringing me and my sibling up in a good church, all the while my father HATED God, the church and Christians. As I reached teen years our home life became increasingly bad as we were subject to control, manipulation, and emotional/verbal abuse from my father.

Life began to change for me when I left home to attend college. Away from the chaos and dysfunction of my home life I began to learn how to relate and connect with people in an meaningful way. Through God's grace I came to an amazing bible believing church. 6 years of teaching and loving mentorship with Godly women and families at that church brought me to understand the loving framework that God set out for families to follow.

I really connected with Mahaney's statements about how the world is always watching our behaviors. The women that I learned the most from in my early 20's didn't even know I was watching them. They didn't know that I was noting the way the spoke to and about their husbands, the way that they disciplined their children, the way that their ordered their lives.

In my own journey through marriage and mothering, accepting that the framework of family life laid out in scripture as the right way was the easy part, it made so much more sense than the life I had grown up in. For me the greatest struggle with Titus 2 is my own sin. When I am tired, frustrated, or sick to name a few, I fall right back into coping and responding in ways from my old life. I lack self-control, purity and kindness mainly with my children but occasionally also with my husband.

I appreciate how Mahaney isn't afraid to talk about sin. In my own life, information and knowledge is not the problem. In most situations I *known* how I should respond or act, but I fail to because I do not have a right heart and I lack self-control. In the last 6-7 months I have been greatly convicted of this pattern of sin in my life. I am so excited to continue reading this book. I feel that Mahaney's specific treatment of these 7 virtues will contribute to my personal journey of sanctification and transformation.