shrinking as he tells you “you look like a fat pig in that dress.”

He watches everything you do, criticizing and demeaning you for not doing it well enough.

He drags you across the carpet, leaving rope burns on your arms and legs because you did not put the lid on the boiling pot on the stove. (It happened to boil over. Big deal!)

He yells at you for being sloppy but then expects you to clean up his beer cans and wipe out his ash trays after one of his many nights of excess.

His ears are deaf to your cries for mercy when his rage explodes into yet another beating.

You have come to my church with your pain and have been told to be submissive to this monster.

Do you really think that I would want you to submit to this?

Child, there is no way in heaven or earth that I would choose this for you. I have told you that your husband should treat you with the love which my Son has for you.

Instead of endangering your life by beating you, your husband should love you so deeply that he would give his life for you.