Monday, June 4, 2007

God is Amazing!

Yesterday in church, our pastor spoke on the state of the church. In conclusion, he said the state of the church is the state of me. He asked us to look deep in our heart to examine it, and asked us to think about what God wants us to commit to.

Over the last year, I've been deeply convicted that my role as a wife is to be supportive and silent. With my type of personality, I can be very forceful, and my poor husband has received the brunt of this much over the years. The Lord has indeed been at work in my life. I used to say things to my husband like, "I would really like you to lead our family in devotions," or "the Bible says that as the husband, you should....." I learned what a turn off this was, and that I was in a sense, trying to be the Holy Spirit for him. Over 7 1/2 years of marriage, I have learned THIS DOES NOT WORK! So over the last 6 months, I've tried to keep quiet (not always succeeding), and pray for my husband that He would hear the Lord AND NOT ME.

So what do these two paragraphs have to do with each other? Yesterday after our pastor challenged us to examine our life, I silently prayed then that God would speak to my husband's heart, and that whatever commitment God wants from us, that the leading would come through my husband and that I would follow him. I never told my husband about that prayer, again, I'm convicted to keep silent. This morning, my husband called from work and said that he wants us to really find out what God wants us to commit to. My heart leaped for joy. By my keeping silent and not nagging my husband the whole way home from church about what he thinks God wants us to commit to, etc., etc., etc. my husband was able to hear the Holy Spirit rather than "the constant dripping of a quarrelsome wife." (Proverbs 27:15)

God is amazing!

Blessings,

Jen

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Stay, stay at home, my heart, and rest;
Home-keeping hearts are happiest,
For those that wander they know not where
Are full of trouble and full of care;
To stay at home is best.

Weary and homesick and distressed,
They wander east, they wander west,
And are baffled and beaten and blown about
By the winds of the wilderness of doubt;
To stay at home is best.

Then stay at home, my heart, and rest;
The bird is safest in its nest;
O'er all that flutter their wings and fly
A hawk is hovering in the sky;
To stay at home is best.
~Henry Wadsworth Longfellow