I was reading over some things I wrote years ago. My heart is needing to be refreshed in reverencing my husband. I can't remember what year it was but it has helped to encourage me to lay down my life for my husband TODAY and to bring God glory in serving him. Phil 2:2-7
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Going above and beyond serving our husbands
The household isn't up yet. I can't sleep. As I sit and write I am thinking about how hard my husband has been working lately. He has been literally dragging himself through the doors at night, physically exhausted from the demands of a days work. All to provide for his household. And even though his children are grown he still helps them anyway He can. Most of the family has their 'hands' in our business in one way or another. They know that if they have any needs that Pappa will do all he can to help him.
I want to find more ways to help this precious man of God lighten his load. I want to be his helpmate in a way that really ministers to him. So many times in the past I have sought to help him but it seemed that I leaned to my own convictions as to how he needed to be helped instead of really listening to what he needed at the time.
Sometimes it's hard to keep focused on what our husbands are saying if they are over worked and stressed. If their needs come forth like demands we may tend to put up our bristles and resist them. But, I've found over the years that this is exactly when my husband needs me the most. At those precise moments He needs me to respond in a tone of gentleness and understanding when he is worn out. He needs my focus to be off of myself and onto him.
Learning to not take up offences has been more of a blessing than anyone thing I can think of in our marriage. For years I tended to quickly react to sharp words or criticism or a lack of what I deemed as ungratefulness. My focus was always on me and my needs. Slowly the Lord began teaching me to give those offences to Him and to not take into account a wrong suffered. 1 Cor. 13 Talk about the flesh dying hard! But, this one thing brought more change in our relationship than any thing else.
I'm asking the Lord to help me find more ways to minister to my husband this week. By God's grace I'm going to 'listen' for those possible words of complaining that I haven't focused on lately, to see if I'm missing something he really needs me to do. By God's grace I'm going to set my mind to be a servant and keep his needs foremost in my mind throughout the day. I hope to not only keep his needs first in my day but to also find ways to go above and beyond what he expects of me.
