Day 30
Well friends, we made it. It’s been a pleasure taking this journey with you. Hearing your feedback, listening to your thoughts and reading your messages day after day when you’ve completed the challenges, has been heart warming. Thank you for the opportunity to minister to your marriages and relationships. If you put in the effort, I pray our small community of women are being richly rewarded and God is honoring your prayers for your husbands. But the work doesn’t stop here! The real challenge is that you keep this going on your own. Every day praying over your spouse, not because you have to or because it’s the right thing to do but because you are called to do it. This is where the rubber meets the road, gals! Keep praying faithfully. Don’t get stuck in your heads and compare yourself to someones else’s life. Don’t wish your husband away. What do I mean by that? Have you ever been girl talking with your best friend and your heart has been hurt in your marriage and you say something along these lines, “I wish my husband would….I wish my husband was like this…I wish my husband didn’t do this….I wish he would be like so and so’s husband….?” Don’t get caught up in the “wishing” and wish your husband away to the point he would rather be anywhere but where he is. Your “wishes” can make them feel like they don’t measure up to your long list of standards. If we aren’t careful with our words, we may find that they are hunting more, hitting the lake more, working late more, taking on more jobs, etc…just so they don’t have to be home and in an environment with a woman who wished he was a different man.
Prayer is not our last resort. It’s our first command, always. Pray not only over him but for your words, that they would be encouraging and build him up. Pray that you make your home such a sanctuary that your husband is eager and has a sense of urgency to get home to you because you are his safe place to land. Last time I checked, God did not give us a genie in a bottle who is going to grant our wishes. He gave us two hands to pray with to ask the Lord to do the work in us and in our spouses that we cannot do. More importantly, don’t get caught up in all your wishing that you forget that the real work begins changing your own heart and how you approach and deal with the issues in your marriage.
Prayer Prompts
Pray that you continue to build your consistency and obedience to pray over your husband.
“Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their labor: if either of them falls down, one can help the other up. But pity anyone who falls down and has no one to help them up. Also, if two lie down together, they will keep warm. But how can one keep warm alone? Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves. A cord of three strands is not quickly broken.” Ecclesiastes 4:9-12
Pray for the holy boldness to continue to pray out loud over your husband and when the Holy Spirit nudges you to pray over him, that you would obey and do it right then and there.
“Not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the day drawing near.” Hebrews 10:25
Just like you would prepare your home for guests and make it clean, warm and inviting-pray that your husband feels that from you when he walks in the doors from work each day.
“And let them make me a sanctuary, that I may dwell in their midst.” Exodus 25:8
Challenge
Remind your face to smile when you see your husband. Greet him with a warm hug. Have sex on the regular. Go on date nights. Enjoy the time with him while you have it, because ladies, tomorrow is not promised. Love all of you!
I’ll be posting to the “Daily Grind” until our next 30 day challenge starts. I won’t bug you with texts unless you request it! XO