Hello ladies, sorry it took me so long to share again. We all know life gets tough around the holidays but also unfortunately our laptop got stolen so my typing was restricted temporarily. Thanks to my wonderful husband and Christmas blesssings I am back on the keyboard again. This last five months have been a powerful transtion for me. God never ceases to teach us new things if we allow him to. I was doing my devotions one day and ran across a wonderful encouragment. It was a challenge, https://www.reviveourhearts.com/articles/30-day-husband-encouragement-challenge/.
When I first read through it I thought, oh how nice for somene. I immediately began to hear God tug on my heart. You see, like many of us do, I had been complaining to God and asking him to help my husband. He is more thoughtful than most and a great husband but we had been at odds about an important decision and that had brought distance between us. I had been longing to hear key encouraging words. I had been praying that God would give me grace for him and give him wisdom to say the words I needed to hear. What I was not considering is my words to him. I was not saying negative things necessarily. I have learned to guard my mouth against that but my silence left a huge gap. He knows me well enough to know when I am staying quiet and I definitely wasn’t encouraging him like I needed to .
So while I asked God to show him I needed his loving encouragment, God saw that Wade needed my words desperately too. I started the challenge a little cautiously and honestly not entirely optimisically. OK God, I’ll give it a try. Right off the bat I noticed that each day God would give me the perfect set up to say the encouraging word that I had prayed to give that day. HE didn’t respond in any extreme way at first but gradually I noticed his attitude lighten and his face would change. HIs love tank was getting fuller, he was feeling encouraged. There were some days where I would read the challenge in the morning and think, oh God I am not sure I can say that honestly or keep my tongue from negative words if this or if that… God was not worried and day after day he gave me the strength and the joy that comes from obeying. It got to the point where I was looking forward to my encouragement moment each day, even getting giddy about it.
The most striking moment was the day when my hubby pulled me aside and began to say the exact words I had been begging God to hear five months before. My heart lept, my love tank swelled and I was overwhelmed by the Joy I felt. God was answering my prayers AS I put my hubby first and obeyed my father who knew just what both of us needed. IF I can encourage you today to try this challenge I know that it will bless your marriage, whether it is words that you are longing to hear or a big decision you wish you could get on page about . Whether it is a negative spirit in your home that you are trying to get past or a simple feeling of apathy you want to rid your marriage of, this challenge will totally Revive and Bless your marriage if you trust that God will use your obedience to bless your marriage. WE can only change ourselves, but words are breeding words in your life, are you reproducing truth or lies? Are you breeding trust or hurt, love or negative thoughts. God Bless you as you take this on, please share the testimonies after you do. God is so Good! I love how he’s keeping us honeymooners for life:) Almost nine years and I love him more everyday! Celeste