I’m anxious to hear about your week last week. Did you make it a point and try your best to be the most positive and cheerful wife you could be? What difference did it make in your marriage?
CHAPTER FOUR: Thanksgiving Produces Joy
“Live with thanksgiving, forgiveness, and joy, and enjoy all your moments as if they were your last.”
“You have control over whether or not you and your husband will be ‘heirs together of the grace of life’ (1st Peter 3:7) or partners together in the tension and stress of life. You have much more control than you know.”
I love how she described how she took out the trash. She turned a situation that she and so many of us could have been irritated by into something that she doesn’t mind and enjoys. What would happen if we stopped bickering and getting irritated over the silly things (and pick your battles) and put a smile on your face and make something good come from that. WOAH! What a hard thing (for me) to do! And to see what happens when we turn an irritation or something we don’t enjoy into a more positive note. Our husbands see it and notice it and compliment us on it. I love how she wrote “After 35 years of having me appreciate his muscles, you would think he would tire of showing off, but he knows that I have never tired of watching him perform.” I know I do (and I’m sure many others do as well) need to be more fascinating. Charm your man. Compliment him and give him the words of affirmation he needs. Watch what comes in your marriage after you do such a simple thing. Now, why is it something that we as wives often forget (or don’t feel is important) to do?
“Because I have known such love and closeness with a man, it makes my understanding of and appreciation for God much deeper. I want you to know something wonderful about Jesus; with him it doesn’t matter where you have been or who you have been with, because His love and forgiveness can reach down and make you His bride.”
“I am his playmate. He thinks I am perfectly wonderful, not because I am a beautiful woman. Those days passed more years ago than I care to remember. Our delight in each other did no happen because he is the perfect man, or because he ‘loves me like Christ loves the church’, or because he is ‘sensitive to all my needs.’ It didn’t happen because he takes the trash out, or cleans up after himself, or has always made a good living, providing me with all the things most women take for granted. It didn’t happen because he is a strong spiritual leader and always does the right thing. It happened and continues to happen because of the choices I make every day. I never have a chip on my shoulder, no matter how offended I have a right to be — and I do have reasons to be offended regularly. Every day, I remember to view myself as the woman God gave this man. This mind-set helps me be just that; a gift, a playmate, and his helper.”
Ok folks, this is serious stuff. Yes, its hard to digest, but so GOOD to digest as well. How many of us feel we have a “right” to feel offended and have a chip on our shoulder? Probably all of us. However, she puts it well here in stating that she keeps herself reminded that God gave this man her, and she needs to be the best wife, playmate, and helper she can be. Yes, we all feel offended and I think its healthy to talk about those issues and circumstances with our husbands at the right time, but how many times do we have a chip on our shoulder for something that isn’t really a big deal? I know for me, TOO MUCH!
THANKSGIVING PRODUCES JOY:
“Open your mouth and begin to thank God for his grace towards you. Thank him for every good thing that he has brought into your life. Thank him, thank him, and thank him again. Joy is the result of a thankful heart. A thankful heart is the result of a person who decides to give thanks. So say, “Thank you, God, for…”
TIME TO CONSIDER:
Traits of a good help meet:
*She is joy
*She makes love fun
*She is thankful and content
Jonah 2:9
GETTING SERIOUS WITH GOD:
“Joy is often lacking in a woman’s life because she is not thankful. The word THANKSGIVING is found in God’s word 30 times. Thanksgiving is often coupled with joy, praise, gladness, melody, and sacrifice. God values thanksgiving and sees it as an act of sacrifice toward him. Read these verses on thanksgiving and ask God to teach you to be thankful. Make a written list of ways that you can start showing thankfulness; then start living your list and show a thankful life. Thankfulness starts by saying ‘thank you’ and continues by making a mental note to appreciate all those people God has placed around you. If it is not already in your heart, then it needs to be by an effort of sacrifice that you show thankfulness. Start walking on the water of thankfulness. God will give you the wherewithal as you are willing to walk in thankfulness and joy.”
CHAPTER FIVE: The Gift of Wisdom:
“Do you have enough fear of God to not question his Word?”
“It doesn’t take a good man, or even a saved man for a woman to have a heavenly marriage, but it does take a woman willing to honor God by being the kind of wife God intended. It takes one woman willing to be a help meet — a suitable helper. If you look at your husband and can’t find any reason to want to help him — and I know some of you are married to men like that — then look to Christ and know that it is He who made you to be a help meet. You serve Christ by serving your husband, whether your husband deserves it or not.”
“Women who have difficulties in their marriages usually follow their feelings and just react. but you must stop trusting your hurt responses or the advice you receive from the world, for today’s media communicates a worldview that is skewed at best. You are not thinking from God’s perspective, but the good news is that God is prepared to give you divine wisdom, just for asking.”
Its time I throw my feelings and reacting quickly away. And it’s time I trust more in God to be the help meet he created me to be. When I’m frustrated and find it difficult to not fight back, I need to head straight into the word.
God’s Blueprint For Marriage:
*Ephesians 5:22-24
*Colossians 3:18
*1st Corinthians 11:3
1. God commands wives to submit to their OWN husbands
2. God informs men that they are the head of the wife.
3. God tells the wives to be subject to their husbands in everything, every decision, every move, every plan, and all everyday affairs.
TIME TO CONSIDER:
” Today as you read this, you have two choices open to you. You can excuse yourself from responsibility by mentally assigning various excuses to your situation, or you can choose to believe God and become a 100% help meet regardless of anything that you would stand in your way. Which will it be?”
So much (again!) to think, pray, and act on this week. I hope and p
ray that this study is blessing you already and you’re already seeing some changes in your marriage. What changes are you seeing? How will you live out what God intended you to be, this week?
ray that this study is blessing you already and you’re already seeing some changes in your marriage. What changes are you seeing? How will you live out what God intended you to be, this week?
I cannot wait to read your posts that you link up. You can link up through Saturday, December 18th. Don’t forget to head over to the other blogs on the link up as well and encourage and get to know them. You guys are the best!
NOTE: We wil be taking a break during the week of December 20th. We’ll resume with Chapters 6-7 during the week of the 27th.
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