For Married Women
Current mood:
nervous
Current mood:
nervous
My prayer partners & I are facing a new challenge. We've been discussing our husband's dreams. Do we know what they are? Are we facilitating them or hindering them? I think of Sarah in the Bible. When God called Abram to go to a land he didn't know, she could have gotten in the way...but she didn't. I Peter 3: 6 (Amp) says that Sarah didn't give way to hysterical fears. Now I know that women were "less than" men in the Bible and in the culture of that day, but don't tell me they didn't know how to manipulate to get their way!! Look at Rebekah and how she manipulated to change the course of history with her son, Jacob, not to mention Isaac's dreams.
I encouraged Amy to let Jay follow his dream. I'm so proud of her---she did that very thing even as hard as it was to let go and move to Florida. But after her move, God met me face to face. His question to me is one I give you: "Are you encouraging your husband to fulfill his dreams?" Encouraging---not just allowing!
This morning, I met with my prayer partners again after meditating on this for a week. Talk about HARD!!! We realized how much we love control. We realized our hearts were full of pride---even spiritual pride. We've made ourselves the spiritual leaders of our home. What we say goes. (I'm cringing even as I write this---how ugly, how full of pride!) We recognize we're at a crossroads of our lives. Let me tell you, after 30 years of marriage, lots of bad patterns have been established. They're pretty hard to crack! So you have a much easier chance at this, being younger. And we all FEAR what our husbands' dreams are! We know it's going to change our lives---it's going to take us to an insecure place. We know we're going to be challenged. We know we have to "LET GO!"
So this morning, we agreed to have 30 Days of Praise. We're going to approach this with praise---whatever God wants to teach us, we'll praise Him for. Wherever He wants to take us, we'll praise Him. However he wants to change us, we'll give Him praise. And whatever He wants to do in our husbands, we'll praise Him. We know it takes about 30 days to create a new habit, so we're approaching that reality with praise. So this is my first day of praise and this is what God has revealed to me:
I want to start our 30 days out with PRAISE! And the verse that comes to mind is this: "Be still and know that I am God." Psalm 46:10...or I like the Amplified version: "Let be and be still, and know (recognize and understand) that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations! I will be exalted in the earth!" Let be....and be still. It could probably be said, "Let go and be still." WOW! What a way to start out! One of my prayer partners has already led the way with letting go. She wrote what she "grips" on a balloon filled with helium and let it go as a symbol that she was giving everything to God. She said it was amazing to watch that balloon float into the air. What she "grips" got smaller and smaller as heaven (God) got bigger and bigger.
Or "let be" could also mean "let it alone (or let him--your husband--alone!)." So, I want to let go and let my husband alone. And I want to acknowledge that God is GOD! Isn't it interesting that you have to let go before any true worship comes? Before I'd always interpreted this verse to mean that I needed to GET STILL. I've never seen this before---that I need to LET BE. Take your hands off and know that I am God. It gives this verse a whole new meaning!! When we take our hands off, then He can show off. He can prove that He is God---worthy of our trust. But He won't until we get still---until we let be.
I know this verse or Truth can be applied to things other than your husband and his dreams. But this is where my prayer partners & I are camped right now. Let God apply it to YOUR life!
Father, I praise You for the truth of Your Word. I praise You that it won't return void. I praise You that there are such layers---such depth of new understanding in each Word You breathed into existence. I praise You that as I let go.....I will have a new understanding of who You are. And because of that revelation, You will be exalted among the nations---in fact, over the whole earth! Wow. Help me, Father, to let go today. Give me Your grace. And give me new understanding of WHO YOU ARE! Be exalted, Father, over the whole earth. In Jesus' name, Amen.
I encouraged Amy to let Jay follow his dream. I'm so proud of her---she did that very thing even as hard as it was to let go and move to Florida. But after her move, God met me face to face. His question to me is one I give you: "Are you encouraging your husband to fulfill his dreams?" Encouraging---not just allowing!
This morning, I met with my prayer partners again after meditating on this for a week. Talk about HARD!!! We realized how much we love control. We realized our hearts were full of pride---even spiritual pride. We've made ourselves the spiritual leaders of our home. What we say goes. (I'm cringing even as I write this---how ugly, how full of pride!) We recognize we're at a crossroads of our lives. Let me tell you, after 30 years of marriage, lots of bad patterns have been established. They're pretty hard to crack! So you have a much easier chance at this, being younger. And we all FEAR what our husbands' dreams are! We know it's going to change our lives---it's going to take us to an insecure place. We know we're going to be challenged. We know we have to "LET GO!"
So this morning, we agreed to have 30 Days of Praise. We're going to approach this with praise---whatever God wants to teach us, we'll praise Him for. Wherever He wants to take us, we'll praise Him. However he wants to change us, we'll give Him praise. And whatever He wants to do in our husbands, we'll praise Him. We know it takes about 30 days to create a new habit, so we're approaching that reality with praise. So this is my first day of praise and this is what God has revealed to me:
I want to start our 30 days out with PRAISE! And the verse that comes to mind is this: "Be still and know that I am God." Psalm 46:10...or I like the Amplified version: "Let be and be still, and know (recognize and understand) that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations! I will be exalted in the earth!" Let be....and be still. It could probably be said, "Let go and be still." WOW! What a way to start out! One of my prayer partners has already led the way with letting go. She wrote what she "grips" on a balloon filled with helium and let it go as a symbol that she was giving everything to God. She said it was amazing to watch that balloon float into the air. What she "grips" got smaller and smaller as heaven (God) got bigger and bigger.
Or "let be" could also mean "let it alone (or let him--your husband--alone!)." So, I want to let go and let my husband alone. And I want to acknowledge that God is GOD! Isn't it interesting that you have to let go before any true worship comes? Before I'd always interpreted this verse to mean that I needed to GET STILL. I've never seen this before---that I need to LET BE. Take your hands off and know that I am God. It gives this verse a whole new meaning!! When we take our hands off, then He can show off. He can prove that He is God---worthy of our trust. But He won't until we get still---until we let be.
I know this verse or Truth can be applied to things other than your husband and his dreams. But this is where my prayer partners & I are camped right now. Let God apply it to YOUR life!
Father, I praise You for the truth of Your Word. I praise You that it won't return void. I praise You that there are such layers---such depth of new understanding in each Word You breathed into existence. I praise You that as I let go.....I will have a new understanding of who You are. And because of that revelation, You will be exalted among the nations---in fact, over the whole earth! Wow. Help me, Father, to let go today. Give me Your grace. And give me new understanding of WHO YOU ARE! Be exalted, Father, over the whole earth. In Jesus' name, Amen.
6 comments:
This is EXACTLY what God has been showing me the last few days--you've worded it a bit better, but even this morning I was realizing how much I try to control Craig. I guess after reading your blog about being proud of Amy, it challenged me--Amy challenged me to follow Craig's dreams--I don't even know what they are!! So, here I go--letting go!
This is why I am glad you are blogging!! Remember when you used to video yourself talking and send me tapes in Tibet? It's kind of like that--I LOVE IT!
Believe it--you did send videos--and I still have them, so watch out, or I may pull them out. I actually should watch them and see what God was teaching you back then!
I like the end of the verse as well...about God being exalted among the nations. Kind of fitting, eh?
I blogged!! :)
I am so excited you are doing this. God has been convicting me of the same things. I did something similar, but it wasn't based on praise. I love that God has heard my request and you are so graciously and elequently speaking his truth for all of us to see. I love how God reveals things through you! I am excited to see what God does through all these women! Praise Him! Oh, and I just wanted to say how honored I am to be mentioned on your blog page. I told Amy, maybe at the end of the 30 days, these blogs will be turned into a devotional. I'll never give up on the dream. Hee Hee!
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