So I believe this might be a tough one for some of us this week so I'm going to do everything I can to encourage you and help you get through this week.
I'm not a Dr. Phill watcher AT ALL, however today I happened to turn it on and the subject of the show was "YOUR #1 COMPLAINT ABOUT YOUR SPOUSE." So with the challenge this week I couldnt help but be curious.
There were several couples on the show two in particular that really stuck out to me. There was a nagging spouse in both couples and both times it was the husband in my opinion. I sat there thinking "WOW, I could never live with a husband that nagged me to death about these things!" I was getting irritated just watching the show! So If I was that irritated, I can't imagine how irritated my husband gets when I do it to him over silly things!
The first couple had only been married for three months and their biggest problem was the wife bought two large drinks from Starbucks every day, and her husband thought it was a waste of money. She was so addicted to this Starbucks drink, she would call her husband at work and tell him she would bring his lunch to him so they can save money, then on the way stop and get a drink from the Starbucks around the corner!
The second couple is the couple from the Reality series "Living with Ed" I've never seen this show before but from what I saw I'm sure it is definately entertaining! I wanted to share with you a clip I found from the show. It was very humerous, however at the same time keeping our challenge in mind, I could also see the disrespect, nagging, talking badly to each other. In this clip I'm about to show you, Ed's wife Rachelle is suppose to be cleaning off the solar panels on the top of the roof. To Ed's surprise she had other plans! Check it out!
What do you think about this situation? Do you see yourself or your spouse in this video? If so how? If not how are you thankful for that?
The first 4 people to reply in the discussion forum on facebook will get 3 extra entries into the End of the month drawing!
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
Challenge #3: June 16-June 22, 2010
Proverbs 31:12 "She brings him good, not harm, all the days of her life."
So last week was a little intense for me! Even though I felt as I posted I didn't have much to work on last week because I've been working on not being demanding and aggressive in that area for a while, God really showed me that even though I might be good at asking nicely for my husband to pass the salt or grab me a diaper, didn't mean I've fully mastered not being aggressive and demanding in other areas. And this week God totally ripped me apart in that area. Who knew that such a small thing could make such a HUGE difference!
So far the last few weeks we've worked on, Not talking badly about our husbands to others, and not being demanding and aggressive. This week, is going to be tough!! We are going to work on not "NAGGING and COMPLAINING!!
I am totally guilty of being the "nagging wife" at times. There are a few issues that I have with my husband that I tend to revert to nagging. One in particular I've prayed over for 5 entire years and still have to pray daily that I will let God take care of it instead of nagging my husband to do what I expect.
I really have an amazing husband, one who never complains when he comes home from a long day at work to a messy house and has to pick up dinner on the way home. One who is willing to go to the grocery store for me so I don't have to go myself. He is always ready and willing to accept my short comings and faults because he knows that I do the best that I can during the day, why can't I do that for him? Why can't I go through one week without saying "honey, I asked you to do this, you said you would and you haven't!"
Again here we are back to those little things again. Little things that add up and become something huge!! Out of curiosity, I looked up the word "NAGGING" in the bible and found this Judges 16:16 "With such nagging she prodded him day after day until he was tired to death."
Nagging doesn't just cause aggravation to our husbands, or irritation. We can complain and nag about things so often and be so negative about things that it will wear on our husbands and maybe not cause them physical death, but mental and spiritual. Having someone constantly nag you with things can eventually wear away at you and cause a spiritual death, resulting in them not wanting to be intimate with you,or spend time with you, but feeling like they need to pull away from you in order to revive themselves.
Nagging and complaining can be very harmful to our husbands! Another verse I came across is Proverbs 24:15 "A quarrelsome wife is like a constant dripping on a rainy day" This made me think about something they do in the military. I've heard of where they have a constant drip of water on someone's head for a long period of time and they end up going crazy! I'm sure none of us ever have had the intention of making our husbands crazy or even being the cause of a spiritual death for them, so lets take up this challenge and really work hard on it this week!
A few weeks ago, I saw that our trash in our bathroom was overflowing into the floor. My girls like to get up in the mornings and take off their pull-ups and throw their pee filled diapers in there, so after time it becomes a nasty, overflowing, stinky mess! I remember standing in the bathroom thinking, "GOSH I wish he would take out the trash without me asking him once in a while!" So...I resisted the urge to say something, prayed and asked God to handle it, and later that evening I went in there to use the bathroom and all the trash was gone!! It saved me from being the nagging wife, and him from being angry and irritated at me for trying to tell him what to do, and everyone was happy!!
So instead of "nagging and complaining" this week to our husbands, get out that prayer journal and WRITE, WRITE, WRITE!! Write your nags and complaints in there, give them to God not your husband and watch what God does with them!! Remember he is better at handling our husband than we are! Also, if there is something that you need him to do...make a "Honey do" list for him and put it on the fridge, but also make one for yourself so that he isn't singled out. This will help with having to repeat yourself over and over, and will keep you from turning into a "nagging wife."
Make sure you praise your husband not just once this week, but once a day this week for something he has done for you! Lets increase the positive and decrease the negative.
Prayers for you this week, I know this is going to be a tough one for some of us. It seems for me the more I dive into this challenge the more challenging it becomes and the more satan has been at work in our marriage. But we can "overcome him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of our testimony" Rev 12:11. Hide this verse in your heart this week during the battle.
Don't forget to head over to the "discussion" tab this week and let us know how your doing! If you haven't done it for last week, do that too! And also remember to invite your friends to come join us, and help to grow this ministry, you never know whose marriage you could help just by inviting them to join us!
Prayers, and HUGS!!
So last week was a little intense for me! Even though I felt as I posted I didn't have much to work on last week because I've been working on not being demanding and aggressive in that area for a while, God really showed me that even though I might be good at asking nicely for my husband to pass the salt or grab me a diaper, didn't mean I've fully mastered not being aggressive and demanding in other areas. And this week God totally ripped me apart in that area. Who knew that such a small thing could make such a HUGE difference!
So far the last few weeks we've worked on, Not talking badly about our husbands to others, and not being demanding and aggressive. This week, is going to be tough!! We are going to work on not "NAGGING and COMPLAINING!!
I am totally guilty of being the "nagging wife" at times. There are a few issues that I have with my husband that I tend to revert to nagging. One in particular I've prayed over for 5 entire years and still have to pray daily that I will let God take care of it instead of nagging my husband to do what I expect.
I really have an amazing husband, one who never complains when he comes home from a long day at work to a messy house and has to pick up dinner on the way home. One who is willing to go to the grocery store for me so I don't have to go myself. He is always ready and willing to accept my short comings and faults because he knows that I do the best that I can during the day, why can't I do that for him? Why can't I go through one week without saying "honey, I asked you to do this, you said you would and you haven't!"
Again here we are back to those little things again. Little things that add up and become something huge!! Out of curiosity, I looked up the word "NAGGING" in the bible and found this Judges 16:16 "With such nagging she prodded him day after day until he was tired to death."
Nagging doesn't just cause aggravation to our husbands, or irritation. We can complain and nag about things so often and be so negative about things that it will wear on our husbands and maybe not cause them physical death, but mental and spiritual. Having someone constantly nag you with things can eventually wear away at you and cause a spiritual death, resulting in them not wanting to be intimate with you,or spend time with you, but feeling like they need to pull away from you in order to revive themselves.
Nagging and complaining can be very harmful to our husbands! Another verse I came across is Proverbs 24:15 "A quarrelsome wife is like a constant dripping on a rainy day" This made me think about something they do in the military. I've heard of where they have a constant drip of water on someone's head for a long period of time and they end up going crazy! I'm sure none of us ever have had the intention of making our husbands crazy or even being the cause of a spiritual death for them, so lets take up this challenge and really work hard on it this week!
A few weeks ago, I saw that our trash in our bathroom was overflowing into the floor. My girls like to get up in the mornings and take off their pull-ups and throw their pee filled diapers in there, so after time it becomes a nasty, overflowing, stinky mess! I remember standing in the bathroom thinking, "GOSH I wish he would take out the trash without me asking him once in a while!" So...I resisted the urge to say something, prayed and asked God to handle it, and later that evening I went in there to use the bathroom and all the trash was gone!! It saved me from being the nagging wife, and him from being angry and irritated at me for trying to tell him what to do, and everyone was happy!!
So instead of "nagging and complaining" this week to our husbands, get out that prayer journal and WRITE, WRITE, WRITE!! Write your nags and complaints in there, give them to God not your husband and watch what God does with them!! Remember he is better at handling our husband than we are! Also, if there is something that you need him to do...make a "Honey do" list for him and put it on the fridge, but also make one for yourself so that he isn't singled out. This will help with having to repeat yourself over and over, and will keep you from turning into a "nagging wife."
Make sure you praise your husband not just once this week, but once a day this week for something he has done for you! Lets increase the positive and decrease the negative.
Prayers for you this week, I know this is going to be a tough one for some of us. It seems for me the more I dive into this challenge the more challenging it becomes and the more satan has been at work in our marriage. But we can "overcome him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of our testimony" Rev 12:11. Hide this verse in your heart this week during the battle.
Don't forget to head over to the "discussion" tab this week and let us know how your doing! If you haven't done it for last week, do that too! And also remember to invite your friends to come join us, and help to grow this ministry, you never know whose marriage you could help just by inviting them to join us!
Prayers, and HUGS!!
Wednesday, June 9, 2010
Challenge #2: June 9th-June 15, 2010
So, we are going to continue this whole month with the same verse, but different challenges and ways of implementing these things into our daily lives. So just as a reminder, our verse for this month is still Proverbs 31:12 "She brings him good, not harm, all the days of her life."
When my husband and I first got married, we went through our pre-marriage counseling. We took a test that asked us each a bunch of questions, like: "How many kids do you want? What would happen if the wife made more money than the husband?" We had a lot of the same answers, but some different. For example, his answer for "how many kids do you want" was 2. My answer was 8. My answer has changed since then, and since I had my first child, however so has his, since we now are about to have baby number 4.
We did have one issue we didn't see eye to eye on at first. It was mostly because I again, I thought it was something stupid, and small, that didn't make a lot of difference. Well, maybe it didn't to me but over time, again, these small things add up! We listened to a tape about respecting your husband. At first I was a little upset that we did that because what about respecting your wife?! And I also felt at the time a bit ganged up on. HOWEVER- it did teach me a lot, and helped out our marriage quite a bit!
The tape talked about how you should never DEMAND things from your husband. Now when I think about a "DEMAND", I think about bossing him around, being moody and telling him what to do. But this was talking about something different. This was talking about the small things; the little things that add up and cause something HUGE!
How many times have you been sitting at the table and said, "Babe, pass me the salt!" When have you been changing a diaper and said "Hon, go get me the wipes!" Or, sitting on the toilet and yelled "HONEY GET ME SOME TOILET PAPER!" I did that ALL THE TIME!! To me it was a simple request, but to him it was a demand! Why was it a demand? Because I wasn't actually asking him to do it, I was telling him! Over time, for men, these little tiny things add up and it starts to make them feel like they have no control. It's like, you have taken their rightful place as head of the household, and it starts to make them feel belittled and overpowered, and this is harmful to our husbands.
We want to ultimately be respectful to them, not demanding or aggressive with our requests. Lovingly ask for things, not demand them. When you take those little demands that add up negatively, and turn them into a loving request like, "Sweetie, could you please pass the salt?" "Babe, would you mind grabbing me the wipes?" or "HONEY, PLEASE WOULD YOU MIND BRINGING ME SOME TOILET PAPER?" Your requests become little things that add up to be positive, and cause your husband to adore you and start to even give you more respect than he did before.
So our challenge for this week is to be Respectful of our husbands, not demanding or aggressive towards them with our behavior. I want you to take note of every time you say, "HONEY GO DO THIS... or COULD YOU THAT", as a demand and not a loving request. If you have to, in mid-sentence after you have said it, correct yourself by saying, "oh I'm sorry I mean would you mind...." Then watch your husbands reaction. Also make sure to praise your husband in private this week, and let him know how much you love him and appreciate all these things he does for you.
Praying for you ladies this week!! Can't wait to hear your progress!!
Please make sure to share the FB link with other friends, so you can be entered into the end of the month drawing for a free prize ( prize to be announced soon). And find your way into the discussion tab on the facebook page to share what you think about the challenge, and how you are doing this week!
Love you and praying for you all as you start the new Challenge!!
When my husband and I first got married, we went through our pre-marriage counseling. We took a test that asked us each a bunch of questions, like: "How many kids do you want? What would happen if the wife made more money than the husband?" We had a lot of the same answers, but some different. For example, his answer for "how many kids do you want" was 2. My answer was 8. My answer has changed since then, and since I had my first child, however so has his, since we now are about to have baby number 4.
We did have one issue we didn't see eye to eye on at first. It was mostly because I again, I thought it was something stupid, and small, that didn't make a lot of difference. Well, maybe it didn't to me but over time, again, these small things add up! We listened to a tape about respecting your husband. At first I was a little upset that we did that because what about respecting your wife?! And I also felt at the time a bit ganged up on. HOWEVER- it did teach me a lot, and helped out our marriage quite a bit!
The tape talked about how you should never DEMAND things from your husband. Now when I think about a "DEMAND", I think about bossing him around, being moody and telling him what to do. But this was talking about something different. This was talking about the small things; the little things that add up and cause something HUGE!
How many times have you been sitting at the table and said, "Babe, pass me the salt!" When have you been changing a diaper and said "Hon, go get me the wipes!" Or, sitting on the toilet and yelled "HONEY GET ME SOME TOILET PAPER!" I did that ALL THE TIME!! To me it was a simple request, but to him it was a demand! Why was it a demand? Because I wasn't actually asking him to do it, I was telling him! Over time, for men, these little tiny things add up and it starts to make them feel like they have no control. It's like, you have taken their rightful place as head of the household, and it starts to make them feel belittled and overpowered, and this is harmful to our husbands.
We want to ultimately be respectful to them, not demanding or aggressive with our requests. Lovingly ask for things, not demand them. When you take those little demands that add up negatively, and turn them into a loving request like, "Sweetie, could you please pass the salt?" "Babe, would you mind grabbing me the wipes?" or "HONEY, PLEASE WOULD YOU MIND BRINGING ME SOME TOILET PAPER?" Your requests become little things that add up to be positive, and cause your husband to adore you and start to even give you more respect than he did before.
So our challenge for this week is to be Respectful of our husbands, not demanding or aggressive towards them with our behavior. I want you to take note of every time you say, "HONEY GO DO THIS... or COULD YOU THAT", as a demand and not a loving request. If you have to, in mid-sentence after you have said it, correct yourself by saying, "oh I'm sorry I mean would you mind...." Then watch your husbands reaction. Also make sure to praise your husband in private this week, and let him know how much you love him and appreciate all these things he does for you.
Praying for you ladies this week!! Can't wait to hear your progress!!
Please make sure to share the FB link with other friends, so you can be entered into the end of the month drawing for a free prize ( prize to be announced soon). And find your way into the discussion tab on the facebook page to share what you think about the challenge, and how you are doing this week!
Love you and praying for you all as you start the new Challenge!!
Monday, June 7, 2010
At the end of Day 5
So here we are at the end of Day 5, I hope you are all still going strong!! So far, being able to hear and see what God has done in your lives has encouraged me so much!!
It's so awesome to have such amazing women to share this journey with.
So I hope so far you all are enjoying the challenge and I pray that everyone of you has seen something good come from it so far this week, and if you haven't yet you will before Day 7. From what people have been saying it seems like most of the week for everyone has been like falling into the valley and climbing back out. Seems like most people have had an uneventful start and then in the middle of the week was hit with a dilemma that caused them to be frustrated. But the dilemma isn't what is important it is that each of you have climbed up out of that valley and are standing on solid ground again! And I am SO proud of all of you for picking yourselves up and continuing on with your challenge even though, it would have been so much easier to just throw it out the window!
We have two days left on this challenge and then we will move onto the next challenge but same verse. Stay strong and in prayer and God is going to reward you tremendously for the commitment and changes you are trying to make for Him. It will be hard but totally worth it in the end!
Love all of you and praying for each of you daily!
It's so awesome to have such amazing women to share this journey with.
So I hope so far you all are enjoying the challenge and I pray that everyone of you has seen something good come from it so far this week, and if you haven't yet you will before Day 7. From what people have been saying it seems like most of the week for everyone has been like falling into the valley and climbing back out. Seems like most people have had an uneventful start and then in the middle of the week was hit with a dilemma that caused them to be frustrated. But the dilemma isn't what is important it is that each of you have climbed up out of that valley and are standing on solid ground again! And I am SO proud of all of you for picking yourselves up and continuing on with your challenge even though, it would have been so much easier to just throw it out the window!
We have two days left on this challenge and then we will move onto the next challenge but same verse. Stay strong and in prayer and God is going to reward you tremendously for the commitment and changes you are trying to make for Him. It will be hard but totally worth it in the end!
Love all of you and praying for each of you daily!
Friday, June 4, 2010
Challenge Day 2
Today for me was easier than yesterday! Maybe it was cause I wasn't home all day and didn't have any temptations to complain, or maybe it was I didn't really have much to complain about today. Either way I could totally tell a huge difference today and could even see God working on me and my husband at the same time!
After my blog last night and confession of my slip up, I did go back and pray over it and ask God to change things before I talked to my husband about the cereal mess. Then this morning when I got up I walked into the living room and noticed there was no cereal under my toes!! He was even so excited about the fact that he did this for me he asked me if I noticed before I even did and I was very grateful!
The rest of my day with my husband today was spent with him being very loving towards me. It was such a hot day today and when we got to the car after a hour long soccer practice with our daughter, he started the car asked me to get in and he loaded all three kids, chairs, diaper bags, cups, and stroller so I did not have to be out in the heat!
It is just amazing to me how such a small thing and such a small prayer can make such a HUGE difference in both him and me!
I hope everyone is experiencing God working in their lives through this challenge as I have already over these last two days! I pray that God will continue to work our hearts and minds and mold us into the wives he wants us to be this week.
Please make sure you head over to the discussion tab on the facebook page and let us know how your week is going.
Looking forward to more transformation this week!! Keep at it Ladies your doing great!!
After my blog last night and confession of my slip up, I did go back and pray over it and ask God to change things before I talked to my husband about the cereal mess. Then this morning when I got up I walked into the living room and noticed there was no cereal under my toes!! He was even so excited about the fact that he did this for me he asked me if I noticed before I even did and I was very grateful!
The rest of my day with my husband today was spent with him being very loving towards me. It was such a hot day today and when we got to the car after a hour long soccer practice with our daughter, he started the car asked me to get in and he loaded all three kids, chairs, diaper bags, cups, and stroller so I did not have to be out in the heat!
It is just amazing to me how such a small thing and such a small prayer can make such a HUGE difference in both him and me!
I hope everyone is experiencing God working in their lives through this challenge as I have already over these last two days! I pray that God will continue to work our hearts and minds and mold us into the wives he wants us to be this week.
Please make sure you head over to the discussion tab on the facebook page and let us know how your week is going.
Looking forward to more transformation this week!! Keep at it Ladies your doing great!!
Thursday, June 3, 2010
Challenge Day 1
So today was day 1 and I am curious to know how everyone does today! I hope you feel comfortable enough to share what you struggled with today or what you've felt you did better with today. Feel free to head over to the Facebook page under the discussion tab and let us know. Also you never know how your input and experiences through this challenge will help someone else.
For me today was a little more challenging than I thought it would be. When I posted the challenge last night I thought "this won't be hard, I don't really complain much about my husband to other people! How much can I complain about him in one week!" Boy was I wrong! I should have known that anytime you do anything for God or try and change anything about yourself for the Lord, Satan tries his best to stop it or make it harder!!
I actually caught myself today while talking to a good friend complaining about my husband and how he let our girls eat their cereal in the living room this morning and they had it crunched up everywhere!! What my friend didn't know is that even though that was the case, my husband got up early this morning with all three kids, fed them all breakfast and milk, and let me sleep in!! Any other day besides today I would have never caught that little tiny complaint to my friend, cause was it really that bad, did it really do that much damage? I'll never know, however my job is to prevent that damage even if I think that it will be limited.
What SHOULD I have done? Wrote it down in my prayer log that he will feed them breakfast in the kitchen from now on so it's less work for me later on, and after I prayed over it, talked to him about it. Now remember for every negative you should give him 2 positives! So something like "Honey, thank you so much for getting up early with the girls (1) and I love that you feed them breakfast and let me sleep that is so awesome of you(2) But is there any way tomorrow you could make them sit at the table with their breakfast because it causes me a lot of clean up later in the day?" By doing the two positives first, you are not tearing him down and causing him to feel unappreciated, but you are praising him and letting him know how much you love that he is helping and doing things for you before you make your request known. Not to mention if you take it before the Lord first, he will have favor on you when you do approach your husband and he will be ready to receive and hear your request with an open heart.
So lets hope tomorrow is even better than today and I look forward to hearing how your day went today!!
Love you all and praying for you daily!
For me today was a little more challenging than I thought it would be. When I posted the challenge last night I thought "this won't be hard, I don't really complain much about my husband to other people! How much can I complain about him in one week!" Boy was I wrong! I should have known that anytime you do anything for God or try and change anything about yourself for the Lord, Satan tries his best to stop it or make it harder!!
I actually caught myself today while talking to a good friend complaining about my husband and how he let our girls eat their cereal in the living room this morning and they had it crunched up everywhere!! What my friend didn't know is that even though that was the case, my husband got up early this morning with all three kids, fed them all breakfast and milk, and let me sleep in!! Any other day besides today I would have never caught that little tiny complaint to my friend, cause was it really that bad, did it really do that much damage? I'll never know, however my job is to prevent that damage even if I think that it will be limited.
What SHOULD I have done? Wrote it down in my prayer log that he will feed them breakfast in the kitchen from now on so it's less work for me later on, and after I prayed over it, talked to him about it. Now remember for every negative you should give him 2 positives! So something like "Honey, thank you so much for getting up early with the girls (1) and I love that you feed them breakfast and let me sleep that is so awesome of you(2) But is there any way tomorrow you could make them sit at the table with their breakfast because it causes me a lot of clean up later in the day?" By doing the two positives first, you are not tearing him down and causing him to feel unappreciated, but you are praising him and letting him know how much you love that he is helping and doing things for you before you make your request known. Not to mention if you take it before the Lord first, he will have favor on you when you do approach your husband and he will be ready to receive and hear your request with an open heart.
So lets hope tomorrow is even better than today and I look forward to hearing how your day went today!!
Love you all and praying for you daily!
Wednesday, June 2, 2010
Challenge #1 June 2, 2010-June 8, 2010
Proverbs 31:12: "She brings him good, not harm, all the days of her life."
This is week 1 of our "Proverbs 31 Wife Challenge" and for the next 30 days we will be concentrating on bringing good, not harm to our husbands. When you first read this verse it can catch you off guard a bit if you don't really think about it. My first thought was something like "why would I ever try to bring him harm!" or "he should know that I only want good for him."
As the closest woman/person in our husbands lives we have the power to hurt him and bring him harm more than anyone else. We also have a choice of using that power for good, not harm. Most of the time, we harm our husbands by our actions and words, or by belittling him and we don't even realize it until it's too late. This can result in loosing his trust, or respect and sometimes even quality time.
How is it you ask, that we can harm our husbands? By allowing our words to tearing him down, throwing the past in his face, never speaking an encouraging word, not being thoughtful of him, not allowing him to take his rightful place in the household, speaking badly of him to others or being demanding, nagging or aggressive at times are just some examples. Sometimes we just don't think before we speak and things that we don't even realize are hurtful to him come out.
If you took a single needle and poked yourself in the arm with it, yes it hurts, but is tolerable and forgettable. However put 1000 needles all together and jam them into your back or arm and the pain is even greater, and probably by that point intolerable, and completely unforgettable!
Men have a tenancy to keep things inside at times just to keep the peace. They will just take it and not address the way you've talked to them or your hurtful words. Even though it is just a bunch of little tiny pin pricks that they have been quiet about, once those few pin pricks turn into a bunch, it becomes unbearable to them. I don't know about you but I don't want my husband to think of his time with me as unbearable.
So for this week we are going to work how you speak about your husband to others. Do you complain about him? About the things he does, or does not do or wish he did or did not do? Or, do you speak highly of him and how blessed you are to have him in your life, and how amazing he is and build him up to others?
Remember that love covers all things (1Peter4:8) it does not destroy and uncover. A way to show love and respect to our husband and protect him from harm, is to keep him covered and not expose his flaws to the world. Instead pray about the problems! This week, create a prayer list for your husband of things that bother you and pray through them anytime you feel the need to complain or talk to someone about it. Go to the Lord first, and then Praise your husband before all people. Also make sure he hears, or sees you doing this at least one time this week!
I'll be posting a discussion board on the facebook page for you all to discuss your progress this week, and what was hard for you what was easy. Please feel free to even to give examples of ways you have in the past torn your husband down or spoke about him badly to others, and also ways you have changed that. It's important for us to share with each other so we can be held accountable for our actions and it will be really awesome to go back a year from now and read what you wrote and how different things are for you then compared to now!
Also don't forget to post a link to the "Proverbs 31 wife challenge" on your facebook page to encourage other people to join in with us. Send me a message of the people who you referred and for each person who joins, you and them, will be entered into the drawing at the end of the month for a special prize!! Even though we have already started it's never too late for someone new to join in!!
God bless!! Love you all and praying that God will transform us this week!!
As the closest woman/person in our husbands lives we have the power to hurt him and bring him harm more than anyone else. We also have a choice of using that power for good, not harm. Most of the time, we harm our husbands by our actions and words, or by belittling him and we don't even realize it until it's too late. This can result in loosing his trust, or respect and sometimes even quality time.
How is it you ask, that we can harm our husbands? By allowing our words to tearing him down, throwing the past in his face, never speaking an encouraging word, not being thoughtful of him, not allowing him to take his rightful place in the household, speaking badly of him to others or being demanding, nagging or aggressive at times are just some examples. Sometimes we just don't think before we speak and things that we don't even realize are hurtful to him come out.
If you took a single needle and poked yourself in the arm with it, yes it hurts, but is tolerable and forgettable. However put 1000 needles all together and jam them into your back or arm and the pain is even greater, and probably by that point intolerable, and completely unforgettable!
Men have a tenancy to keep things inside at times just to keep the peace. They will just take it and not address the way you've talked to them or your hurtful words. Even though it is just a bunch of little tiny pin pricks that they have been quiet about, once those few pin pricks turn into a bunch, it becomes unbearable to them. I don't know about you but I don't want my husband to think of his time with me as unbearable.
So for this week we are going to work how you speak about your husband to others. Do you complain about him? About the things he does, or does not do or wish he did or did not do? Or, do you speak highly of him and how blessed you are to have him in your life, and how amazing he is and build him up to others?
Remember that love covers all things (1Peter4:8) it does not destroy and uncover. A way to show love and respect to our husband and protect him from harm, is to keep him covered and not expose his flaws to the world. Instead pray about the problems! This week, create a prayer list for your husband of things that bother you and pray through them anytime you feel the need to complain or talk to someone about it. Go to the Lord first, and then Praise your husband before all people. Also make sure he hears, or sees you doing this at least one time this week!
I'll be posting a discussion board on the facebook page for you all to discuss your progress this week, and what was hard for you what was easy. Please feel free to even to give examples of ways you have in the past torn your husband down or spoke about him badly to others, and also ways you have changed that. It's important for us to share with each other so we can be held accountable for our actions and it will be really awesome to go back a year from now and read what you wrote and how different things are for you then compared to now!
Also don't forget to post a link to the "Proverbs 31 wife challenge" on your facebook page to encourage other people to join in with us. Send me a message of the people who you referred and for each person who joins, you and them, will be entered into the drawing at the end of the month for a special prize!! Even though we have already started it's never too late for someone new to join in!!
God bless!! Love you all and praying that God will transform us this week!!
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