Submission
Spiritually it seems everything is right in my life.
Seems.
That’s the operative word. I am an active member of my church, I am gladly and anxiously reading my bible everyday, I am praying, I am listening to praise music, I am teaching classes on different biblical principles, but there is one area where I’m not practicing what I preach and that’s with my husband. You’d think after 11 years together we’d have each other trained by now but it just doesn’t work that way.
I am a strong willed wife who thinks she desires to be submissive. I do, really, want to be the Proverbs 31 woman however, I may not be putting in the somewhat “easy” effort that it takes to be that woman. A book I am reading poses a hard question “When people see the way I live my life, would they know that I am a Christian?” In most cases, yes. I guess it’s what happens behind closed doors that people don’t see that make me question whether or not they would know that I am a follower of Christ.
Another book said to live your life in such a way that you wouldn’t mind loaning your pet parrot to the town gossip! That’s where I’d get in trouble because, quite frankly, I’m not the submissive wife that I think I want to be. I just read a great book called “The Strong Willed Wife” by Debbie Cherry and I want to “lead” it in a women’s discussion group soon. Notice I didn’t say teach it! Many times I believe that those that can’t do, teach. Now if you would ask my husband, he would say that our relationship is completely normal and much better than average and that all couples argue occasionally- I guess it’s the Type A personality in me that is looking for perfection. I know it’s not going to happen because we are not perfect people, only Jesus Christ is perfect. But a life filled with no more arguments or disagreements with my husband- that seems like utopia to me.
Just when it seems I am on top of my game spiritually I get knocked down a notch when I read that my relationship with my husband is the only relationship on earth that I can show Jesus Christ how much I love him through my submission to my husband. It is the one and only relationship we have that God is looking at as a mirror image of how we would treat HIM if He were standing among us.
Try swallowing that horse sized pill!
What an opportunity to show God how much we love Him. He gave us a husband to love, respect, and submit to just as we would submit to Him. He wants to see our love for Him through the way we love and treat our husbands each day of our lives. So since the way I treat my husband is a direct reflection of how I am doing spiritually- I feel that I fail daily (okay, maybe every 3rd day or so).
Now, would Lee say that I’ve failed? Absolutely not. He’d give me a B+ at least if not an A- but sometimes little arguments to me seem gargantuan and just really make me look inward and say “Wow, would I have said that to God?” or “Would I ignore God to watch TV?” or “Would I have treated God that way?” I would like to say “Of course I wouldn’t do that to God” but that’s what I do everyday when I don’t place my husband above the kids and all other things going on in this difficult season of life with two children 3 and under. God comes first- naturally. Lee should come second. The kids should come third.
The requirements of biblical submission can only be met by a willing heart. There can be no self-serving motives in submission.
So my prayer today is that the Lord would give me a heart that genuinely wants to be submissive to my husband.
How about you?
Holding On…
Michelle
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6 comments:
Awesome post. I, too, need to work on my daily walk within my walls. Like you, outside the walls everything looks okay. It's the people we love and live with that we sometimes take for granted. Thanks for the encouragement and motivation to be a better wife!
Have a great day, Michelle!
Fabulous post. Submission is not something I like to think about much. LOL But, I should.
Thanks for encourageing me and giving me some things to think about.
That is a great post, I have never thought about submission being a reflection about how we would treat our Savior, gives me something to ponder...
Yes, that is a horse size pill to swallow! Submitting to my husband is hard to do and I fail many times. When your husband submits to Christ it tends to make it easier to submit to your husband. But even then, there are times that it is still dificult. Thanks for the encouragement to be more submissive......
I've been reading "Power of a Praying Wife" by Stormie Omartian and before you even start praying for your husband you have to pray for yourself. This really got me because I thought I was "okay", until she gave this prayer..."Lord, give my husband a new wife..and let it be me."
I had to comment about what boutcrazy wrote b/c I read Power of a Praying Wife almost daily and last night in the middle of the night- that same quote that you referred to kept popping into my head and then this a.m. I checked the blog- and there it was again!
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