The Husband I always wanted

So last week after my amazing visit with my parent I thought, could my week get any better. Yes, Yes it could. I get a phone call from my husband and he says, "I just did something a little crazy." Now, at this point this comment could mean anything-"took another job", "moving again", "bought a boat," it could have been anything. So I braced myself for what the next sentence held for the Roberts'family, I heard these words "I just signed up to get baptized at church on November 1." As I sat there and listened to my husband tell me why and how this decision came to pass, tears rolled down my face. He explained that God had really been working on him about this. He became a Christian in college, but never got baptized. He felt God was calling him to take a stand for Christ and this was an act of obedience. Let me just fill you in on our story in hopes that it will encourage yours.

We were high school sweethearts and we got married when I was 20 and he was 21. Yes, we were very young, naive, immature and really had no idea what marriage consisted of. Let me paint you a picture of our first two years of marriage. He was a college baseball player who was a rebel and liked to have his fun. I was a bible-beater, self-righteous, youth minister who read scripture over him as a conviction mechanism. He dealt with feelings of "never measuring up to my standards." And I agreed, not with my words, but with my actions. Where was the husband that I deserved and was a "man after God's own heart?"
I was given a book called "The Power of a Praying Wife." It was then that I committed to pray for my husband and pray and pray and pray. When I set out to pray for the change in him I recieved a change in me. God began to change my heart and in turn began to change his as well. I was making the mistake that I would argue, most women make. I was trying to make him fulfill that which only Christ can. There is only one man that can truly be the love of our life, one man that can be our best friend, one man that can fulfill every need-and it isn't our husband, it is JESUS CHRIST. Once I realized this, the bitter, nagging, resentful wife was gone and in turn God started to create a husband I could only dream of.
I have been married to a man that did not lead his family spiritally and I have been married to a man that has led his family spiritually-they just happened to be the same man. In order for him to lead, I had to get out of the way. Now, he gives his testimony to groups, he speaks to different FCA groups and team chapels, and now is getting baptized at the age of 31. Praise God!! We think God needs our help, just a little nudge every once in a while, but he doesn't. You may be exactly where I was, wishing and hoping for your husband to just pray out loud. When your responsiblity is to be faithful and pray! It is the least/most you can do for your husband. Pray expecting your miracle!!! Until next time. . .