(Women of Prayer launched their first official day of prayer yesterday! Some started silently in their homes, some snuck in on the Facebook page to see what we were praying about, and others joined in the conversations in some form or another. Praying for our husbands, using Stormie’s book, began by praying for their wives! Yep, that’d be us. The prayer she leads us in at the end of chapter one is powerful, convicting, encouraging, heart changing, mind altering, and faith building. Getting to the place where you accept that you are not in charge of changing your husband – or anyone for that matter – is a big step for some. For all of us though, it should be a place of freedom. We are released from this responsibility – that is solely God’s – and can now fully spread our wings in the privilege of being for our men instead of against all that we deem as wrong in them. And since I’m on this journey to living free, this is an amazing grace to come into!

What has helped me most when praying for my husband, my children, my dad, my grandfathers, my uncles, and my in-laws is remembering who we are eternally to each other. If they are in Christ, then I am praying for my brothers in Christ. If they are not in Christ, then I am praying for them in the hopes that we become “family” in the eyes of eternity. Once again, so. much. FREEDOM! When I come to God in this perspective, I can put my relational-emotions aside for a moment and delve in prayer for them in a way that is truly selfless. It really is beautiful to abide in that quality of love for those moments with the Father on their behalf!)

Today, we stand for our men and their work. “…a man’s identity if often tied up in his work. He needs to be appreciated and he needs to win, and his work is often a means of seeing both happen.” Honestly, when I read this I thought of my boys first. They are definitely at an age where winning is very important! Two of my boys in particular want to win all the time! We are constantly talking to them about how to handle losing and winning in the best way. I also thought back to when Nathan and I were first married. We were both in college and working part-time jobs that were not our dream jobs, but when you’re newly married and in college you just find anything that’ll pay the bills! It wasn’t that hard for me because I knew it wasn’t what I would do forever and I enjoyed just working in some capacity. For Nathan, though, I saw him struggle to even want to go to work. Where the drive to get a solid paycheck was enough for me, it wasn’t for him. He wasn’t trying to be lazy, he just didn’t find any fulfillment in the work he was doing. This same characteristic is something I see everyday in my oldest son – you can imagine how some days might go in the homeschool world!

Recognizing this in our men and taking it to our Father and Creator can relieve any tension we may let build up. God created them for good works which He has prepared in advance for them to do. We need to be on their side all the time, and they need to know that we are! There will be times they just have to grit their teeth and do the work, but we can pray that their perspectives be that everything they are doing is for Christ. We also need to show appreciation and excitement over the work they do. This has been hard for me when the work my hubby (or my Lego-building boys) is doing isn’t what I had expected. There have been times when I have whined and complained because the life we were leading wasn’t what I had planned. In other words, their work wasn’t fulfilling me and my dreams and my purposes. (Gross-heart moment!) I read a quote by Amy Carmichael recently that said something like, “God never wastes His servants’ time.” It stopped me in my tracks as I thought about how ungrateful I have been at times for where He has placed us, with the work He has given us. I shake my head and seek forgiveness as I realize how many times I have made my men feel like what they were doing was a waste when they poured their whole selves into it! It may not have met my expectations, but that doesn’t mean it wasn’t everything it was supposed to be. Wives, mommies, relatives, friends, let us above all else LOVE our men. “Love does not demand its own way” (1 Corinthians 13:5).

Prayer points for their Work from The Power of a Praying Wife:
-that they would see the fruit of all their labors
-that they would find great fulfillment in their work
-give them strength, faith, and a vision for their future to keep them from laziness
-keep them from fear, selfishness, or a desire to avoid responsibility
-keep them from becoming workaholics
-let them enjoy their successes without the need to strive for more
-that God would be Lord over all their work
-confidence
-“Open up doors of opportunity for him that no man can close.” (Love this one!)
-development of his skills
-that he would have a wife (or sister-in-Christ in me) who encourages him
-that his work would be established, secure, successful, satisfying, and financially rewarding
-“May he never wither under pressure, but grow strong and prosper” (Psalm 1:3).

Sunday afternoon found me in just a rotten state!  For whatever reason – hormones, the dust in the house, the dog hair on the floor, my ungratefulness (!) – I was throwing daggers with my stare and tone and words.  So I sat myself down for 8 hours – 8 hours I will never get back – and wasted time!  No amount of encouragement about me being human can justify 8 hours – a whole work day – of dishonoring my God, my husband, and my children!  I sat in a chair, ear phones plugging my ears, and set before my eyes vain things.  There was no excuse, just feeble reasons of this and that…that amounted to nothing worth my empty afternoon.  I said I was sorry before falling asleep that night, but God woke me early for one of our Father-Daughter talks.  He knows so well how to hold me in His comforting arms while He stirs me with His straightforward Truth.  Conviction can cause you to stop in your tracks, to catch your breath, and to cling to the only One Who has enough grace and mercy to make the soul well once again.

The alarm went off as any other day – 5 a.m., but I lacked the normal urge to get up and meet with Father via Word and prayer.  So, it was something else altogether Monday morning that moved my body up and out.  I wanted to lay there in my despair and consciousness of sin – in my self-dug pit – and hide from the world.  It seems Father would have none of it; He would pick me up, by His Spirit, and bring me to Himself.  So I sat in that chair and memorized and read the Word and read about joy and just tried to feel okay again.  I went out early to sit on the step…before 7 this time.  It was dark and still; a good reflection of how I felt.

I sat there crying out my shame and my need and my repentance and my desire.  I could never have back Sunday afternoon, but I didn’t want Monday to be stolen from me as well.  I wanted – needed – every new mercy my Faithful Father had promised me on the wings of a new morning.  The sky began to lighten.

How does the Redeemed live again after laying herself down at death’s (sin’s) door?  It’s simple really. She realizes, once again, that she is a Princess laying among rags, and she gets up.  Though she wants to lie there and hide her stained existence from the world, she gets up instead.  Even though she can’t imagine how Father could still look upon her with love, she gets up and goes to Him because He’s her only Hope.  Even when she is tempted to sleep until it doesn’t hurt any more – til she can’t feel – she gets up.  She doesn’t deny the pain or the stain; she just goes to the Healer of her soul Who is able to make her whiter than snow.  And though she goes out to sit in the darkness – her “old friend” – the light still comes.

Then the angel showed me a river with the water of life, clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb. ² It flowed down the center of the main street. On each side of the river grew a tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, with a fresh crop each month. The leaves were used for medicine to heal the nations.

³ No longer will there be a curse upon anything. For the throne of God and of the Lamb will be there, and his servants will worship him. ⁴ And they will see his face, and his name will be written on their foreheads. ⁵ And there will be no night there—no need for lamps or sun—for the Lord God will shine on them. And they will reign forever and ever…“Look, I am coming soon! Blessed are those who obey the words of prophecy written in this book.”…Blessed are those who wash their robes. They will be permitted to enter through the gates of the city and eat the fruit from the tree of life…The Spirit and the bride say, “Come.” Let anyone who hears this say, “Come.” Let anyone who is thirsty come. Let anyone who desires drink freely from the water of life…

Amen! Come, Lord Jesus!

²¹ May the grace of the Lord Jesus be with God’s holy people.

Revelation 22