For the Resolution Revolution Project last week, Priscilla presented a challenge to all of you who are married, to deliberately for 24 hours, not challenge anything that your husband said, all in an effort to honor him in your conduct and conversation. If you missed out on the challenge, please shift your eyes to the post below and post your comments so you can have a chance to win this week’s prize!
After pondering over this challenge, I thought about a conversation that I had with a friend of mine regarding a scripture in Proverbs. Before I tell you which scripture I am referring to, I’ve got to ask all of you a question. Have any of you experienced an “Ah-Hah” moment when reading scripture? A moment when you think to yourself, “Has this been in the Bible this whole time”….Well, I had one of those moments a couple of months ago when a friend of mine pointed out a key word that left me completely in shock. Let’s read the verse together…..
“She does him good, not harm, all the days of her life”- Proverbs 31:11. Like many of you, I have heard and read this on many different occasions, but this entire time I have been thinking that this verse was only directed towards married women. BUT, this verse doesn’t say just in married life. Notice that it says, “ALL the days of her life”, which also includes singleness. I have had so many conversations with my single friends about marriage and the majority of the time it is stated, “When I get married I will”…..Now don’t get me wrong, statements that begin that way are not bad, but I definitely think more emphasis is placed on, “After I get married”, and not enough on the preparation period that comes before marriage. As a single women myself, who deeply desires marriage, I begin thinking of specific ways that we can begin living out this verse in every aspect of our lives, and I wanted to share my thoughts with all of you!
Prayer: Call me crazy, but I fervently pray for my husband. Not just for the Lord to send him my way ASAP, but I pray for him specifically. I pray that the Lord strengthens him daily. I pray that he is being challenged on a daily basis to be better, not by societies standards, but by standards that are pleasing to the Lord. I pray for his heart to be healed from past hurts and pains and for him to have learned from those situations. I pray for him to have wisdom and for him to be able to withstand the temptations of this world.
Obedience: The decisions we make today, will affect our life with him tomorrow. One thing I have learned (the hard way) is that one bad act of disobedience can have after effects that last a lifetime. I have heard so many married women talk about how decisions they made when they were single, crept back up and deeply affected their married life. Obedience is so critical.
Speaking Life: So many times I hear single women saying, “There are no good men left”. *Hanging my head in shame*. Yes, I’m guilty of allowing those negative words to come out of my mouth, but not anymore because that’s simply not the truth. We have to make sure that at all times, we are speaking words that are edifying!
So now that I have shared a few ways that we single women can bring our husbands good, not harm, all the days of our lives, I want to hear from you! What are some ways that you think we can prepare ourselves to honor our future husbands, as we wait in singleness? Do you find that having this mindset in 2011 is challenging?
Married Women: What are some things that you can encourage us single women to do while we patiently wait for the Lord to bring our Boaz to us?
Can’t wait to hear from all of you,
Antrenette Carr
