Tuesday, May 19, 2009

Titus Two Tuesday

I loved the idea I found on this blog about women sharing wisdom they gleaned from other women.
Titus 2 says "...Guide older women into lives of reverence so they end up as neither gossips nor drunks, but models of goodness. By looking at them, the younger women will know how to love their husbands and children, be virtuous and pure, keep a good house, be good wives. We don't want anyone looking down on God's Message because of their behavior."


Today I want to talk about Stormie Omartian and her book "The Power of A Praying Wife." Ronnie and I just celebrated our 7-year anniversary, and it is only right I talk about how this Titus 2 woman used the Word of God to make our 7th year the happiest yet!

I confess, six months after Ronnie and I were married, I was ready to get divorced. I was lonely and hurt, and the "D-word" was all I thought about. I wasn't saved, so it was easy for me to think, "This is too much work...I need to just cut my losses." In December of 2002, God in all of His prevenient grace literally led me by the hand in the middle of Wal-Mart to Stormie's book.

The first thing she says is that every wife needs to pray the following three-words,
"CHANGE ME, LORD."
Oh yea, you can imagine how hard that was to swallow. I was like, "What?"
BUT...
Psalm 66:18 says, "If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear."
Stormie goes on to say, "The point is not who needs to change. The point is who is willing to change."
Then the next thing that really struck a cord with me was her saying my attitude needs to be, "Whatever you want, Lord. Show me and I'll do it." It means being willing to die to yourself and your wants
(I think they call that, sacrifice. Ha!=)
It means seeing your hubby as God's child. It means loving and respecting your husband not because he deserves it, but because it is what God commands.
(After all, we didn't "DESERVE" the sacrifice Jesus made for us on the cross - Ephesians 5:1-2)

The following prayer from Stormie's book was the first prayer I prayed for my husband:
"Lord, Help me to be a good wife. I fully realize I don't have what it takes to be one without Your help. Take my selfishness, impatience, and irritability and turn them into kindness, long-suffering, and the willingness to bear all things. Take my old emotional habits, mindsets, automatic reactions, rude assumptions, and self-protective stance, and make me patient, kind, good, faithful, gentle, and self-controlled. Take the hardness of my heart and break down the walls with Your battering ram of revelation. Give me a new heart and work in me Your love, peace, and joy. I am not able to rise above who I am at this moment. Only You can transform me.
Show me where the sin is in my heart, especially in regard to my husband...Make me a tool of reconciliation, peace, and healing in this marriage...Make me my husband's helpmate, companion, champion, friend, and support. Help me to create a peaceful, restful, safe place for him to come home to. Teach me how to take care of myself and stay attractive to him. Grow me into a creative and confident woman who is rich in mind, soul, and spirit. Make me the kind of woman he can be proud to say is his wife.
I lay all my expectations at Your cross. I release my husband from the burden of fulfilling me in areas I should be looking to you. Help me to accept him the way he is and not try to change him. I leave any changing that needs to be done in your hands...Only You, Lord are perfect...
Teach me how to pray for my husband and make my prayers a true language of love. Where love died, create new love between us. Show me what unconditional love truly is...May the God of patience and comfort grant us to be like-minded toward one another.
I pray that our commitment to You and one another will grow stronger and more passionate every day...Breathe your life into this marriage. Make me a new person, Lord. Give me a fresh perspective, a positive outlook, and a renewed relationship with the man You've given me. Help me to see him with new eyes...new love, new compassion, and new acceptance. Give my husband a new wife, and let it be me."

I prayed that prayer and the other prayers in this book for over a month, and I was saved a few weeks later. God did change my heart!!! Thanks Stormie.

8 comments:

Belinda said...

OH I LOVVVEEEEEE it. You know you inspire me so much. You are such a great example of what servants of God should act like. Thank you. I wish we could do ,lunch too. Call me the minute you think you'll be headed this way. We need to get that girls trip planned before the summer is all filled up.Love ya girl.

Jennifer Goodwin said...

I love that book. I need to get it back out and just leave it on my bedside. What power is in those words! Thanks for this today! Love from your friend in TN.

HappyascanB said...

Wow. What a great post! I want to read that book! Congrats on 7 years of marriage! That's a God thing for sure!!

Unknown said...

This is wonderful! I love the Power of the Praying Wife book:)

Shanda said...

What an awesome story!! I love that you began praying for your husband even before you were truly saved!

I also love her "Power of a Praying Parent." Prayer is so powerful!

Blessings to you today sweet sister!

Unknown said...

I love your blog too! :)

Jennifer said...

What a powerful - and beautiful - prayer! Certainly it is not about who should change but who is willing!! I love that...

Thanks for sharing - and for all your encouragement! Hope you are having a "healthy" week :)

Empty Nest Full Life said...

Thanks for your sweet comment this AM. This sinus infection has been difficult to shake and the antibiotics are making me feel sick all day. I am however making myself walk my 30 min a day, and I am gradually feeling better. Sometimes I just don't like the gradual part. Loved your post today, and I know someone who needs that encouragement. You are inspiring considering you are much younger than myself. Thanks for being such a blessing. Jackie

 

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