I am thankful for the women that bring their family to church every Sunday alone, because their husbands will not come. I know that many of those women have one great prayer request; that their husband would become a believer and/or assume the role of spiritual leadership in the home. Having walked through this with many families over the years, I would like to share some suggestions of things I have seen that work for wives in helping to wind their husband for Christ.
When I meet with people who have made mistakes in life in my role as a pastor, I am always less concerned with where they have been or what they have done wrong. I am always more concerned with where they want to go in life and how dedicated they are to get there. My dad is an example of someone that wants to end well. I believe his legacy will prove he achieved his goal.
One of the toughest jobs in the church must be the role of pastor or minister’s spouse. Recently Cheryl (my spouse) completed a Bible study on her own that she felt was very helpful to her. She believes it will be helpful for other ministry spouses. If her schedule will ever allow it she would love to lead a group of area wives through this study. I decided since it was valuable enough for my wife that I would like to interview one of the authors.
In a marriage for example, some people keep bringing up the same issues and repeating same mistakes and so they fail to initiate change. Sometimes a spouse refuses to tell the whole truth and so bad news keeps coming out, opening new wounds each time. The marriage never improves until everything is on the table, there are no more secrets and the bottom is found.
One common misunderstanding is that those who teach principles are perfect at implementing those same principles in their life. Hopefully before someone agrees to teach on a subject they have a certain “expertise” in the area he or she teaches, whether by education or experience, but it is probably false to believe he or she is perfect in every area they claim expertise.
I have heard all the arguments. One spouse feels unloved so he or she refuses to give love or respect. One spouse feels disrespected, so he or she refuses to give back respect or love. I understand it is difficult, but the fact remains each spouse is accountable for his or her heart and actions.
Cheryl and I are in Lithuania. Read other posts on this blog. Cheryl and I differ on what an email home should look like.
We are in the middle of a family series and I was talking yesterday about marriage and specifically the need to commit ourselves to making marriage work. My co-pastor Chad and his wife sang while Cheryl and I danced. It was a visual picture of the leadership of the church admitting that marriage is tough, but our commitment to make it work is what can make a marriage strong.
Today was my long mow day. I have to mow my lawn at least once a week, but about once every three or four weeks I have to get my push mower out and mow places I cannot get to with my riding mower. One of these places is with the Magnolia tree in my back yard. This is Cheryl’s favorite tree in the whole world, but it is the tree that may one day cause me to lose my Christianity. We have been told it may be the largest and one of the oldest Magnolia trees in the city. Cheryl does not want me cutting any branches on it and it is almost impossible get under to mow, even with my push mower.
I am so bummed tonight to have heard the news about Pastor Gary Lamb of Revolution Church in Georgia. I do not know Gary personally, only through Facebook, Twitter and his blog. I would never be one to put more burdens on a man already so broken, but I cannot get some thoughts off my mind tonight and my blog is one way I express myself. Since he addressed this in a very public way through his own blog (Read the account HERE), I thought I would share some of the things racing through my head. They may be good for all of us to consider.
