God Can Use Our Spouse For Good In Our Life - Part 5

Last Saturday night, my friend, Diana whose sons are in band with my son, came over to hang out with me. Our boys were playing at a competition in Round Rock and were not going to be home until after midnight. Her husband was out of the country and she did not want to stay home alone. So the good friend that I am, I set her up in my bedroom, in a comfy chair next to my desk with a book, and informed her that I would not be able to pay any attention to her, because I was working on a talk for a women's group and it was of utmost importance. She was very intrigued by my topic and then began to share with me some of her own thoughts on marriage. Needless to say she never got around to reading the book! We ended up talking for about four and a half hours (the band bus was delayed) and I ended up being the one who was intrigued. She shared with me about her husband’s parents who had been deeply in-love and described in detail the wonderful childhood that he had experienced. She spoke for a very long time about her mother in law, describing a woman who was beautiful not just on the outside but more importantly on the inside. My friend shared how this amazing Christian woman had been the backbone of the family and had created an atmosphere of love, peace, joy, kindness and gentleness in her husband’s home. As she talked about her husband, she described a man who had been raised in a stable, loving environment and had become a wonderful, loving, gentle father and husband who had been deeply influenced by his parent’s marriage. My friend spoke about how her mother in law had impacted her own life and how she raised her kids and loved her husband well as a result. I was enthralled by this example of a real Christian home and marveled at the legacy of faith and family that this one woman had left behind. May the same be said of us, no matter what the challenges in our marriages are. And like the writer of proverbs 31:28 says may we be the kind of woman whose “children rise up and call her blessed; and whose husband also praises her.”