Oh, To Be a Godly Wife in a Wicked World
8/26/99
As I sit down to write this, I have been married exactly 2 1/2 months. I love my husband, but I’ve already figured out why they always said marriage is hard. I’m happy to be married, and excited about the challenge, but I’m realizing I have so much to learn. Every conflict we had while dating is now magnified. Every weakness in both of us is amplified, and intimately involves the other person.
Well, I’m determined to learn how to do this, even if it takes my whole life, and even if the process is painfully slow. I’m determined to start praying fervently, and with power for my husband, instead of desperate pitiful cries. I will see out examples of Godly wives in real life, books, and recordings (blogs and podcasts didn’t exist much back in 1999). I want to hear about and see how they do it.
A sweet Godly wife is such a rare thing. It’s not politically correct anymore. Women have forgotten how to be sweet. It is slammed, if not completely ignored in all the movies, TV shows, and even often times in the church. I don’t want to be a doormat, but I’m also not going to just take the easy path of least resistance and just become a women of the 90’s who “stands up for herself.” The world doesn’t know how to be an effective wife, let alone a Godly wife, so I’m not going to follow their example.
As a follower of Christ, I’m called to “lay down my life” for my husband. Wow! How is that done exactly? What kind of blessings come with that kind of radical surrender? I’m intrigued to find out. “Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the ungodly.” Blessings come from walking in Godly counsel. What does that mean to walk in Godly counsel? Maybe it has something to do with who I walk with, who I spend time with and talk to, what books I read, what movies and TV shows I watch, and who I admire secretly, in the depths of my heart.
This is the woman I will become - the one that I feed into my brain and strive for in my heart. I will not be her tomorrow or next year, but give me 10 or 20 years, and you will see changes, and it will all depend on what I decide today. Am I going to spend time in the Word, seeking out women friends who are good examples, or at least striving for the same things, or am I going to waste my time on movies, feeding my brain with trash and horrible examples, and then wonder why my marriage isn’t working?
I’m deciding today that no matter how hard it is, and no matter how many times I have to scrap myself off the pavement, get up and try again, I’m ready to start walking down a different path, a narrow path.
I’m setting my sites, looking toward a new goal, fixing my mind on Jesus (the perfect example of godliness), the author and perfecter of my faith (that I can change), who for the joy (of being selfless) set before him (it was a goal and a promise of a reward, not something he had, but something he expected to have in the future) endured the cross (suffering, pain, death to self), scorning it’s shame (from not conforming to the world’s expectation), and sat down at the right hand of God. (Was it worth it?! Of course it was!)