25 August 2010

The Power of a Praying Wife: Trials

"Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass...it's learning to dance in the rain."  This quote is dedicated to my John.  John, I love dancing in the rain with you.

We are in Week 14 of our series in The Power of a Praying Wife (Book by Stormie O'Martian).  Thank you guys for sticking with me and being so faithful in reading these blogs on how to be a better wife and how to pray for our husbands, whom we love dearly.

This week's chapter was all about Trials.  I don't know about you, but life lately seems to be filled with trials for us, not all bad or horrible, but just trials that stretch and mold us to make us into the men and women that God wants us to be.  And Stormie made a good point in this chapter.  She said, "We all go through difficult times, but it's the attitude we have when we go through them that matters most."  Now, I would love to say that if we pray hard enough we can take away all our trials from ourselves and our husbands, but we all know that isn't always God's Will for us.  Sometimes the trials God allows us to be in are for our own benefit so that we draw closer to Him, so that we learn to be more compassionate and loving, so that we become more trusting and patient, whatever the goal is God sees it clearly from beginning to end, but for us finite humans it can be awfully uncomfortable, confusing, frustrating, and extremely stretching and difficult.

I'm talking about trials like not being able to conceive a baby, not being able to move or sell your house, struggling at your job, struggling financially, struggling with family members, illness, pain, heart ache, we've all been there, right?  Stormie O'Martian was also saying that "If we go through trials with thankfulness and praise to God, He promises to bring good things despite them."  I guess that's where the prayer part comes in, because in the midst of a trial to praise and thank God is not humanly possible or normal, it may even seem crazy, right?  But we can ask God for supernatural power to be praising and thankful and to have a postivie perspective because we know that God works all things together for good for those who love Him.  That doesn't mean that everything in our life will seem good, but He can make it work all together for good.

He says to "count it all joy when you fall into various trials knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience." In James 1:,2,3...wow, count it all joy, be joyful, because we ultimately have a choice how we will respond when trials come.  Will we complain and sulk?  Will we lash out in anger?  Will we take it out on loved ones?  Or, will we trust God even when we don't understand what He is doing?  Will we praise Him in the midst of the storm?  Will we dance?  It goes to show you how our attitudes and our heart attitudes really matter to God.

So, my prayers may not change some of the things that John must go through, but my prayers can help John to have a positive perspective in the midst of a trial.

This week let's pray for our husbands that...

*They will know (Romans 8:28) "all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose."
*God will teach us how to trust Him during trials
*Our faith will grow
*Our walk with God will deepen
*Our love for one another will grow
*invite the Holy Spirit to move through the circumstance and transform us
*we will press closer to God and praise Him no matter what!

Psalm 55:22
Cast your burden on the Lord, and He shall sustain you; He shall never permit the righteous to be moved.

Praying for all of us to grow through our trials and to praise God in the midst of them.  To God be the glory!

2 comments:

  1. Beautiful post, Kristi! I love the point about our prayers helping him to have a positive perspective. Praying for you guys.

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  2. Thanks for these posts, Kristi. I have this book and a workbook to go with it, but I still haven't read it! I really need to get off my rear and get reading and praying! I know it would make a difference in our marriage and life.

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