Well the 30-day Husband Encouragement Challenge that I began on New Year's Day, has come to an end today. I started this challenge thinking that I would find it quite difficult, because although it is very easy to SAY you love someone, taking a step back and truthfully thinking about it, isn't always so simple. Deconstructing your relationship and analysing and assessing it from a spiritual viewpoint I thought would be a real challenge. I was afraid I'd find lots of negative areas that needed working on, and that I would struggle to fulfill the day's challenges because I had so much work to do in each area.
However I was pleasantly surprised! Although each day led me to really think deeply about my role as a wife, and how this impacts on our relationship, and how the Bible's teaching, which is central to that, can guide me to rethink how I see this role, oftentimes I was very heartened to discover that God's work in our lives is very evident, and that we are already doing pretty well as a couple! That was very satisfying, but I also found the 30-day Challenge a useful resouce for considering just how I can continue to apply God's teaching to ensure that I never cease to grow in my role as a wife, and to nurture Papa Bear in his role as husband and head of our home. Over the weeks I hope to share what I learned with you in more depth. But for now, as a taster, reflecting on what I have learned, I would like to share my first thoughts. I found a common theme in the key words that jumped out at me regularly from each day's challenge ... see if you can find it too!
Just as they came to me here is the list of key words ...
Passionate
Positive
Proud
Planning
Playing
Prudent
Peaceful
Perspective
Pals
Persistence
Privacy
Productivity
Poetry
What's more, when I compared what I had written down, with the key words in the chapter I have just finished reading, on being a Godly wife in the book by Elizabeth George, entitled "A Woman's High Calling", I was surprised to find the same theme there ...
Praying
Praising
Pampering
Oh my goodness, that book is a HUGE inspiration to me. Coupled with the 30-Day Challenge, it has been a wonderful resource, especially the 2 chapters on loving your husband. Those 2 chapters alone are worth buying this book for, I think. Contemplating all those words typed in black and white above, I can see now that it is possible to use Elizabeth George's three themes as headings for categories, which could then be applied to the work a Godly wife has to do, to serve and support her husband lovingly, so I divided them up into the three separate categories ...
PRAYING
Prudent
Peaceful
Planning
Perspective
Persistence
PRAISING
Positive
Proud
Productivity
PAMPERING
Passionate
Playing
Pals
Privacy
Poetry
I shall write these down on cards to put in my Daily Treasures box (more about that another time) to pray over and apply scripture and thoughts to each category, which I can return to whenever I need to encourage myself or find inspiration. I plan also to share my contemplations with you as I work through the list! That last key word, "poetry", I added because on today's challenge, the final day of the 30 days, Nancy Leigh DeMoss suggests that you may like to put all the positive things that you have discovered over the month about your husband into a poem, to will bless and encourage him now that you have completed the challenge. I thought it would be nice to draw all those key words together, and use them as a starting point for my poem, which I can then put into one of Papa Bear's Valentine cards!
One of them?
Yes! When I went to the supermarket alone on Saturday I was so pleased to find many beautiful cards from which to choose. It was my golden opportunity to buy him a card for St. Valentine's Day, because more often than not, we shop together so whenever there is a special occasion coming up, we have to be very clever about buying each other a card without the other one seeing it. At Christmas we really surprised each other - by buying the same card! On Saturday though I was spoilt for choice by all the lovely cards on offer. The only problem was deciding which one Papa Bear would like best. And I couldn't decide, so in the end, I bought him not just one card, but THREE! I will put something different in each one, and plan to have some other surprises besides. But in one of those cards, will be a special poem. I think I shall get started on writing that, right away!
I enjoyed doing the 30-Day Husband Encouragement Challenge so much, that I have picked another challenge from the Revive Our Hearts website to do for February. This time I shall be attempting the Choosing Gratitude challenge. Why not click the link on my sidebar, and join me? It is a wonderful way to "grow in grace" and see God's plan for you in action.
Love, Mama Bear xxxxx
