It’s Thinkin’ Thursdays and this is our first edition of Dear Mel, where I do my best to answer your questions! And the fun part? YOU readers get to help answer them! Leave a comment answering the question(s).
Dear Mel:
Besides praying, how do I get my husband to come to Church with me?
~ Husband-less In The Sanctuary
Dear Husband-less in the Sanctuary:
I can honestly relate to you. For 8 years of my relationship with my husband, he was unsaved and unwilling to go to church. I went anyway. I prayed all the time about it but I never pushed the issue. Every once in a while, I would ask him to go with my oldest and I but I never nagged or made him feel bad about it. It would have been so easy to do.
One thing I did pray for was that God would put the right man in his life that would encourage him to become a Christ-follower. Not only did the Lord put one man in his life, he put several. The one thing God consistently reminds me is that it’s not my job to save everyone. We have to allow the Lord to do His job and work in people. You can present it every once in a while but don’t nag or act frustrated.
I know it’s not easy. I know how badly you want this but maybe it’s not the right time for your husband to go to church with you. What if there is a perfect reason that the Lord hasn’t impressed upon his heart to go? There could be a situation that might take place that would turn him off to the church forever but when the time is right, God will lay it on his heart. And continue to pray. Prayer is amazingly powerful! I will pray with you. Find a couple of trusted friends and your pastor if you can trust them to not say anything to your husband and pray fervently for him.
“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. Matthew 7:7
Dear Mel:
Why is it that every time you feel like everything will be ok, something else bad happens, or a certain situation (that you thought was resolved) comes back again?
~ Stroke of bad luck
Dear Stroke of bad luck:
I have wondered this myself. Even in the bleakest moments we need to remember that God has a purpose for us. For one, we’re not of this world but in it. If things went really well here on earth, how much would we really rely on God or remember to focus our minds on our hope of heaven? Go to the bible. How many stories in there are of people who had an easy life? Should we really expect to have life go easily for us? Do we want life to be easy? Yes because we were originally designed for a perfect life, communing with the Lord in paradise. That longing is natural but it’s not for earth. It’s for heaven and being with our creator once again, in perfect companionship.
I know it’s easy to get hung up on thinking others have it so easy. It does seem that some people have it easier or better than others. Most of us are going to experience hard times and there are people who like to show a great appearance to the outside world, while their internal world is falling apart. They want to keep up with the Jones’ and not let on that anything is amiss.
We can focus on what’s wrong in our life (trust me, I’m pretty good at this myself) or we can decide to ask the Lord what He wants us to learn from it and focus on glorifying Him in what ever trials come our way. Read the book of Job. Job didn’t deserve any of the awful things that came his way and yet, he rested in God’s love and care the entire time. I can’t even imagine and I’m not certain I wouldn’t have been broken by it.
In my distress I called to the LORD; I cried to my God for help. From his temple he heard my voice; my cry came before him, into his ears. Psalm 18:6
God Bless,
Mel
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Hey Mel. Great post as always and looking forward to more. Just a quick note to say, there’s a small surprise for you here http://peacefrompieces.blogspot.com/2011/04/versatile-blogger-award-2.html
Cheers – Dora
http://pandorapoikilos.com
Thank you so much! What a sweet surprise!