Today's Devotional Thought
February 03, 2012 by Wendy Foreman
He Loves Me
Wednesday, I wrote the From the Heart of a Pastor's Wife devotional. I read it to my husband Tuesday night before I went to bed and when I got up Wednesday morning and went to his blog, I found that he had hijacked my devotional and put it on his blog and announced that I was his guest blogger for that day. At the end of the blog, he wrote just a small personal note about how blessed he was to have me as his wife.
I cried.
I went back today and read it again and the comments that people made. As I read their comments I realized that people really don't know what we face as Pastor's wives. I also glanced again at what my husband wrote: "I appreciate my wife who stands with me to minister and she is awesome. I am truly a blessed man."
Those words melted my heart.
I am very aware that I am not always a blessing. I can be difficult and not always the most loving and kindest person. My mind went then to the verses in Ephesians that talk about how a husband should treat his wife. And, I want to look at them today for just a minute.
Ephesians 5:25 says, Husbands, love your wives just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her. Then verses 28-29 say, In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. After all, no one ever hated his own body, but feeds and cares for it, just as Christ does the church.
When I looked at the Life Application commentary, it listed 3 things that a husband should do and I just wanted to share them with you. He should (1) Be willing to sacrifice everything for her; (2) Make her well-being of primary importance and (3) Care for her as he cares for his own body.
Even as I type this I am overcome with emotion at how blessed I am to have a husband who truly exemplifies these traits in his life. A few days ago I was not having a good day and I was unloading on my husband and sharing with him some of the disappointments, stresses and changes I am experiencing in life and he was very quiet and didn't say much. I was confused because as women we always have something to say and he didn't...at first. Later that night after the kids went to bed, he shared with me how much he loves me and wants to make these disappointments and stresses go away so that I don't have to feel pain and hurt.
I was speechless (this doesn't happen very often).
I was so moved by his great love for me and the incredible desire he was displaying to take all of it away so that I could live a life that was disappointment free and stress free. In that moment I realized that my husband lives Ephesians 5:25 and 28-29.
I am the one sitting here today feeling so very blessed for the husband God has given me. A man who loves God, desires to be a man of God, and a man who is an example of Christ to me and to our children.
Ladies, if you have a husband like this, do not take him for granted; he is a gift from God. If you are someone who is struggling in their marriage and cannot say these things about your husband, let me encourage you in a different way. In Ephesians 5 there are verses that point out how a wife should act towards her husband. Even though your husband may not be following Ephesians 5, you still can and lead by example.
Blessed doesn't seem like a strong enough word to describe how I feel for who God has picked for me to share this life with. I want to be for Him what He has been for me: a voice of encouragement and of love.
December