Today's guest post is by Bridget of Becoming a Godly Wife. I know you will be blessed by her love story.
When My husband and I were first married we were not believers. Crazy thought I know, but sadly it is very true. As a matter of fact the first three years of our marriage we were the blind leading the blind. It wasn't until I had my first son that this fact would change. As would my marriage. You see my husband and I were married yes, but happy not so much. When I finally handed my life over to Christ, I finally came to understand what my parents and grandparents had been trying to teach and share with me for years.
Then Uncertainty hit:
I remember sitting down to do my devotions as a new believer and everywhere I turned in the Bible it was talking about obeying my husband, being submissive to him, and that he was head over my household. Now this scared me greatly since my husband was still an unbeliever. What in the world was I going to do. I knew he wasn't going to take the reins as our family's spiritual leader. As a matter of fact he thought I was crazy for believing what I believed. And man would the eyes roll as I would get myself and our young son ready for church. I remember going to bed crying one night thinking to myself “God, what in the world am I going to do?” The next day the answer was made clear for me, crystal clear. It was that very next morning I was still seeking God's guidance. It was also the same morning I picked up my Bible and my reading for my day was this:
And a woman who has a husband who does not believe, if he is willing to live with her, let her not divorce him. For the unbelieving husband is sanctified by the wife, and the unbelieving wife is sanctified by the husband; otherwise your children would be unclean, but now they are holy. 1 Corinthians 7:13-14 (NKJV)
It was in that moment I realized what I had to do. I needed to honor my end of the marriage. I needed to make sure I was doing all I could on my Christian walk. Maybe then he would be able to see the changes in me and desire the same for himself. The changes in me could very well be the thing that would help to make the change in him.
Over the course of the next year I would do my devotions, daily praying for my husband to seek salvation, praying I would be a light to his darkness (granted he has always been a great man), and I would pray that the changes in me would be shown to him. Slowly, I started noticing that on certain occasions my husband would make an effort to go to church with me and our son.
Sitting in those pews I remember praying the whole time “Let today be the day that my husband hands his life over.” Sadly, time after time, I would walk out of church a little disappointed as again he would turn away from the Truth.
When my husband informed me he had a new guy at work that was talking to him about the Bible, my heart did flips. My husband started to ask questions about the Bible and salvation and my heart sang. I was seeing changes. No longer was it once in a while that my husband was attending church with me it was every Sunday. I remember walking into our home one day to see my husband in tears. It was then that he informed me that he had decided to accept Christ into his life.
There we sat, both of us crying. My prayers had been answered. My family was on its way on the right track.
A month later I sat in the very pew I had left before saddened, to witness my husbands baptism. Later that night I asked him what had changed his heart. He informed me that he had noticed all the changes in me. And then he had realized that he wanted those changes too. It was because of my faithfulness and wiliness to serve him that made him seek for understanding. It was then that he realized it had to be God.
Only God could have caused me to do a 360 in my attitude and it could only be God who would put people in his life at just the right time, including his then two year old son.
Changes In Ourselves Encourage Others:
One of our most influential tools as a child of Christ is to let our testimonies do the talking. Those who knew us before will become amazed at the changes that have been made in our lives. This is not just limited to those in our homes but to those we knew when we were younger.
Changes in us can promote changes and growth in others. If you are searching for changes in your marriage or in any relationship first look at yourself. What do you need to change? We cannot do the same things over and over again and assume that there will be some kind of change out of the blue. Instead of praying for others to change, we need to pray for God to make changes in ourselves. It is when this happens that things really start taking shape.
Just Keep Soaring for Him, Bridget
Bridget has been married to her soul mate for 13 years. Together they have 4 wild, crazy and absolutely wonderful children. Bridget also is a full time blogger over at Becoming A Godly Wife where she openly talks about marriage, children and Biblical inspirations that she finds in everyday life and contributes to other websites on the topics of marriage and motherhood. Her goal is to encourage women to be the best wives and mothers that they can be. You can also find Bridget on Facebook and Google+.
Just Trixie says
Just beautiful! I’m sitting here crying tears of joy for you, and praying for my own husband. Thank you for sharing this story. Be blessed.
Bridget Childress says
I am so glad that our story could bring you some encouragement! I will be praying for your husband and you as well