Helpmate Wanted - Part 1

Dear Ladies,


      Becoming the helpmate God intended you to be can be a hard work.  But what if we could be inspired by Scripture so that our walk was pleasing and easier to accomplish.


     I have taken my God given assignment and made a mess of it with my own hands.  I think the fleshly, self directed will can wreak havoc on all, including my own heart.  


Proverbs 14:1
 'The wise woman builds her house, But the foolish tears it down with her own hands'. 


     There it is in black and white.  I have banded together with the foolish.  


      I certainly don't want to waste this life on the foolish things.  A pastor once shared that if you drew a mental timeline of all eternity in both directions...I would be just a small dot on the time line of history.  What will I do with my time on earth for Christ?  Who will I live for?  Also, I have heard it said that 'only that which is done for Christ will last'.


      So what can I do to be a better helpmate.  When we desire to be the best kind of helpmate our own personal husband will treasure, then we must find out what they like.
   
      I am still studying my husband.  I ask questions to see what he prefers.  I give him the best of what I have first.  I would never want him to think he is not my best earthly treasure.  


      I want you to know my husband is a redeemed but fallen man.  I am not his helpmate because he earned it.  That is not the gospel.  I am his helpmate because God gave him to me.  We were both unsaved when we were married and for years we both did hurtful things.  When God brought us to His son at the foot of the cross, we both had to change so much about our thinking.  That doesn't happen over night.  So as God is patient with us...AND GOD IS PATIENT WITH US...so should we be with our husband.  


      This is not always easy but it is right.  Submitting to our husband's directive can be more difficult when we are resistant to it instead of getting on board.  You never know what God is going to show you.


      There have been times when I would ask my husband what I should do and when he tells me, - on the inside I am saying "What?'  I consider myself a bright person with good reasoning skills, so when he says things I just want to say 'What?' out loud.    I am grateful God helps me keep quite and just do as I am directed.  Why?  Because I want God to be at work.  I want to see His hand not mine.  God shows me every time how my husband was protecting me.  

      Sarah must have felt that way when Abraham asked her to lie and say she was his sister.  Now, my husband has never asked me to lie and I couldn't see him ever asking me to do that.  But here is Sarah and her husband entering into Egypt and he is giving her this directive.  This happens two times to Sarah in scripture! (Genesis 12:11-17 & Genesis 20:2-18)


      God never tells us what he thinks about Abraham's actions.  We can assume Sarah didn't like it, but she obeyed. (1Peter 3:6). If we look deeper into the situation, Abraham was always given material things in exchange for her.  Yikes!  I would have thought my husband didn't love me.  We can feel that way when a lot less happens between us then being sold to a Pharaoh.  We must fight those feels off and believe the best and behave the best.  It is our best hope to win them in  any situation.


      Abraham knew the laws of Egypt.   It was a difficult situation.  He could be killed by Pharaoh if Pharaoh wanted his wife.  If he was killed, Sarah's situation would have only been worst.


     Abraham may have forgot what God had promised him.  Sometimes our husband will forget what God has promised.  We need to treat our husbands with respect, forgiveness, patience, kindness, encouragement, wisdom, and blessings.


     I have failed these attributes.  I am not perfect.  Many ladies have poured into my life scriptural wisdom that has inspired my will to change.  I would like to try and cover some of those failings and victories in this series regarding being a helpmate.  


     If you have any questions, please contact me.  Sign up for the emailing to receive new posts or become a follower of Devotional Living.


     May this bless your heart and cause you to glorify God in all you do.


Kimberlee Lucas






     

       






      

Life in Christ is Far From Dull

Dear Ladies,


        The house is full of commotion.   I am sick today.  I have a cold that is determined to grow until it has me in a full retreat back to bed.  My husband is preparing for his work load for the week ahead.  My son and his friends are having a band rehearsal upstairs.  My girls are popping in and out of the house. Barking dogs every time the front door opens and closes, laundry buzzer, out of dishwasher detergent, dishes piling up, need more boxes of Kleenex, just feel yukky  ...Praise the Lord.


        What?  Praise the Lord.  Why?  


        Because I have a husband, a family, children, laundry to fold, dishes to do.  How long will my good God give me them?  I don't know.  I just need to enjoy every minute of it while I have it.


        I have lived with a bad attitude!!!!  It isn't feminine or beautiful.  I still can have a bad attitude but scripture has a way of knocking that out of someone.  When we look back at the effects of our attitudes on the ones we love, it looks ugly.  I see it as wasted time in gospel living.  I have tarnished it with my living out my will instead of my all knowing God's will.  I don't want to live with the regrets of having a bad attitude with a child or my husband.  The attitude itself is painful enough knowing well what my God does with it.  


       Jesus is my advocate who shows His hands to His father and says 'I died for her, she is mine.  I know she is not perfect but she has been goven My grace and mercy.'


       This heavenly thought is enough to humble me and break my ties with sin.  Oh, I may fall into a sin again.  There are sinful attitudes that laid dormant in all our  hearts.  Given the right circumstances they will rise up and desire to take over.  I have failed to follow scriptural commands, to watch over my heart with all diligence, because from it flow the streams of life.  Or how about failing to capturing my thoughts and taking them captive to Christ.  These scriptural principles are for our good and God's glory.    


         If I am stubborn, then my faithful God will chasten and show me that I may not continue on my path.  Allowing the Holy Spirit to bring me out of wrong thinking into Christlike thinking is so much pleasant than sin or the pleasure that sin broadcasts.


      Having said that, I want to spend my time running the race, faithful to turn as quickly as possible toward God, and seeking to give God glory for the days I have left.


      Praise the Lord!  He chose not to leave me as I was...dead in my sins, selfish, living for myself.  What an adventure we have in living for Christ!  It is far from dull.