Submission

About a month ago a dear friend of mine asked me to come speak to a mom's group she helps lead.

She wanted me to share my story of...

SUBMISSION!

Yikes!

I agreed, knowing I would be uncomfortable, but knowing that God had done a work in my heart and I needed to be vulnerable to share my story with others in case there was something they could benefit from as well.

So today I shared my story of submission with about 30-40 other mothers and wives. Here is just a sneak peek of what I shared.

It had to do with our stay in Romania.  Steve and I both felt burdened and convicted about not living missionally in Knoxville and not making much effort to build relationships with our neighbors and over time share Jesus with them.

I only felt burdened enough to pray for them 6,000 miles away. Steve felt convicted to the point that he was pretty sure the Lord was leading us back to Knoxville after our trial period in Romania.

I didn't like this. In fact, I hated this idea!

I didn't want to leave Romania. This had been a dream for me. A God-given dream and I wanted to stay working and playing in dusty gypsy villages and holding abandoned babies for a very. long. time!

For about two months it felt like Battle of the Wills. I wanted to stay. Steve felt like we were not supposed to stay. We were frustrated that the other person didn't see it our way. Lines of communication stayed open and we knew where the other person was on the matter.  We both were fighting for very good things. Very godly things, even.

This was a hard place for us because after six years of marriage we had never had a MAJOR disagreement like this. We had had disagreements, but on big things we were generally on the same page. So this was very hard.

One afternoon I was talking to a friend in TN who encouraged us to begin praying for a spirit of unity in our marriage!

Genius! Why didn't I think of that!

So Steve and I began praying for a spirit of unity.

It took about two months for us to get there. It took two months of me realizing that I needed to love, respect, trust and affirm my husband's leadership.  God put him as the head of our relationship for a reason. I knew my husband had been praying and fasting and there was no reason for me to not trust him.

I am a very passive person, but not in my marriage. I am very comfortable with Steve and so in our relationship I do not sheepishly do whatever he says if I have a differing opinion. Not in a disrespectful way, but I feel comfortable sharing my heart....my thoughts...my opinions. Steve wants that too. The Lord taught me that I am to have a voice and opinion, but ultimately I do need to follow Steve's leadership (if his leadership is under that of God) because God has placed him there to provide and protect in respect to Christ.

I came to a place where Steve knew that I didn't agree that we shouldn't be in Romania, but I was trusting him and submitting to his leadership.

I love John Piper's definition of a wife's submission. It is a divine calling of a wife to honor and affirm her husbands leadership and to help carry it through according to her gifts. 

Wow! I just love that!

I was not in a place of honoring and affirming my husband and the Lord just convicted my heart to do so. To help him carry out his leadership role with my gifts!

This has literally changed my outlook on my role in the marriage in such a positive way.

I want to share with you what he says about headship as well.

His definition of husband's headship is the divine calling of a husband to take primary responsibility for Christlike servant leadership and protection and provision in the home. 


God had taught me a few other things concerning submission.

*I cannot submit to Steve unless I am abiding in Christ daily. Abiding in Christ results submitting first to God. Submitting to my husband is then a natural result.

*My pride and my will can blur my vision of God's purposes for me

*Pray for a Spirit of unity with your spouse

Have you read Sacred Marriage?  I love the line on the front cover:
What if God made marriage to make us holy rather than to make us happy?


It is a guarantee we will not always be 100% happy in our marriages.  However, it is pretty much gauranteed, that if we allow the Lord to work in our lives and are listening to His voice, that He will make us holier than we are right now, not because of ourselves, but because of Christ in us!


Abide in Him!


Satan is out to destroy our marriages. To steal, kill and destroy them.  Be on guard! Stand Firm! Abide in Christ!