Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hello friend, welcome
back to Grace for my Home.
I hope that you're doing well.
We are doing well.
My boys are back in schoolafter being off a week for
spring break and I think theyhad a good time.
They made some money and wentto the beach and did some things
and I think they had a goodtime.
(00:20):
But now today they're back inschool school and I miss them a
little bit, but at the same timemy house is a mess from having
a full house for a week and ahalf.
So I have a lot to keep me busyand today I wanted to talk with
you and share with you somethingthat I wanted to share with you
for quite some time, but I havebeen hesitant because it's not
(00:45):
an easy topic.
But I was having a conversationthis week with a friend and
some of the things we weretalking about was related to
this topic and I thought, okay,maybe it's time to share on this
and I just want to start off.
I'm going to do like a littleprecursor, right?
I just want to start off bysaying this is my opinion.
(01:05):
There's areas I could be wrongand I'm okay with that.
You know, I can only share withyou from my own experience and
what I believe, but I will saythat the things I'm going to
share with you today I trulybelieve.
You know, I had a conversationthis week with a friend who has
much younger children and theywere talking about family
devotions and it may it remindedme so much of me.
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You know how I wanted to havedevotions with our children, and
it made me laugh because Ithought, oh, I remember those
days.
I remember that, you see, Iwanted so much to sit down as a
family and have all of mychildren gather around and a
husband and us open up the word,the word of God, open up the
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Bible and share, and us havegreat conversations about Jesus
and who God is and what he wantsus to do and how we're going to
live for him.
I just had this vision of ushaving these wonderful family
devotions, and you've got tohave a vision.
That's a good thing.
I had a vision of how I wantedour family devotions to look,
(02:14):
and so I tried to take thatvision and I tried to put it on
my husband.
I tried to tell him this iswhat I feel like God is asking
us to do as a family, and you'rethe head of the family, so you
need to lead these familydevotions.
But here's the thing it wasn'tburning on his heart, it was
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burning on my heart.
And so he tried.
You know, he, he tried, hetried, and it was funny.
Because it was really funny,because I not only did, was it
my idea, but I put the idea onhim like, okay, you need to lead
this because you're the father,you're the husband, you're the
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head of the house.
Now you need to lead this,right?
And then he would try.
And I didn't like the way hedid it.
And so then it's like, ok,thanks for trying, but I want
you to do it like this.
Well, you can imagine thatdoesn't go over too well.
Number one this is your idea.
And number two you want me todo what you want me to do.
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How you want me to do it, youwant me to do it.
And so family devotions did notgo well at first, because I had
a vision of what I wanted themto be, but I couldn't make it so
.
And you know my husband, itwasn't that he doesn't love my
children, it wasn't, he doesn'tlove Jesus.
I mean, he's a pastor, heshares the word all the time.
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But it wasn't something thatwas burning on his heart, it was
burning on my heart, and when Itried to force him or guilt him
into doing it, it wasn't theright attitude, it wasn't the
right atmosphere, wasn't the wayI wanted it to be, and so I
stopped.
I stopped trying because it wascausing division between me and
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him frustration, I should say.
And after a while, it was likethe Lord was still knocking on
my heart.
I asked you to do this, yes,lord, but my husband should lead
it.
Well, I asked you to do this,but my husband should lead it.
Well, I ask you to do this.
The truth is, I didn't know howand I was afraid of failing.
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After a while, it was like,okay, lord, if you'll show me
how, I will do this.
And see, I had the time At thattime.
I was a stay-at-home mom and Ihad the time during the day to
do it, and I had the desire, Ihad the heart to do it and and I
knew how to talk with them.
You know, I knew how to talkwith them because I was with
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them all day and I knew how toget their attention.
And sometimes, um, and you know, god had put that on, that
desire, that calling, thatvision in my heart, and so I'm
the one who he called to do that.
And so, as I jumped in, godblessed it, he helped me, he
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showed me how.
It was never perfect, it wasnever wonderful.
We never had these.
I imagined family devotionsbeing these wonderful times when
God just spoke and everybodyfelt the presence of the Lord.
And you know, we had a fewtimes like that, but for the
vast majority of the times wegot together and we opened the
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word together.
There were no fireworks and weread the word, we talked about
the word.
You know, what do you see inthis?
What is God saying in this?
How can we live this out?
And it was just the bread, it.
What is God saying in this?
How can we live this out?
And it was just the bread.
It was the daily bread.
And you know, and there weredays that you know it was, those
were the good days.
Ok, that those were the gooddays, there were days when it
was just a big old mess and youknow, and I would close the
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Bible crying like, oh, I just Idon't know what I'm doing, but I
did a whole podcast on thesubject of family devotions and
how to start them and how tolead them, and I'll put a link
to that in the show notes.
But the bottom line is God askedme to do that, but I was trying
(06:10):
to put that on my husband.
He'd given me everything Ineeded to do it and a green
light, and he'd given me all theauthority, all the wisdom that
I needed to be able to do that.
I just had to commit to it andI just had had to do it because
it was what God was asking me todo.
Now, another instance I talkedabout this last week where my
husband and I did notnecessarily see eye to eye at
first was with me quitting myjob and becoming a stay-at-home
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mom.
I spoke about this in lastweek's podcast.
You know, when I started havingchildren, I had just started a
new job and it was a promotionfor me and I was making more
money than I ever made.
And the second day that I wentto work, I came home that night
and found out that I waspregnant with my first child,
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and so God did something in myheart, and as I started thinking
about being a mom, I startedwanting to be able to be a
full-time mom and to quit my job.
But we had debt and a lot ofthat debt was my student loans
and we weren't at a placefinancially where I could just
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quit, and especially with littleones coming.
You know they're expensive.
So we had three little oneswithin four years, but my heart
was to be at home with them.
When I went to my husband I toldhim this you know, my heart is
to be at home with thesechildren and I don't understand
it.
You know, I feel like it's aGod-given desire.
I never thought that I'd wantto be a stay-at-home mom, but
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now I do.
And his thing was Audrey, wecan't afford that right now.
I'm not against it, but I knowthat on my salary alone we can't
do it Now.
That was wisdom, that was right, it was true.
But my heart was pulled anotherway and I knew he was right,
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but I didn't want to accept it.
And the Lord had to do heartwork in me to accept the reality
of where we were and at thesame time, hold on to the vision
he'd given me of being astay-at-home mom.
I don't know how to explainthat.
It was kind of like, okay,there's yes, this is me, but
it's not time right now.
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And in the middle of that timeperiod, from when I wanted to
quit my job to when I wasactually able, there was a
temptation to be angry or mad atmy husband because he wouldn't
and I'm doing air quotes here hewouldn't let me quit my job
Because he wouldn't, and I'mdoing air quotes here he
wouldn't let me quit my job.
And I had to mature as a personand realize, okay, we are
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partners.
It's not him against me and meagainst him, and what God's
called me to do, and what God'scalled him to do, it's what has
God called us to do.
See, I had to grow up and seethat it was not him keeping me
from doing what God's asked meto do, it was what has God asked
us to do as a couple.
And so during that time youknow it was there was a strain,
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there was a longing, but at thesame time I was maturing and I
was growing and the Lord wasstarting to show me, you know,
that we, we are partners, and Ihope I can explain this.
The way that the Lord showed me, you know, is God made marriage
to be a partnership.
One is not lording over theother.
You know God has given me anassignment as a person, as his
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daughter.
God has given my husband anassignment and my assignment is
not just to make sure heaccomplishes his assignment.
God is God and he can give me aunique assignment and my
husband a unique assignment.
And because he's God, those canfit together perfectly.
When we're listening andobeying and seeking God Doesn't
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mean there's not going to besome friction and trying to
figure it all out, but you areyour own unique person and God
has a call for your life.
And it may not look exactlylike your husband's, but it
doesn't mean that you're notcalled.
It doesn't mean God doesn'thave a unique plan for you and
when you're both walking andseeking the Lord's will, he will
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show you the way together andthere's some things that you'll
do on your own and there's somethings you'll do with him and
there's some things he'll do onhis own and some things he'll do
with you, and that's okay.
You know, I often think aboutMary.
I love the story of Mary,jesus's mom, because here's a
young woman who God comes to her, because here's a young woman
who God comes to her, or Ishould say God sends an angel to
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her and asks something huge ofher Huge Will you carry my son,
the son of God?
Will you carry him, will youraise him, will you protect him,
will you love him?
And she says be it unto meaccording to your word.
Be it unto me, lord.
So she says be it unto meaccording to your word.
Be it unto me, lord.
So she says, yes.
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Now Mary did not go ask herfather if she could do this,
because God didn't go to herfather.
God went to Mary and Marydidn't go and ask Joseph.
Hey, I know we're gettingmarried, do you mind if I do
this?
God asked Mary, and Mary had toanswer for Mary.
She couldn't answer for Joseph.
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She had to answer for Mary andshe said yes, lord, be it unto
me according to your will.
Now she needed Joseph for theplan that God had.
She needed Joseph.
She knows she needed Joseph.
God knows she needed Joseph,but God had to speak to Joseph,
and the same God that speaks toMary can speak to Joseph, but
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God had to speak to Joseph, andthe same God that speaks to Mary
can speak to Joseph.
And there are times in my lifethat I've had to rest on that.
I've had to believe that God'snot going to call me to do
something and not give me thegrace to do it and not speak to
my husband if it affects him.
Another example of this thatplayed out in my life and I've
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spoken about this also I did awhole podcast on God's calling
to homeschool, because, as Icame home with my children, I
felt like God had asked me tohomeschool them.
And that was another area whereme and my husband did not see
eye to eye.
He is in the public schoolsystem and so homeschooling was
not on his radar until I feltlike God had asked me to
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homeschool our children and Iprayed about it, I fasted about
it.
Lord are you sure?
It was such a desire in myheart and I didn't understand it
.
I just really felt like God hasasked me to homeschool these
children.
Well, my husband was not inagreement with that.
He flat out said no, I don'tthink that's God's plan for our
family.
We are not going to, I don'tthink we're going to be a
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homeschool family.
And I was confused, because howcan God call me to do something
so clearly?
And then my husband not see it,or at least not believe me or
believe it.
And I asked him would you pray?
And he said I will pray, but Ireally didn't believe he was
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praying, or at least not prayingthe way I wanted him to pray.
And same thing there isn't atemptation there to manipulate.
There's a temptation there,even through prayer, to say Lord
, change his heart.
And the Lord taught me throughthat situation this is how you
pray, audrey.
Your kingdom come, your will bedone.
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You know we have to hold thingsloosely, lord.
If this is what you've asked ofme, I'm willing.
I'm like Mary, be it unto me.
But you've got to speak to myhusband, and I know you can.
And that took a long time andthere was actually a point where
I gave it up, because mychildren have two parents.
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They have a dad and a mom, andI really felt like God had
called me to homeschool them.
But for me to homeschool themand my husband not be in
agreement would bring divisionin our home.
And so at the end I said, lord,I believe that you've asked me
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to homeschool our children, butmy husband hasn't heard that.
So if you want me to, I'm morethan willing to do so, but I
need you to speak to him.
And he never spoke.
I prayed, I fasted, never spoke, and so I gave it up.
I said, lord, it's yours, Iwill not force my will, force my
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way.
I will trust you.
Well, as I went about mybusiness, the Lord spoke.
He spoke when I wasn'texpecting it and in a way I
didn't expect God answered myprayer.
The same God who speaks to Marycan speak to Joseph.
But let me give you a couple oftips.
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First of all, pray.
Don't manipulate, even inprayer.
Pray, hold it loosely, hold itwith open hands.
Lord, I'm willing, but you'vegot to speak.
Lord, your kingdom come, yourwill be done.
Number two don't make yourhusband the enemy.
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He's not the enemy.
The enemy is the enemy.
Your husband is your partner.
Number three as much as is inyour ability, do what God has
asked of you.
It's like me with the devotionsIf it's something that God's
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asked you to do, but you're justwaiting on your husband to do
it, but God's asked it of youand it's not going against your
husband for you to do it, do it.
And number four let God speakGod's way.
Let God do the heavy lifting.
You say yes to the Lord and letthe Lord speak the way he wants
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to, in his timing, and if it'sthe Lord, he will speak.
Let our aim be to obey God.
Let your aim be to obey God andto love your husband and to
live in peace, and all of thoseare not mutually exclusive.
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We can do all three at the sametime.
We can obey God, we can loveour husbands and we can live in
peace.
I just want to give you somehope today that the God who
called Mary, spoke to Joseph andGod can do the same thing in
your life.
I encourage you to pray aboutit.
I encourage you to hold itloosely and not manipulate it.
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Trust God with it.
Let God deal with your heart.
Don't make your husband theenemy.
Keep your relationship withyour husband on good terms and
do to the best of your abilitywhat God has asked you to do,
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and God will do the heavylifting.
Before I let you go today, I'dlike to say a prayer over you,
father.
I thank you for these who arelistening.
I thank you, lord, for peace inour homes.
God, the world is so full ofchaos and there's so much
turbulence out there.
I pray, lord, god, that youwould show us how to within our
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walls, the walls of our home.
How to bring peace, lord, howto live in unity with each other
, how to teach our children tothe best of our ability.
Lord and Lord, I just pray thatfaith would grow in our hearts
and in the hearts of ourchildren, and we would be guided
by your Holy Spirit.
In Jesus name, amen.
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If you found this messagehelpful, please share it with a
friend.
God bless, bye, bye.