![\"\"](\"http:\/\/69.89.31.171\/~girlfrk8\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/10\/john1461.jpg?w=300\" "\\"john146\\"")
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This is something I have run through my mind about so many times, thousands of times.\u00a0 I have gotten up on Sunday mornings and wondered Lord will today be the day that my man will surrender everything to You? I look at him as he is lying in the bed and think well it could be Beverly!\u00a0\u00a0 I picture him getting up and saying honey I think I will go to church with you today (oh and by the way he did go with me yesterday)\u2026.I picture him going into the church service\u2026I picture him headed to the pastor telling him \u201cI want to surrender\u201d\u2026..oh what a day that will be!!!<\/p>\n
But at this time after years of praying, waiting, and hoping, that is still what I am doing, praying, waiting and hoping.<\/p>\n
My husband and I met 37 years and married 33 years ago. At first he attended church with me and then slowly stopped going\u00a0 (which now makes me wonder did he go just for show back then)\u2026until one day he stopped going all together except for special things.<\/p>\n
God kept drawing me closer into a relationship with Him and yet my relationship with my husband was not growing the way \u201cI\u201d wanted because I now had something I wanted both of us to have but he was not at that point yet.\u00a0 Oh, other aspects of our marriage were great but this was something that was a standing wall between us.<\/p>\n
Yes I could have written the handbook on how NOT to win your spouse to Christ.<\/p>\n
I was not a total \u201cJesus freak.\u201d I would come home and make him sit and listen (I just thought he was listening) to things I was learning in God\u2019s Word. I even packed gospel tracts in his lunch. Most of the time all of which he avoided.<\/p>\n
There were times we would be at odds with each other. I would sometimes find that I would blame some of our marital problems on his unsaved status. After all, I thought if we were both Christians, life would be \u201chappy-ever-after.\u201d Or so I imagined. I would begin trying harder to ensure he was hearing God\u2019s messages by playing my Christian music and scattering opened Bibles around the house. Every once and awhile he would go with me to church, but instead of enjoying him sitting next to me in church, I\u2019d sit there chewing nervously on the end of my pen, praying madly that this would be \u201cThe Day\u201d, and when it wasn\u2019t, I would quiz him in the car on the way home, \u201cWhat did you think of the sermon? Did you like the music?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was okay,\u201d he\u2019d say. And his thoughts would turn to \u201cWhat we gonna eat for lunch?\u201d<\/p>\n
The rest of the ride home, I\u2019d sit and fight back tears or angry words. Why couldn\u2019t he see his need for Christ I would ask myself.<\/p>\n
One day I met this lady who had told me Beverly pray for him no matter how many years you have to and \u201cDON\u2019T GIVE UP\u201d, so I made that commitment to pray either until I die or he surrenders. And I\u2019m going to love him through every day. Period.<\/p>\n
That was 33 years ago ladies\u2014and I\u2019m still praying and still loving. But I\u2019m no longer pining away in self-absorbed isolation waiting desperately for my husband\u2019s salvation to bring marital fulfillment. Instead, I\u2019ve decided no matter how many years, I want those years to be as enjoyable as possible for the both of us, despite our spiritual differences.<\/p>\n
God has a plan for each life. And no matter how hard I try, I cannot transform someone else\u2019s heart. I can\u2019t coerce, sweet-talk, or plead my husband into being a Christian. In fact, when I do try, it only drives him away.<\/p>\n
I decided long ago to accept that it\u2019s God\u2019s job to change hearts. That decision frees me to pursue my relationship with God without the added burden of having to bring my husband to faith. All I have to do is love and enjoy him. That\u2019s God\u2019s plan for me, and he gives me all the grace I need to accomplish it.<\/p>\n
That doesn\u2019t mean I\u2019m not lonely at times or that I do everything right.<\/p>\n
Pray, pray, pray. Prayer is my link to God\u2019s presence, power, wisdom, and comfort.<\/p>\n
I will \u201cNever\u201d give up hope. God offers everyone the same gift of salvation and eternal life. Some choose to accept it, and others don\u2019t. But all who accept the gift do so in God\u2019s timing, not ours. God knows what he\u2019s doing.<\/p>\n
I don\u2019t understand why God does what he does, but I will trust God while I wait.<\/p>\n
The truth is, I might not ever see my husband walk a church aisle, and surrender his life but that\u2019s okay. I have hope that I\u2019ll see him walk through heavens gate. In the meantime, I will live my life as an godly example and leave it all with God and let Him do His work.<\/p>\n
Let\u2019s Pray<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n God help us to realize we have no control in changing our husbands, change comes from You so help us all to leave our sweet husbands in Your hands. In your name I pray Amen!<\/p>\n