Husbands and Church! by Elaine Davenport (Tuesday, January 29, 2008)

Maybe you haven’t seen grown men in a sanctuary praising God; but I have. I’ll tell you…it’s a beautiful thing. I’m talking about lots of them; really sincere and oblivious to what’s going on around them. Yeah, they could be at home sitting and watching the game, but they’d rather not. I thought my husband was forever doomed to have Sunday cement foot until I made a faith decision. A lot of people may “really” wonder why I would take time to talk about husbands going to church at a healing site. That’s easy. I was reading a lot of Christian Blogs and I found out that this is an important concern. I also believe it’s a source of “worry.” Worry isn’t faith and it cannot get the results of faith. It’s also the kind of stress factor that can just be plain unhealthy. If you obsess over it; your actions can hurt your witness and God wants you witnessing but He also wants you to be in health above most…sorry above all things.

I was talking to a friend of mine yesterday and she said: “I’ve seen the change in your husband and it’s nothing short of a miracle.” She then said: “What exactly were you praying about him?”

Now, I was caught completely off guard by the conversation. I admit that my husband has changed; but I really didn’t think that anyone else had noticed. He’s a good guy and always has been. Well, I thought about her question and I just reflected back on the beginnings of my closer faith walk. I recalled that the hand of God had truly been on my life as I moved through the trial of a brain tumor and cancer and if I saw it, that my husband had too. I remembered his gentleness and patience with me as I faced each trial and moved through them and I knew then that God had been working with him all along, not just when “I or anyone else noticed” the change and then I replied: My prayer has always been: Lord, please increase my husband spiritually.” My husband didn’t dislike church, he just didn’t like leaving the house and especially on Sundays.

THE MAN IS THE SPIRITUAL HEAD OF THE HOUSE…

You see, it was my opinion that my husband would be one of those tough cases. He didn’t like church people or for that matter many people. He believes in hard work and minding his own business. He believes in saving his money and I noticed that he also likes helping others who “he deems” need help.

I explained to my friend that because I deemed my husband to be a “tough case” for me; I gave the case to God. After all, didn’t he tell us to Trust in Him and to lean not to our own understanding? Didn’t He? Well, I did that and never looked back. It never occurred to me that the “worthy” laborer that I asked God to send across his path would be me.

THE RELIGIOUS CHALK LINE!

I had to be so careful as not to cross the “religious chalk line.” What does that mean? My father didn’t go to church until he and my mom divorced. My grandfather ( a very good man) never went. It’s my prayer that he confessed Christ and that he’ll be in my future, but that determination has already been made. For years, I went to churches where there were mostly women. When I was younger, I just didn’t understand why, but when I got older, I could see it so clearly. That is: if a person really isn’t transformed “outside” of church by a renewing of their mind, loving God and their neighbors as much as themselves, doing things and saying things from the heart, taking faith steps and Trusting God and being a person of prayer then there is nothing for the lost around them to see except the act of going to church being a “religious” act. If we’re not nicer, kinder, calmer, more faithful, more loving…then why are we wasting our time and expecting change around us? Who are we fooling?

They are judging us; whether they tell us or not. They watch our every word and they measure our sincerity. It has to pass the “sniff” test and if it doesn’t we are the direct cause of souls being lost.

I began to tell my husband the tenet’s of my belief. I wanted him to know that I was changing, moving closer to God and I wanted him to know that I wasn’t abnormal. He looked at me and said: “I believe the same thing!”

I didn’t make a big thing out of it. It’s a wonderful thing the steps that were in front of us as a couple, but I’ll tell you this; when I forgot about my husband’s salvation…God didn’t.

I had to use a different formula for my children, but we’ll talk about it another time. Blessings

ALSO READ: “HOW TO GET YOUR HUSBAND TO COME TO CHURCH!” CLICK HERE!