We all have the beautiful home. There are flowers in the yard, a white picket fence, wonderful smells in the home as guests enter the door, which by the way has a placard on it that reads "As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord". Our husbands are christians, fully the spiritual leaders in the home, they're submissive to God, they pray for us, they're our "knights in shining armor" and we can see their love for God. We, as wives, are always smiling, always the perfect wife and mom. There are no cross words in our homes, only love speaks there. We never nag, whine, nor cry, there's no need, because our husbands are in Christ.

Yeahhhhhhhhhhh, right!!!!!

Truth is.....none of us are perfect! And alot of women nag, whine and cry because their husbands aren't in Christ, then we put on the "all is perfect" mask and go to church and smile. Those in the church feel sorry for her because look how good a woman she is, but then again, those on the outside of this couple's home have never watched her drive her husband further away from God with the nagging, whining and crying. I will not discount the pain inside the heart of the woman whose husband is not a christian. That pain is real. Which leads me to another story.

Ken wasn't a christian. I was. I left. God told me to come back and trust Him. I did. (Short version of what happened)

During the time after we remarried, I learned to put my full faith in God. I had stepped out in blind faith by coming back, now it was time to grow in the Lord on this journey. No, God didn't bring me back to a saved man, quite the opposite!

There were many things God started teaching me at this point. For one thing, a wife can either draw her husband to the Lord, or by being "holier than thou" can drive him further away. Women, do not make your husbands feel inferior because you happen to be a christian and he's not.

The Lord also taught me that YOU cannot change another person, even though your heart is in the right place in wanting that person to know the Lord, all you can do is change how you react to that person. It's God's job to change them, not your's. BUT, here's the key.....God wants you to change how you react, if you're not reacting as Jesus would! Ouch! Jesus did not force Himself on me, how could I force Him on Ken and expect Ken to want to know Him? God showed me how to love Ken! Yes, God showed me to love Ken where Ken was at, not where I wanted him to be.

I remember talking with Ken one night, we'd fought, and in my heart I was screaming "God, show me what to do!!!! NOW!" He did. At that point, I quit fighting, and I looked at Ken and said " I BELIEVE in you!". The look on his face was one of softening, the mean melted away, and there was shock there also. I found out later that it was very important to Ken to know that I believe in him, I was the first person who ever did! And at that point, the walls he had built up started cracking. 

A little further down the road, during an argument (Ken and I have always argued, with the end result of deep talking for good) over what he was doing with his life and mine, I told him that I saw his heart as God sees it. He looked at me funny. And I explained that my Ken has a heart of gold and it's bigger than Texas, that he had a wall up around it where no one, not even God could enter. BUT, if he'd start opening that heart up that God was going to fill it with HIM.

Yes, the verse says "without a word".....I didn't nag, I didn't preach, but God opened doors over and over for the words that Ken needed to hear. And I waited for God for the words. In the meantime, I just loved him and he'd ask me why I love him. Another door for words that God needed me to say......in other words, not my words, but God's! 

One day Ken started questioning, and I suggested that he go to our pastor. He did. He came home and said the pastor gave him a book of the bible to read. And I said, "Then you need to do that". He went to our bedroom and I started supper. It wasn't long that he called me into the bedroom and asked me to kneel and pray with him. He grabbed my hand and we knelt beside the bed, and he asked the Lord into his heart!

Ken will tell you that I didn't preach God to him, I loved him to God and everytime he says that, tears well up in my eyes. I couldn't change him, I could only change how I reacted to him......and that change made me a different person......you see, God wasn't only working on Ken, He was working on me. He was teaching me to meet people where they are and love them......just like He did me.

Note: Ken is my "knight in shining armor", but even knights aren't perfect, nor is their princess!