Day 26When you judge another, you condemn yourself, since you, the judge, do the same things.-Romans 2:1
Love is responsible
Today's dare
Take time to pray through your area of wrong doing. Ask for God's forgiveness, then humble yourself enough to admit them to your spouse. Do it sincerely and truthfully. Ask your spouse for forgiveness as well. No matter how they respond, make sure you cover your responsibility in love. Even if they respond with criticism, accept it by receiving it as counsel.
Questions for you:
- What does your mate need to see in order to believe that your confession was more than just words?
- Hey, has your husband made any comments about wondering what has been different about you yet?
I have been hanging in there..learning new things about myself that are hard to look at..but praying for change in heart to give my best to the Lord and to my husband..the dares can be personal and hard..that's ok..we are being molded..and that hurts but it is good! Thanks for sharing and for stopping by! love ya mean it! Stephanie
image unknown/ book excerpts from the "love dare" by Alex and Stephen Kendrick
3 comments:
The latest dares have been so soul-searching...My spirit has definitely been pricked. As I read this dare last night, I happened to follow up this morning with these words in a prayer book (Stormie O'Martian) I am reading through at the same time. I was able to pray them with my heart...and wanted to share them with you.
"...Show me how to support and respect this man as he rises to his place of leadership. Help me to understand his dreams and see things from his perspective. Reveal to me what he wants and needs and show me potential problems before they arise. Breathe YOUR life into this marriage. Make me a new person. Give me a fresh perspective, a positive outlook, and a renewed relationship with the man YOU'VE given me. Help me see him with new eyes, new appreciation, new love, new compassion, new acceptance, and new commitment. Give my husband a NEW wife, Lord, and let it be...ME!!" amen.
This is definitely what I ask of God at this point in our dares...I know with all my heart that if I want to see my husband change for the better, with me reaping the benefits of that..I HAVE TO CHANGE FIRST. And my heart has to want to change not for the benefits, but because God wants me to, because I will honor HIM and be a good mate to the man HE GAVE to me. I know this. I have asked God to sift me and reveal the hard stones left behind and to help me get rid of them. They can only feel like spurs to my husband... I desire this...
He is a good man, not perfect, and by God's creative Hand, different from me. I need to understand those differences and see from this man's viewpoints. God is my source for the correct spectacles to be able to do this. I know this. Thank you Stephanie for doing this dare. I do not have the book, and I am so glad to have the dares presented to me. It is good to have someone DARE you to do something, to step out, to take on a challenge, something other people won't do, but just stand and watch to see if you will do it...If we do accept, and accomplish the dare, and feel the thrill of it...what a fantastic sense of accomplishment we will have and others will see that it is sometimes only it taking on the hard things, that we get the joy of victory and the sense of God's power within us to do great things that HE asks us to do...Hugs to you!! Thanks! I am a long commenter...sorry, but I had to point out one more thing that reached out and caught my eye and heart in the prayer. I noticed big time the words ..."as he rises to his place of leadership."...it hit me that this is an ongoing process once again. He does not just change in one whoosh and become the great leader we all want to see...It is a day by day month by month year by year growth, changing with experience and seasons. This man is rising, rising, rising in leadership. What am I doing to accelerate or decelerate that process by my words and attitudes towards his process? blew me away...okay, I'm done.... :-)
Hmmm…this is another very serious one. Been praying this morning about it. Thanks, Stephanie, for keeping us on track here, even through the hard ones.
And thanks, Julie, for being a "long commenter." You have great words to share and I benefit by reading them.
These last few dares for me have fallen under the category of what Julie and I have come to refer to as God's Button Pushing...that is a good thing. I've come to realize that when I truly desire to have a changed heart for the intent purpose of bringing glory to God because of permanent change in my life that the way He seems to bring that about is by pushing my buttons, just to show me where there is always room for growth. The biggest lesson He has had to remind me of is that I am the one who needs to change...it isn't my job to change Carroll (that's God's job, if and when he needs it).
We are well past the half way mark day wise...but to be truthful with you, I feel like I'm just getting started. Thank you, Stephanie, for continuing on. Love ya! Mean it!
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