I was checking my email this morning when I came across an interesting email from George Barna (www.barna.org).
Here is a short excerpt:
May 7, 2007
(Ventura, CA) -
Mothers inhabit many roles inside and outside the family. Within the household, they are often counted on to be the emotional compass, organizer, and multitasking manager of the family. Add to that list another common function: spiritual energizer.
According to a new Barna study, women who are raising children are among the most faith-minded and spiritually active segments of the American population. The study explored faith-related activities, commitments and perspectives, relying upon nationally representative interviews among more than 10,000 adults and nearly 2000 women who are currently parenting children under the age of 18.
The study shows that more than three-quarters of moms identify "family" to be their highest priority. At the same time, a majority of mothers strongly agree that their faith is very important in their life. In contrast, fathers also tend to list family as their top priority in life, yet they are much less likely to equally attribute importance to faith.
You can read the rest of the article here.
I am blessed that my husband has grown as a spiritual leader over the years. I think there are three major reasons for this.
1. God convicted me years ago of my tendency of being John's "Jr. Holy Spirit." God reminded me that He can and will speak to my husband. Thank you very much.
2. I've allow John to "do" spiritual leadership his way--not how I think things should be. I have my ideas of the types of family worship or Bible Study I'd like to try, but my way does not mean the only right way.
3. I pray for my husband's success. I pray that He will listen to God's leading. I pray that I will follow and be an encourager.
Also, I thought of something else that ties in--as parents it's our job to raise our sons to be the spiritual leaders of their future homes.
In fact, just this morning I was talking about this with my oldest son. I told him, "You know what? The type of girl you're looking for will be more attracted to your spiritual maturity than anything else. So the more time you spend with God, the more you'll attract a girl who has a heart for God."
Another resource on this subject I love is speaker Sheri Rose Shepherd. Sheri is a fellow Multnomah/Waterbrook author. One of Sheri's books Preparing Him for that Other Woman.
Oh, and if you haven't read Generation NeXt Parenting yet, then make sure to check it out. I give more ideas about how to train our kids while also being a helpmate to our husbands. The men in our lives deserve nothing less.
(repost from 2007)
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3 comments:
I learned that lesson early on in our marriage. The Lord spoke so clearly to my heart that I should not at any time try to do anything because he is not.
The Lord said that if I do that I would not be allowing him to grow into the leader of his home. The Lord reminded me that my husband had never done this before and needs to learn just like I need to learn the lesson of submission.
My life has been so peaceful as my husband grew in that area. I wish all wives would learn and practice this lesson. It is very freeing.
Excellent article.
My biggest frustration in youth ministry deals with the fact that most of the families we minister to have zero spiritual foundation. On top of that, we have many kids with un-engaged parents, and beyond that, they are from single-parent families, where...you guessed it, mom is the only one present.
So, to ask the million dollar, unanswerable question...how do you "effectively" minister to kids and their families where this is the norm?
I underestimated my husband for a very long time. We've been married 8 years and just over the last few months have I really began backing off and hearing God tell me to basically SHUT UP. I took the leadership role initially because I found God first. He sort of *followed* me to Him. But once He truly became saved, I continued in that role - and finally was convicted by the spirit of my tendency to be extremely overbearing when it came to matters of the spirit.
I realized that my husband had been trying to subtly take the reigns from me, but I had somehow refused to hand them over. Now, every time I feel tempted to step in and take over... or when I feel like he's not doing things the way I would, I hear God telling me LISTEN TO YOUR HUSBAND... and I do. I communicate to myself that God gave him dominion over our family - that HE stands before God on our behalf. And I back off and let him.
I believe that many of the problems we've faced have been trials to get my husband into the position he is in now - looking to God and acting as the spiritual leader in our home. Since he has become that leader, I've noticed that many of our struggles have resulted from ME trying to poke myself into his role (*chuckle*) or simply not listening to him with respect for his place as my husband. In my confidence, I forget that I don't always know best - but God does... and He's giving that information to my HUSBAND! haha I get it, God. It's not my place :) I get it... My husband is precious. I trust my life in his hands, and I am grateful that God chose him to be in my life.
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