We've all heard this before:
"I think, therefore I am."
As trite as that is, there is truth in that what we focus on is what takes priority in our hearts and minds.
What you think about, grows.
When you focus on how your husband didn't take out the trash, or didn't take you out for your anniversary, those things will become the most important factors, and your heart will harden towards him.
On the other hand, if you focus on the fact that he goes to work every day to provide for your family, or how he complimented the last meal you cooked, your heart will soften towards him.
BUT - practicing daily gratitude towards your husband is only one factor in cultivating a heart of thanksgiving and a spirit of godly contentment.
We must also focus on Christ as our sufficiency in ALL things.
Sweet friend, if you have given your life to Christ and make it your goal to obey and follow Him, then you know you have a reward coming in heaven.
Christ IS our reward, and we are promised eternity with Him.
Making Him our focus, being grateful for that promise, considering all of His attributes, remembering all of the blessings He's poured out on us - THAT is how we ensure a soft heart that finds contentment in ALL things.
Here's a tangible tip for you: keep multiple gratitude journals.
- One for general gratitude.
- One for thankfulness towards your husband.
- One for appreciation of your children (and bonus kids!).
One November, I kept a gratitude journal for the month for my husband and each of the kids (my bonus kids and my bio daughter). On December 1, I left their journals on their pillows.
Another year, I kept one for my husband for the entire year, from January 1-December 31, and gifted it to him on New Year's Eve.
Intentionally writing down words of thankfulness, focusing on what we appreciate about them, whether it's acts of service they performed or considering a quality about their personality or an attribute they possess, helps us to focus our hearts on things that are true, pure, lovely, and praiseworthy, as Philippians 4:8 instructs us.
Cultivating a heart of daily gratitude is such an important part of growing as a godly wife.
I'd love to hear - have you ever kept a gratitude journal? Is that something you would like to do for your husband or children?
Share in the comments!
You know...but do you KNOW?
Scripture tells us our bodies are God's temples...and we shouldn't destroy God's temple.
Have you considered that a lack of exercise could be contributing to the destruction of your body, which is God's temple?
Click through to the full post for some tips on how to get started, a great FREE resource, and some ways that regular exercise can help your growth as a godly wife!
Read more...
Last week we talked about making daily Bible study a habit in order to grow as a godly wife.
Today, let's talk about prayer.
Most of us would say that we pray regularly. We tell friends and family and co-workers that we'll pray for them.
Sometimes we even do pray for them, right there on the spot, or we have our handy prayer journal where we write them down and pray over those requests.
This is important, and such a good routine to get into!
But...do you regularly pray for your husband, for your children, and for yourself?
For your husband
I know many wives I support are praying for their husband to be delivered, to find Jesus, or to be convicted of certain sins.
While this is well and good, I want to offer some additional prayer points that we need to be covering for our men.
- His physical health
- His protection from the enemy's tactics over his body, mind, and spirit
- Favor at work, that he would do his job with efficiency and be well-respected
- Ministry opportunities
- Mentor relationships (that he would find an older, godly mentor and also someone younger to be a mentor himself)
- Growth in wisdom and discernment
- A deeper desire to know and follow God's will
- That he would fall more deeply in love with Jesus, and with you, his wife
- That he would love you as Christ loves the Church
For your children
It can become habit to pray for our children to grow closer to the Lord. This is a necessary prayer and we should always ask God to draw them closer to Himself. Here are several more prayer points to consider:
- Their physical health
- Their hearts to be soft towards God, and towards others
- Protection from the enemy, especially over their minds in light of how our current society is trying to deceive them
- Godly friendships
- Wisdom in making decisions
- Discernment in choosing friends, and choosing their future spouse
- Their future spouse, that they are growing in godliness and spiritual strength and wisdom
- They would desire to glorify God each day of their lives, from the most mundane act of picking up something a person dropped, to the most heroic in serving and saving others
- Joy would abound in their hearts as they rest in Jesus as their sufficiency
- That they would honor you and their father, as God commands
For yourself
This is an area we often find imbalanced. Either we're praying for God to bless us and neglecting to pray for growth, or we're praying for conviction and neglecting to ask for things we simply want. Consider adding these prayer points to your daily prayers over yourself.
That God would reveal to you His instructions for godly wives, and equip you to follow them.
That God would cultivate a deeper desire to obey Him, and to please and serve your husband.
For more joy in motherhood, and strength to intentionally cast off self-pity
Blessings over your home, those who enter it, and grace as you pursue hospitality
Your physical, spiritual, emotional, and mental health
Protection from the enemy's tactics - wisdom and discernment to recognize them when they come
That God would equip you to submit to, respect, honor, and obey your husband
AND...
Birth Mom or Birth Dad
If you're part of a blended family where the birth mom and/or birth dad are still involved, pray over them as well:
They would come to know, or grow in the knowledge of, Christ as their Lord and Savior
Their relationship with their child(ren) would be healthy, thriving, and close
God's blessing over their families and marriage, if applicable
Protection over their physical, spiritual, and mental health
I would love to hear: are these already part of your daily prayers, or are these some points that are often forgotten or overlooked?
What would you add to these daily requests?
To grab your free printable with ALL the daily habits of a godly wife, click here!
If you are struggling to cultivate some good habits that will serve both your walk with Christ and your growth as a wife, I would love for you to join me over the next couple of months to break down the 10 Daily Habits of a Godly Wife that I would encourage you to make a part of your life. Today we're talking about Bible study.
God is our source of ALL things - power, patience, joy, peace, strength, wisdom. When are lacking in any of these areas, it's likely because we are not plugging into Him as our power source.
This must be done daily. Just like your marriage wouldn't work if you only ever talked to your husband for 5 minutes every few days, your relationship with God will not thrive if you only spend a few minutes with him periodically.
Read more...
Oftentimes the discussion around living a godly wife lifestyle has a lot to do with ensuring you're studying scripture and learning God's instructions and expectations.
This is the most important thing to do!
You can't become a godly wife when you don't know what you're supposed to be doing. Read the instructions (aka The Bible).
Likewise, it's very, very easy for us to fall back into sin when we aren't feeling well.
When we experience:
- fatigue
- exhaustion
- headaches
- sleeplessness
- irritability
- inability to concentrate
Despite knowing that we *should* submit to our husbands, and we *should* show them respect, we can often snap at them (or our children) when we're experiencing anything from the list above.
There are several tools related to this area of physical, mental, and emotional wellness that I have found to be extremely helpful.
1. MightyPro
This is a pre- and pro-biotic, technically formulated for kids, but I love it so I take as well. Gut health is HUGE. When our gut isn't healthy, it can throw everything else out of whack, like our immune system so we get sick more easily, it affects our emotions, brain function, everything.
It tastes like a Pixie Stick, so my 2-year-old loves it as well. He can't quite "shoot" it like a Pixie Stick, so my tip for little ones is to put it in a shallow bowl or cup and let them get it on their finger and lick it off.
2. NingXia Red
Ningxia Red is a powerful antioxidant supplement drink made from wolfberry puree that packs such a punch, you only need a tiny 2oz serving each day. This is another one that my little guy loves because it's delicious! NingXia provides total body wellness. Here are just a few of its benefits:
- Supports a healthy immune system
- Helps us be proactive against all the germs coming our way
- Provides energy support
- HUGE source of antioxidants
- Support brain and joint health
- Supports healthy hormone levels
- Supports healthy blood sugar levels
- Can help curb sugar cravings
- Whole-food, nutrient dense supplement full of vitamins, minerals, amino acids and polyphenols
3. Super B
Super B is a B complex supplement that is great for maintaining healthy energy levels, supporting mood and cardiovascular and cognitive function. Our current lifestyles often leave our adrenal system (our fight or flight response) on overdrive, and B vitamins are a great way to support that system!
NingXia Red and Super B work so well together to help with regulating all the body systems and having natural energy. If your energy is depleted, it's so much easier to get irritable and impatient.
4. Exercise
This is a HUGE factor. Exercise not only helps our body to maintain the movement it was designed to have regularly, but it also helps our organs and muscles to be challenged. Regular exercise ensures that our bodies burn calories, which is a natural function of the body. It helps us to increase energy, strength, stamina, sleep better, reduce stress, and just feel better.
If you don't yet exercise regularly, please check out BodyFit by Amy on YouTube. Her channel is full of FREE workouts that you can do at home, many of them with no equipment so you don't have to purchase a single thing. She offers modifications not only for beginners, but also for pre- and post-natal moms, as well as experienced exercisers who need to up-level.
God created plants, fruits, and trees with so many different functions, all for our benefit. Scripture speaks of using plants as medicine.
When choosing oils, you want to be sure they are of the highest quality and purity. This is why I choose Young Living. They are the only company that owns their own farms and is involved in the process from choosing the soil to packaging the product. They ensure quality the entire way through with their Seed to Seal Promise, never leaving anything to chance. They perform rigorous testing, using third parties, and will often allow an item to go out of stock simply because it doesn't meet their high quality standards. You get what you pay for, and in order to ensure the health of my family, I will gladly pay for the quality, purity, and expertise I know goes into each Young Living product.
Here are some oils I would recommend for us with helping to regulate emotions:
Valor (helps with anxiety)
I recommend diffusing in your bedroom nightly to help with getting restorative sleep each night.
The most important thing is to take care of your health with good food, sleep, water, exercise, and ensure you are studying God's Word every single day.
The other measures won't mean anything if you aren't plugged into Him as your source of power.
They are simply tools that He has created in order to help you in your journey.
I am so grateful for these tools and will gladly accept them from Him! Will you?
If you have questions any any or all of these, please reach out and let me know. One of my goals is to make sure that we are being good stewards of our finances, and that means helping you save money. Please reach out to me so that I can help you place your first order and get the best deal possible for you and your family.
Which of these areas do you struggle with the most?
Fatigue, irritability, focus, something else?
Share in the comments and let me know how I can pray for you.
