During church today Pastor Phil gave the sermon. First let me say that Pastor Phil is normally our worship leader and I LOVE his worship services! He's got an incredible voice and keeps our worship team current and rockin! I am always moved by his "message". Today however, Pastor Jeff led worship (he's our youth pastor!) and Pastor Phil gave the message, Pastor Terry, our head Pastor was in the house but as a parishioner today......he did give funny color commentary through out the whole thing though, it was quite a show today! God was so present though, it was awesome!!!
Part of today's message addressed men being the head of their households. Of course this was a funny moment as there were jokes back and forth about "men you ARE the head of your households!" right???.....another pastor joked "yep, I asked my wife and she said I was!" He really impressed upon the men and weighed heavy that the bible directs them to be the heads of their households and talked about how men act can directly affect how their family acts. If your kids see you make ungodly decisions in your life, they to will grow up to make ungodly decisions and it falls on your shoulders as the head of your family. This was very convicting to me. I've really tried in the past year to "submit to my husband" as the bible directs. I REALLY want to do as directed. I really want Ryan to be the head of our household and our family to follow his lead...not only the girls, but myself included. Ryan has really taken this on in the last year, not that he's not always been "in charge" but he's really taken the biblical meaning of it all and worked to give the girls that direction. So.....why is it so hard for ME to submit????? My husband is a very smart man, he's funny, and very loving. He spoils me and surprises me often. It's not him....it's ME. I am a headstrong woman. I'm not a feminist by any stretch of the imagination. I just forget to "submit"! While I love family, I am ridiculously independent. The girls ask if they can do something......and typically I just answer. It really never occurs to me to say "go ask papa" unless its life altering! When Ryan does act as the head of our household....and we disagree on things, I feel as though my parenting skills are under fire while honestly I really know that we are just two very different people with very different ways of parenting. I'm pretty easy going, Ryan is very strict, partly I believe because we have all girls.....he's now a dad who remembers what it was like to be a 14 year old boy, I constantly have to remind him that he needs to quit thinking all boys act badly, he constantly tells me I need to start thinking all boys do act badly! In the long run, I think I could certainly be more strict and he too could be more lenient. But again, if I am to submit as the Bible directs, I need to work on this!
Bottom line, we both want to live godly lives. We pray daily asking god to help us become more like him and to make us be better examples to others in living for him. In doing so, I will now also be praying daily for gods help for Ryan as he works to be the leader of our household, and for myself to willingly submit to my husband, just as he willingly submits to god.
Pastor Phil really inspired me today, got me energized, convicted me and opened my eyes to the things I've not been doing in my life for Christ. 2009 is full of promise and is our year to make choices.
What do you want chasing you this year? I'm praying for blessings and choosing each morning to live for god.
Brian would agree with Ryan about the way boys think and act:) I'll pray for boldness in Ryan leading your family spiritually and in your submissiveness.
ReplyDeleteit WAS awesome, wasn't it?! well, i can't really relate to the whole parenting thing (at least not for a while) but i'm definitely looking forward to 2009 and to see what it holds. i've definitely screwed up in the past year (or years) and this is the year i want to change...i wrote down Proverbs 13:21 on my notes yesterday and wrote it again, without realizing i'd already written it...God must have been saying, "hey dummy, look at this!!"... "Misfortune pursues the sinner, but prosperity is the reward of the righteous." it's the simple truths that can impact you the most!
ReplyDeleteand that concludes my first contribution to the blogging community :)