​​My Husband’s Hand

I looked at his hand as he reached out to hold mine as we sat together on the beach. This hand that I’d held through the labor of three babies, this hand I held as he wept for his father, this hand that embraced our children as a loving father. This hand belongs to a man who has certainly loved me through the good and the bad days.

As I looked at this hand I realized more than ever it was only through the grace of God that this man never left me or cheated on me because I was nothing close to the wife God had intended me to be. Nag, nag, nag. Nothing was ever good enough.

“A quarrelsome wife is as annoying as constant dripping on a rainy day. Stopping her complaints is like trying to stop the wind or trying to hold something with greased hands.” Proverbs 27:15-16

“It is better to live alone in the corner of an attic than with a quarrelsome wife in a lovely home.” Proverbs 21:9

“It is better to live alone in the desert than with a quarrelsome, complaining wife.” Proverbs 21:19

I think you get the point God is making here.

God tells us throughout the Bible how to live as a Godly wife; loving, patient, without nagging, working hard for your family without complaint, being submissive and putting your husband as the head of the home. If God had been keeping a checklist of these expected behaviors from a Christian wife I’d have red x’s beside each one. Failed! With a big F!

For years I had the attitude that I was just going to die miserable and unhappy – this was the life I had been given. The pact I had made with my sister that we’d never get divorced drove a stronger will in me than the vow I’d made before God with the man I married (twice!).

And while having my husband’s hand in mine means the world to me; I’m blessed to know that the hand of God is now shaping our lives; our marriage. His hand is between ours. We aren’t perfect but we are doing life together with God as our guide. A God given, full of grace, do over.

Love,

Heather