To say goodbye….


THOUGHT OF THE DAY

I have a confession to make, I hate goodbyes! I really really hate them. I had to say goodbye to a friend today and it was not fun! That got me thinking………

Why does it hurt to say goodbye?

Is it a reminder we are missing something? SOMETHING we as humans cannot function without, SOMETHING we cannot do without, that if we tried to do without we would die??!!

Just because goodbyes are a normal part of our lives doesn’t make it natural or something that was meant to be. It seems cruel. We go through the whole process of meeting someone only to have them leave!!

Are goodbyes meant to remind us that God is the ONLY one who can complete us and NO person can ever fill that gap no matter how great they are…..

(please bear with me as I rant!!!!)

Are goodbyes a reminder we are not home yet???

I long for home because when I am home there will be no more goodbyes!!! What a thought! In heaven we will never have to say goodbye ever again!!! Our friends and family will always be there but more importantly, Jesus will be with us! No one will ever have to say goodbye! I long for that day. But for now I know God has a reason He allows goodbyes to happen. I don’t know why exactly, I just know He has a plan!

I do admit there are things and PEOPLE we need to say goodbye to. We need people and at the same time we don’t. Some people really need to go because they are drowning us! But that is a post for another day!

All I am saying is, I hate goodbyes! They are never easy and I long for the day I will never have to say goodbye!!!!

Rolain

 

How to pray for your future wife!


This post is a response to a post I read a few days ago, a post that  challenged me to the core. If you are a single woman I urge you to read it. The title of the post is called, “Dear Future Husband” and it is written by Samantha Hardcastle. You can read it here.

Men, I urge you to read it as well. It is an excellently written post and I think as men we need to know the kind of women we want and Samantha does a great job of holding up a Proverbs 31 woman. Anyway, let’s start. After reading the post I realized how important it is for us as men to do our part. We too need to pray for our wives. Samantha says,

‘These women don’t know if he has brown hair or orange hair – if he enjoys his coffee black or sweet – or if he’s been through hell and back. But they all share a common thread that all too easily, could be a lost art in one’s love life – and that is the act of praying.”

Men, prayer is important. Prayer is powerful and not to be taken lightly. I say that to you and to myself as a reminder. But I would like to go further with this because as men our responsibility is so much greater not because God made men better than women, but because God has a plan. We are to be the head. We are called to lead our families. We are called to protect and take care of them. The responsibility we have been given is very serious. So the question stands, how are we as men to pray for our wives?

I mentioned the first point. The actually act of praying is very important and key.

For the second point I would like to share something else from Samantha’s post,

“As I go through my past letters, a common theme I have prayed over him is that He would be a bold man for the things of God, bold in loving others, bold in living selflessly, bold in risking his personal comfort for more of Jesus. A man who is bold is the kind of man I want to hold”.

Another way of praying for your future wife is by preparing yourself in your singleness.

What habits need to be changed now? We don’t start when we get married, no! We start now. Ask God to show you habits that are not honoring to Him and ask your closest friends about the things you do that annoy them. Maybe you talk with food in your mouth or people can hear you from the other side of the world when you eat. Maybe you like getting up late every day or maybe you can’t resist flirting with other women, I don’t know. Just change habits that need to be changed.

Have a vision. As a man you are going to lead your family but how will you lead if you don’t have a vision? Let me rephrase that. How can you lead your family if you don’t know what your purpose is? Everyone has a purpose from God. Ask God to show you His purpose for your life.

Seek God with all of your heart. I put this third but it’s actually the most important thing a man can do. Without God we are nothing. He must be first in your life. He must be your consuming passion. He must be the one who occupies your thoughts constantly. He must be the one that completes you. Please listen to me on this point. A woman will not complete you. God is the only one, I repeat , the only one who will complete you…..The media has lied to us through movies and music that a man or woman will complete us but that is so not true. GOD IS THE ONLY ONE WHO WILL COMPLETE YOU. Ladies, if you find yourself relying on a man for meaning and purpose then you have been deceived! God is the only one who can give you that.

I will stop there for today. I have lots to share but I will stop there. I hope you got the gist of what I am saying. As men we need to pray for our wives too. They need our prayers as we need their prayers……It’s a two way thing.  Be vigilant; don’t take the assignment you have been given by God lightly. Your future wife is depending on you, she is praying for you!

Rolain