Be Quiet
When words are many, sin is not absent,
but he who holds his tongue is wise.
Proverbs 10:19
When my husband and I were first married, I was determined that homeschooling was the best way to educate our future children. My husband thought it might be nice. I decided not to push it.
I prayed, “Lord, if you want us to home school, you’re going to have to tell him”.
I still remember the day he came home from work and told me about a radio program about homeschooling he listened to during his commute from work. From that point on, we agreed on the educational direction we wanted for our children.
I wish I had tried this approach with all of our disagreements, but unfortunately, I had to discover the hard way to be quiet so my husband could hear God. Because he typically hears it better from someone else.
There are times when we do need to speak up. If addictions are destroying our marriage, if unfaithfulness has stolen your husband’s heart, if abuse and anger are threatening our safety or our children’s or if spending habits are robbing us of our future.
First stop should always be prayer. Allow God to season your words and your attitude with salt so that your husband will be more likely to listen. Ask God to soften your husband’s heart so that he will be more receptive to what you have to say. Seek His wisdom to know when and how to confront and if perhaps you should take a witness with you or even separate (if there is abuse) before you do the confronting.
Next week, I will share more about dealing positively with conflict.
He who guards his mouth and his tongue keeps himself from calamity
Proverbs 21:23 NIV
On a scale of 0(not guarding at all) to 10(never let a loose word past your lips),
how well do you guard your words with your husband?
photo credit: www.freedigitalphotos.net // Photostock
Wise words!