God Will Bring the Right One at The Right Time.

Psalm 73:26 (NIV)

My flesh and my heart may fail,

    but God is the strength of my heart

    and my portion forever.

After her nurse's training, while living in a Navigators home, Helen became engaged to a Christian man, but she had no peace. The Holy Spirit spoke to her: "Take off the ring:" It was difficult, but she obeyed. "God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever" (Psalm 73:26), she pledged as she committed herself totally to God. "Lord, I'm completely Yours. I'll do as You choose."

After graduation Helen found work in Seattle and attended a Brethren assembly, where she learned still more about waiting on God for His leading. A fear of missionary service was growing within her, yet she was afraid to disobey God. If I don't do what He wants me to do, He will withdraw blessing from my life, and I'll have nothing.

She still was certain of the missionary call but felt inadequate. She was afraid to meet missionaries, thinking they would see through her and recognize that she could never qualify for missionary service. At twenty-two, other matters troubled her, too. She worried about being single, about missing out on romance. She wanted to have a Christian husband-a marriage approved by God.

The realities of life interrupted her dreaming. Her mother had a stroke, and Helen went home to care for her. Another Christian man came into her life. Again she had no assurance that he was the one.

"Twice I've been sidetracked from doing Your will by my longing for romance. Today I vow that I will not date anybody for a whole year so that I can concentrate on preparing for the mission field." She put it in her little notebook and added "unless You bring someone into my life so obviously that not to see him would be disobedience."

Soon afterward Helen met Dr. and Mrs. Dick Pitman of Wycliffe Bible Translators, who urged her to attend the Summer Institute of Linguistics in North Dakota, where they would be teaching. Helen applied, but Wycliffe wrote back requesting that she attend their linguistics program at Briercrest Bible Institute in western Canada.

But l want to go where my new friends are! Helen rebelled. The Lord again gave her what the Quakers call "a check from the Spirit:" Before she refused, she prayed. The answer was unmistakable.

"Maybe you'll find a nice young man up there," her mother suggested hopefully. She didn't want her dainty daughter going off to the wilds of a mission field without a man to take care of her.

"No, Mom, I am not going there to find a husband. I am going to study." And she set her heart and mind to do just that.

At Briercrest, in a class of only seventeen students, it was impossible not to notice the young man with the Dutch accent. After several weeks, Helen decided, "He is different!"

John hadn't overlooked the tiny American with the big brown eyes. She's the prettiest girl in the class. By the third week, concentrating on his studies was more difficult. Helen is to be my wife. Had God impressed this on him? John was confused. He had never dated, yet he had at times daydreamed about a small dark-haired girl-like Helen. Was this just his idea, or was the Lord really speaking to him? If Helen is to be my wife, God must have spoken to her also, he reasoned.

Helen was in bed, not yet asleep, when she became aware of the presence of the Lord. "I want John to be your husband:" The words were clear. She sat up in bed. "But, Lord, he's such a character!" And then the Presence was gone. Helen was awestruck that God had spoken about something so special to her.

"Why doesn't he speak to John?" She wondered when two weeks passed and John was not paying any attention to her. She knew the Bible said to "try the spirits:" So she prayed, "Lord, if this was You speaking to me, please give me one hour alone with John tomorrow:" She knew their days were fully scheduled. That was the day John decided he must get acquainted with Helen. After class he caught up with her and suggested a game of Ping-Pong before lunch. After the game, as they walked to the dining room, he asked, "Could I have one hour with you this afternoon?" Helen was stunned. One hour-today! It was exactly what she had prayed for! That afternoon, they walked on the prairie. "Helen, I have been strongly affectioned toward you in my heart," John announced in his Dutch accent. "It has been interfering with my studies. So I asked the Lord if it was not of Him, would He please take it away. And if it was of Him to give you the same conviction also."

"Oh yes, God told me that you are going to be my husband," Helen replied matter-of-factly. John was dumbfounded. For several moments he continued to chew on a straw, smiling speculatively at Helen.

"In that case, we'd better spend some time together!" He finally concluded. Students and faculty thought the idea was hilarious and teased them endlessly. "What an unlikely pair," they thought-and said. "I've never seen two persons more opposite in personality, temperament, and background. You will have many problems," a professor warned. In spite of counsel and clucking, Helen and John remained confident that the Lord had arranged it all.

Dear Lord, We pray today that our ears and eyes would be open to what You are telling us. Help us not to go ahead on our own but to trust You fully. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

Honoring Your Wife.

1 Peter 3:7 (New International Version)

Husbands, in the same way be considerate as you live with your wives, and treat them with respect as the weaker partner and as heirs with you of the gracious gift of life, so that nothing will hinder your prayers.

On this special day, My wife’s birthday, I wanted to take a look at what God tells us about honoring the wife that he has given to us.

Your wife is created to need and desire a close relationship with you. But the daily distractions that we focus on as men often pull us away from giving our wives the nonsexual intimacy they truly need.

They need to feel honored and loved by us, just as much or more than we need to feel admired and respected by them. They need to be frequently reassured of our love for them. That concept has always been a little difficult for me to understand, but I know it to be true nonetheless. Women seem to value words more than men do. And so, even though I might feel like my actions are expressing my love, my wife still needs to hear me say that I love and cherish her—frequently.

Remember too that love is a decision, not a feeling. Love is an action, not an emotion. So if you do the actions and behaviors that exhibit love for your wife, your feelings will naturally follow.  Once we start treating our wife with honor, our feelings changed to ones of love almost instantly.

Let’s make it our goal today to treat the wife He has given to us  with the respect and honor they deserve.

Dear Lord we thank You today for the wife You have given to us. We pray that we will treat her with the love, honor and respect she deserves. In Jesus’ name, Amen.