For the past two years I have felt this annoying nudge inside of me that it was time for me to step out and lead a study for wives at my church. I used every excuse to not follow this nudge for at least two years! First it was that I was too busy and I wouldn't be able to keep up on everything else I needed to do. Then it was that my marriage had been on the brink of divorce not even 4 years ago and who was I to lead anything or give advice to other women. Then my fear of other women not liking me jumped in the way. It was one thing after another.
Finally I took the step and contacted the church office to have the group I was starting added to the bulletin. I wanted to go through the book, Becoming the Woman of His Dreams, by Sharon Jaynes. This book was eye opening and helped me to become a better wife through the worst time in my marriage. It is a book that I think every wife or wife-to-be should read. So I gave the office manager the description and the next week I saw the study group listed in the bulletin. The description wasn't worded the same as what I had said and I realized before the group started that it mentioned it was for "Women" but made no mention of "marriage" or "wives". I was nervous before the first meeting. There were several women that had signed up for the group and even though I have attended this church for my whole life I didn't recognize their names. My husband assured me that the group would go well and the right women would be there who needed to be.
Well as my group started and we introduced ourselves and I introduced the book we made an amusing discovery. Not one woman knew the book was about marriage. Two of the women were divorced and the other woman was filling in for her mom who was at the hospital with her grandmother. Luckily this woman was married, but her mom who signed up for the group was divorced as well. As we started a small discussion another woman showed up and was laughing as she told us how she explained to her adult daughter that she was going to a study called Becoming the Woman of His Dreams, and it definitely wasn't about her dad. She was surprised as I laughed and told her, "actually it is".
The title of the book and the description from the bulletin had implied to the women that this was a group about becoming who God designed us to be. I didn't even know what to think as I went home that night, but one of the divorced women had offered to bring a dessert the following week so I assumed she would be coming back. Well the group continued and it went amazing. By the end there were some weeks where it ended up being me and two other women (one who was divorced and the one who didn't think the group had been about husbands). We grew comfortable with each other and were able to share openly and begin working through healing and support on issues from damaged/failed marriages. We found areas that we needed to change in our lives and faced the truth about the way as wives we should be in marriage. We focused on ourselves and supported each other. And when we finished the study, we started another that we chose together, Battlefield of the Mind, by Joyce Meyer.
The women shared over the two studies that they had been skeptical in the beginning about what they could learn from a group leader who was half their age and had only been married 10 years. But they found as the study continued that age and years married didn't matter. Through the trials that my husband and I have faced in our marriage and the studying that I did to dig out of the hole we were in filled me with experience, advice, and encouragement that I could offer to others. And I am learning so much from these women who have grown children (while mine are still young) and have been, or had been, married longer then me. They thanked me for following God's prompting to start the study.
Through this experience I was reminded that God uses cracked pots and that I didn't need to have all the answers and be perfect to be used. One of my favorite verses is 2 Corinthians 1:3-4 "Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God." Throughout the past 4 years I have received so much comfort from God and I should not be holding that in, but passing it along.
My husband was right, the right women did show up to the group, even if they were tricked into coming!
No comments:
Post a Comment