A Nugget from New Life Network
Scripture for the Day (December 27, 2017)
In the same way, you husbands must give honor to your wives. Treat your wife with understanding as you live together. She may be weaker than you are, but she is your equal partner in God’s gift of new life. Treat her as you should so your prayers will not be hindered. (1 Peter 3:7, NLT)
Dear Son,
Thank you for a great Christmas at your home!!! I’m not the most talkative Grand Pa in the world but I would like to say a few things to both you, and your sweet wife, while I still have a chance.
Son, I love you and I am very proud of you. You are a great father. I always knew you had a great heart but when I see you with your baby girl, that great heart really shines through. You are doing great!!
Daughter-in-law, I love you and I am very proud of you. You are a great mom and are the very one God selected for my eldest son and he was the very one God selected for you. Your love for my son was the very thing he needed at a time when he was going down a very dark road. You two make a great team and you are blessed to have each other!
Now, to both of you, I have tried to stay out of giving any marital advice to any of my three boys and their wives, but I want to say this to both of you. You two did not meet and marry by accident. This was God ordained. If you have any question about that I want you to take a close look at your two miracle daughters. I know that you both made some mistakes in your early lives (as we all did), but that is not who you really are. You are God’s children and He has a great future and plan for you two and your children.
Just remember this. God is a God of second, third, and fourth (or however many) chances we need. There are a multitude of examples in the Bible. Moses killed an Egyptian man but God used him to deliver his people out of Egypt and receive the Ten Commandments. King David was a murderer and adulterer but God said he was “a man after my own heart” and used him mightily. The Apostle Paul persecuted and jailed Christians but ended up writing most of the New Testament. God is good at giving us do-overs. Don’t ever let Satan beat you up with something from your past. Jesus did not come to condemn us but He came to give us life and life more abundantly.
After fifty years of marriage, and thirty-five years of walking with the Lord, the following is one of the key truths we have learned about marriage. The Bible tells husbands and wives to honor each other, love each other, and do everything they can to build each other up by the words coming out of their mouths. The Bible also tells us that life and death are in the power of the tongue. In other words, we all need to consider the words carefully that we speak to each other and speak about each other. We all need encouragement, and we especially need that from our spouse. How a husband and wife speak to each other is also going into the ears of your children and they will mimic what they hear, so speak life to each other. This takes years of practice (we are still practicing after 50 years) but it is well worth the effort.
However, each man among you [without exception] is to love his wife as his very own self [with behavior worthy of respect and esteem, always seeking the best for her with an attitude of lovingkindness], and the wife [must see to it] that she respects and delights in her husband [that she notices him and prefers him and treats him with loving concern, treasuring him, honoring him, and holding him dear]. (Ephesians 5:33, Amplified Bible)
Thanks again for a great Christmas 2017. You two are doing great!!! Just remember to keep God, and His Word, in the midst of your marriage and you guys will always do fine.
Love You Both,
Grand Pa Henderson
