Filled with the joy of the Lord!

Praise the Lord I am so joyous this morning! The Lord is SO faithful in all He does! I am reading "Created to be his Helpmeet" by Debi Pearl right now, and it is so eye opening, and such a blessing!

Thank you for any prayers for my marriage, things are already improving, and with some of my new found wisdom, by God's grace they should only continue! One of the things the book touches on is that wisdom is a gift from God, and that we may be given it, if we only ask. This was profound to me! So, I prayed for wisdom, and although I still will be ever learning, and am far from being wise, I have had my eyes opened to so many things this week!

Last night, as I was struggling, yet again, to be the helper to my husband that God designed me to be, after all in the house were sleeping and my daily work was done, instead of knitting, or watching t.v. I decided to pick up my Bible again and see if I couldn't search out some encouragement and guidance for my situation. As I opened my bible it opened perfectly to Psalm 31 with all my highlighting for "The Wife of Noble Character" which I immediately reviewed, and re-committed myself yet again to modeling myself after. Then I thought "where should I read? Where would I find guidance?" and immediately God impressed upon me to read in 1 Corinthians. The experience was SO eye opening! "No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him" but God has revealed it to us by his Spirit." 1 Corinthians 2:9-10 "For we are God's fellow workers; you are God's field, God's building." 1 Cor. 3:9 "So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God." 1 Cor. 10:31 "For man did not come from woman, but woman from man; neither was man created for woman, but woman for man." 1 Cor. 11:8-9 "...But a married woman is concerned about the affairs of this world-how she can please her husband." 1 Corinthians 7:34. Ladies, THIS IS A SIN! I realized that so much of my strife comes from agonizing over the way my husband treats me, or reacts to things, when if I would just live my life the way God has called me to, and be the type of wife, a helper to my husband, that God has called me to, then I will also be making my husband happy in the process. Yes, I should be concerned with how I treat my husband, but if I aim to please God, and be the woman and wife he has called me to be, than all of that will fall into place! It then stops becoming a matter of being obedient and submissive to my husband, but a matter of being obedient and submissive to God, which will in turn make me the wife God intended me to be! I struggle with falling prey to the lies Satan tell's me about my marriage, and being married to a man who is not sure of his faith, I think, makes us an even bigger target for Satan. I actually felt bad for being joyful in a situation when I "should" according to worldly views have been offended or hurt! I know now, that this is exactly what God desires for our life. To live with the joy in us that only His Holy Spirit can bring! I prayed for joy more than once recently, and I tell you truly, I feel more joy today than I ever thought imaginable. It would be unexplainable, did I not know that it was coming straight from the Holy Spirit!