DOZ Issue 23 September 2017 | Page 13

“ Forget your great expectations. Be thankful for whatever your husband brings to the marriage and tell him so. Without Christ, it is the best he can offer. And so sitting in solitude and stillness, on the floor of my prayer closet, I asked. For forgiveness. For restitution between Daniel and myself. I asked that I might become a worthy woman who would bring the light and love of Christ into our marriage. And I asked that God would fill me with a deep sacrificial love that could be lived out in simple ways. In actions that would edify the man who had been gifted to me by God. God is at work in each of us, even the husband who is not walking with Him. Christ’s love breaks down barriers that appear to wives to be insurmountable. Yet the love of Christ keeps on reaching out, drawing even the hardest of hearts home to Him. I wish in hindsight that I had not spent the first decade of our marriage expecting more from the man who could humanely give no more. I wish I had given my energy to abiding in the True Vine rather than wasting energy trying to change my man into what I expected him to be. Yet, thankfully, even in our mistakes, the love of Christ still reaches out and draws us to Him. Forget your great expectations. Be thankful for whatever your husband brings to the marriage and tell him so. Without Christ, it is the best he can offer. But you, Daughter of Zion, can with the Holy Spirit bring even more. Let your partner see the power, presence, and love of Christ in you. God will do the rest. DOZ Magazine September 2017 13 «