Girls, I have something today burning on my heart. This is not my usual posting about my family but it is about families. As I have grown older and been married longer, I feel I have learned so much about what God would have us as wives and mothers become. I have always wanted to be the best wife and mother I could be but when I was young I didn't know how. I'm FAR from perfect so don't get the idea that I think I have "arrived." I am still striving every day to accomplish what God would have me be and will until the day I die. But I feel I need to pass along the life lessons I have learned. Girls, we need to first and foremost be women of God devoting our lives to Him, loving Him, worshiping Him and getting to know Him better. Our next duty is to our husbands. This is one of the hardest things to do in this day and age. We as women have become so independent that sometimes we forget that we aren't the head of our families but that job is for our husbands. This is so important! But here's the catch. We have to ALLOW them to be the head of our families as God wants them to be, following them and trusting in their decisions for your family. Even sometimes if you don't fully agree with your husband in a decision he makes you still must follow his lead. If a mistake is made, your husband is responsible to God for it, not you. Girls, one of the worst things we can do is to nag our husbands into doing what we want. We must pray for them, love them, never talk negatively about them to others. We must make the home his retreat, a place he comes home to for rest and renewal of strength not a place he dreads coming home to because he knows when he gets home he is going to be constantly nagged into doing a "honey-do" list. Yes they do need to help around the house, especially if you are working outside the home. But nagging them NEVER works. It only brings friction to the home. Lovingly ask them for help and if they don't help you, don't go away mad or in a huff, just pray for God to intervene in them. Show them that you love them no matter what. Go about your chores and I guarantee you when your husband sees you working he will eventually begin to help. Love him into this DON'T NAG. All that does is make him rebel against you. It is up to us girls to make our homes peaceful, restful, joyful places for our husbands and children. We have a HUGE responsibility as women and this should never be taken without much prayer. If you are having friction in your marriage, don't give up. Never give up. Go to your pastor for help, begin praying together as a couple, just don't give up on each other. Go to the Word of God. When you show all of this love to your husbands, you are going to see wonderous changes in his attitude toward you and his life in general and he won't really even know why. Your husband may be the head of the family but we wives are the spines that hold him up. Go to Thirsty for Him for more on this subject.