Becoming a Proverbs 31 Woman Challenge: Day 2

Day two of "Becoming a Proverbs 31 Woman" challenge is so very important. We live in a time when we are expected to fail in our marriage. Now is the time to lift our husbands up and bring them good to survive the hardship they face.

Day 2: Verse 12

She brings him good, not harm,
   all the days of her life.
Proverbs 31: 12

 If you did not start with day 1 of the challenge you may go back and read it now or turn to Proverbs 31 in your bible and read the first two verses of the Epilogue: The Wife Of Noble Character, starting in verse 10 of Proverbs 31. You will see that when it says "she brings him good and not harm" it is speaking of a wife and her husband.

 She brings him good and not harm ALL the days of her life. What an amazing accomplishment that is! Most of us can't say that we have never brought harm our husbands way, whether through becoming angry and saying  things that were hurtful or any other mistake that was not in the best interest of our beloveds.  How can we move forward from that and decide now that we will be that wife that brings good and not harm to our husbands all the days of our life?

When you wake up in the morning are you thinking of how you can make your husband have full confidence in you? How you can bring him good that day? I know that there are days when it may feel as though he doesn't deserve it or you may think "he doesn't do anything for me". But if we truly want to model ourselves as a Proverbs 31 women we must look at what it says. It does not say bring him good as he deserves it.

 Today my challenge for verse 12 is to transform your thinking, if it is not already there, to know that this is your role as a wife. There are no "buts" or "ifs", if we are to follow God's role for our lives we are to bring our husbands good and not harm all the days of our life.

Here are some practical ways that you can start to transform your thinking to focus on bringing your husband good because that is what God asks of you.  For 31 days let us try these and see how our husband can be blessed.

1. Each morning upon waking sit down with your morning cup of coffee or tea and write down 1 thing that you absolutely LOVE about your husband. At the end of the 31 days you will have a good list to refer to when you are upset with your husband.

2. When you see your husband in the morning what is the first thing you usually say to him? How about when you part ways for the day? Or when you come back together at the end of the day? If it does not fall in line with Proverbs 16:24  Pleasant words are a honeycomb, sweet to the soul and healing to the bones. Then my challenge to you is make sure that it does. Instead of "don't forget to" or "I need_____ before dinner tonight", make it, "Hi Honey, I hope you have a great day, I love you." Or "I just called to see how you are doing and say I love you."  Listen to that Proverb closely as it is very telling. If your marriage is already hurting remember that Pleasant words are a honeycomb, sweet to the soul and HEALING TO THE BONES.

3. Pray for your husband at least once a day! This is the most important of these challenges! Our husbands face a world that tells them they will fail every day. If you do not pray for them to be the great spiritual leaders God wants them to be, who will? Our husbands need our prayer. We should be petitioning God every day with great passion to lift up our husbands to be men of God. Men of honor. Men of courage. Men of valor. Our husbands need this!

4. Be your husbands cheerleader. Speak encouraging words to your husband. Proverbs 12:25 says "An anxious heart weighs a man down, but a kind word cheers him up." If your marriage is hurting you need to remember that your husband will pick up on a condescending attitude while doing it. Think of encouraging words that you are saying with sincerity.  Encourage your husband to be the men God wants them to be, not the men you want them to be. This is also very important. Sometimes we let our own selfish desires cloud the way we encourage our husbands.

So there is the plan. For 31 days I challenge you to put these four items on your to do list. It is doable and our marriage can only be blessed from it.

I forgot to say on day 1's challenge that I am also memorizing each part of Proverbs 31's Epilogue: The Wife Of Noble Character. I have found , for me, that saying the verse over and over again while doing a task imprints it in my mind. I memorized verses 10-11 while mowing the lawn.  Join me in this part so as to always have these words of wisdom imprinted on our minds as wives and mothers. Since I did not add this on day one here is all three verses to memorize. I know you can do it!

A wife of noble character who can find?
   She is worth far more than rubies.
Her husband has full confidence in her
   and lacks nothing of value.
 She brings him good, not harm,
   all the days of her life. 

~Proverbs 31:10-12~