The Power of a Praying Wife: Chapter 2 – His Work
Let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us, and establish the work of our hands for us; yes establish the work of our hands. Psalm 90:17
This chapter is extremely timely for me. Since long before we were married, Gregg has done the same thing. He is a computer consultant and teacher. A company calls him and says, “We need x, y, and maybe z.” And, Gregg packs his bags and makes hotel reservations and flies to the company and does x, y, and usually z². Another company will call and say, “We have this situation and this many people need training.” So, Gregg will pack his bag, make hotel reservations, and fly to the next exotic city where he’ll teach and train for a week or more. He’s really quite good at what he does.
It worked for him when he was a bachelor. He had no pets, no house plants, and could be gone for weeks and weeks, home for a day or two, and gone for weeks again. And if that was all that there was, then it wouldn’t be too hard to take now that he has a wife and a family. But we have to factor in the fact that Gregg is in the military, too, and that the nation is at war. In the almost 8 years we have been married, the Gregg has been gone for military duty or working as a civilian contractor in Afghanistan for 4 total years of it. That’s half of our marriage. When you couple that with working out of town on his civilian job 40+ weeks a year, that’s a lot of time away from his family.
Consequently, he and I have prayed about it and talked about it extensively, and have determined that our desire is for him to have a nine to five job, even if that means relocating.
So, I have been praying for Gregg’s work for several months now.
If you haven’t already done so, read chapter 2 and consider the following discussion questions. The comments are turned off for this chapter, and the discussions will take place at the forum, Hallee’s Daily Brew, by following this link.
1. It is said that a man finds fulfillment and measures success from his work, where a woman finds fulfillment and measures from her relationships. Does your husband do his work with a sense of purpose and fulfillment, or with feelings of frustration, aimlessness, or unfulfillment? How do you think you can pray about that for him?
2. Is there a difficult person your husband has to work with, or an unpleasant work relationship that could be deleting your husband’s strength and patience? Write out a prayer to God asking for God to transform this relationship or to change your husband’s perspective and enhance his patience.
3. Proverbs 22:29 says, “Do you see a man who excels in his work? He will stand before kings; He will not stand before unknown men.” Does your husband excel in his work? Has he been properly recognized and appreciated for his work? Do you remember to tell your husband that you appreciate his work?
4. Stormie gives two examples of extremes with men and work. One is laziness…”avoiding work out of selfishness, fear, lack of confidence, depression, or apprehension about the future.” She quoted several Bible verses pertaining to laziness: Proverbs 26:14, Proverbs 23:21, Proverbs 15:19, and Proverbs 21:25. On the other extreme she talked about workaholism…”obsessing over work to the exclusion of all else and losing one’s life in the process.” Again, she cited Bible verses: Proverbs 1:19 and Ecclesiastes 2:11. Does your husband tend toward laziness or workaholism, or somewhere in-between? How could his work habits improve? Write a prayer to God asking Him to help balance your husband’s work habits.
5. Ecclesiastes 3:13 says, “and also that every man should eat and drink and enjoy the good of all his labor—it is the gift of God.” Is your husband’s work fulfilling to him? Does he enjoy the good of his labor? Why or why not? Write out a prayer asking God to help your husband find fulfillment in his work, whether it means moving him into something different than what he is doing now, or giving him a new sense of purpose about the work he already has.
This week, pray the prayer on page 53 out loud. Include specifics about your husband’s work.
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