QuickenedInHim
New Member
Greets Folks,
Just a note to introduce myself. My name is Steven. After many years of running around in the world behaving like a pagan, our Lord quite mercifully saved me from my foolishness and my well-deserved condemnation when He dropped His Spirit upon me in May of 2003. It was a very brief day, particularly in the scope of all that had gone before, but it is a long and interesting story (at least I think so) nonetheless. You all know the story; mine is no different except for the details. Quite a variety of interesting things have happened since then, and no doubt will continue to happen until He returns or calls me home; more stories for a different thread I suppose.
But as if this salvation weren't enough, He also chose to give me the most incredible gift of a godly wife! I'd been praying for a wife and marriage for about 4 of those 7 years since He first called me. And just when I had completely convinced myself, in sadness, that He had other plans for me that did not include a wife and family of my own, He dropped my Love on me. Quite to my amazement, she was not what I thought I wanted, but was instead far superior to anything I could have imagined. She loves AND believes God, she is beautiful (waist-length blonde hair, blue eyes, perfect skin, lovely shape), she is smart (she was in the research phase of a Ph.D program in Molecular Pathology when she found me), and for some completely inexplicable reason (aka divine intervention, miracle, etc.) she decided she should become my wife. And I don't mean wife in the sense that the world means it. I mean wife in the sense that God means it. I mean a wife that got on her knees in front of the pastor and witnesses when we were married and submitted herself entirely to me with her head to the ground at me feet. I mean a wife who left her Ph.D program to spend her days in my home tending to whatever I asked her to tend to. I mean a wife that takes joy in simply belonging to me and knowing she brings me joy. Once again, God has very good reason to LOL in my direction, oh me of little faith!
But isn't it always like that? We always think too small. We always place the same constraints on God that we place on ourselves or on others we know. Perhaps I should rather speak for myself - I always do this. I always somehow convince myself that God is much smaller than the testimony of my upwelling heart during worship declares. I am the one that, given His declaration of what constitutes a good wife, still couldn't come up with the right list of attributes; LOL!
In any case, I had also always recognized that though the church vehemently declared polygyny a sin, I could find no such declaration in the Word. Indeed, my Calvinist roots made it simple for me to set the issue aside for quite some time: "I must simply be too depraved to see the truth" I reasoned. However, this explanation fails to satisfy as soon as you leave the surface for something deeper. When you love God because He called you, His Spirit directs your heart. His Spirit makes it to grab hold of the things He wants you to hang on to, and His spirit makes it to scream (loudly if need be) when He wants you to drop what you continue to consider or do.
Amazingly enough, the lovely bride He gave me was key in my acceptance of this truth. In the way she treats me, I see reflected how I should treat God. She submits to me even when it makes no sense to her, and she does so joyfully. We once ran across a controversy in a church we were attending about whether or not women should be covered during worship. It seems pretty plain to me that the Word declares it should be so. I asked her to wear a hat and now she does. We are in a different church now, and I've never seen anyone else (except for some of the men) wear a hat, but she still does. She obeys me simply because she believes that is why she is here; to love and honor God by being my obedient wife, my Sarah. She has no difficulty declaring she likes it this way and it gives her pleasure to so do. She has no difficulty declaring that the same would be true were she one of my wives (note the plural). Thus, I suppose if she has the courage to affirm to me that it would be right (even desirable) for me to take more than one wife if God were to supply them, then the least I can do is man-up and have the courage to declare this to men regardless of what they may think, in order that I honor my God at least as much as my lovely bride honors me.
Before God gave me a wife, I never even remotely appreciated what He meant by "helper". Long before the british became well-known for the technique, there was God understating in the extreme. My wife is my help. A godly wife is the richest of blessings for a godly man. An ungodly husband must also be the deepest tragedy for a godly wife. Though I'll remain utterly delighted with the wife God has given me for the rest of my life, I'll be likewise delighted should He choose to give me another or two to cover and care for.
I suppose it is time to bring this ramble to a close. If you've made it to the end, congratulations! I look forward to chatting with you all on the forums and hope that this turns into a place of true fellowship for me and my house.
Best Regards,
Steven
Just a note to introduce myself. My name is Steven. After many years of running around in the world behaving like a pagan, our Lord quite mercifully saved me from my foolishness and my well-deserved condemnation when He dropped His Spirit upon me in May of 2003. It was a very brief day, particularly in the scope of all that had gone before, but it is a long and interesting story (at least I think so) nonetheless. You all know the story; mine is no different except for the details. Quite a variety of interesting things have happened since then, and no doubt will continue to happen until He returns or calls me home; more stories for a different thread I suppose.
But as if this salvation weren't enough, He also chose to give me the most incredible gift of a godly wife! I'd been praying for a wife and marriage for about 4 of those 7 years since He first called me. And just when I had completely convinced myself, in sadness, that He had other plans for me that did not include a wife and family of my own, He dropped my Love on me. Quite to my amazement, she was not what I thought I wanted, but was instead far superior to anything I could have imagined. She loves AND believes God, she is beautiful (waist-length blonde hair, blue eyes, perfect skin, lovely shape), she is smart (she was in the research phase of a Ph.D program in Molecular Pathology when she found me), and for some completely inexplicable reason (aka divine intervention, miracle, etc.) she decided she should become my wife. And I don't mean wife in the sense that the world means it. I mean wife in the sense that God means it. I mean a wife that got on her knees in front of the pastor and witnesses when we were married and submitted herself entirely to me with her head to the ground at me feet. I mean a wife who left her Ph.D program to spend her days in my home tending to whatever I asked her to tend to. I mean a wife that takes joy in simply belonging to me and knowing she brings me joy. Once again, God has very good reason to LOL in my direction, oh me of little faith!
But isn't it always like that? We always think too small. We always place the same constraints on God that we place on ourselves or on others we know. Perhaps I should rather speak for myself - I always do this. I always somehow convince myself that God is much smaller than the testimony of my upwelling heart during worship declares. I am the one that, given His declaration of what constitutes a good wife, still couldn't come up with the right list of attributes; LOL!
In any case, I had also always recognized that though the church vehemently declared polygyny a sin, I could find no such declaration in the Word. Indeed, my Calvinist roots made it simple for me to set the issue aside for quite some time: "I must simply be too depraved to see the truth" I reasoned. However, this explanation fails to satisfy as soon as you leave the surface for something deeper. When you love God because He called you, His Spirit directs your heart. His Spirit makes it to grab hold of the things He wants you to hang on to, and His spirit makes it to scream (loudly if need be) when He wants you to drop what you continue to consider or do.
Amazingly enough, the lovely bride He gave me was key in my acceptance of this truth. In the way she treats me, I see reflected how I should treat God. She submits to me even when it makes no sense to her, and she does so joyfully. We once ran across a controversy in a church we were attending about whether or not women should be covered during worship. It seems pretty plain to me that the Word declares it should be so. I asked her to wear a hat and now she does. We are in a different church now, and I've never seen anyone else (except for some of the men) wear a hat, but she still does. She obeys me simply because she believes that is why she is here; to love and honor God by being my obedient wife, my Sarah. She has no difficulty declaring she likes it this way and it gives her pleasure to so do. She has no difficulty declaring that the same would be true were she one of my wives (note the plural). Thus, I suppose if she has the courage to affirm to me that it would be right (even desirable) for me to take more than one wife if God were to supply them, then the least I can do is man-up and have the courage to declare this to men regardless of what they may think, in order that I honor my God at least as much as my lovely bride honors me.
Before God gave me a wife, I never even remotely appreciated what He meant by "helper". Long before the british became well-known for the technique, there was God understating in the extreme. My wife is my help. A godly wife is the richest of blessings for a godly man. An ungodly husband must also be the deepest tragedy for a godly wife. Though I'll remain utterly delighted with the wife God has given me for the rest of my life, I'll be likewise delighted should He choose to give me another or two to cover and care for.
I suppose it is time to bring this ramble to a close. If you've made it to the end, congratulations! I look forward to chatting with you all on the forums and hope that this turns into a place of true fellowship for me and my house.
Best Regards,
Steven
