14 DAY RELATIONSHIPS CHALLENGE – DAY 12
CHALLENGE: CHECK YOU JOB DESCRIPTION AND MAKE SURE YOU’RE DOING THE JOB YOU SIGNED UP FOR.
Power-struggles exist in marrigaes all across the US. Husbands and wives get confused about their roles in marriage and when it gets out of hand, they find themselves in divorce court. Case in point, I’m sure you’ve heard of the reality show, Keeping up with the Kardashians. If not, the show follows the lives of Kim Kardashian and her family. Her mother, Kris Jenner, is the highly respected leader of the pack. She is in charge of the order of the entire house. Kris’ husband, Bruce Jenner, is essentially left alone to live his life in the garage with his helicopters and golf clubs. He is completely emasculated, treated as one of the children and garners no respect. This is what I call the Bruce Jenner Syndrome.
The Bruce Jenner Syndrome is a situation where the husband is no longer filling the role God intended for the family. He is not respected. He is not the head of the house and he is powerless. It’s easy to point the finger and say that these husbands need to grow a backbone, but the trouble doesn’t always point back to the husband, sometimes it points back to the wife. Is the wife overstepping her boundries as a wife. Is she operating out of her job description?
Society places great importance on indepdence, especially for women. The expectations for personal and professional succes are increasingly greater as the years go by. As a result, some women have a hard time drawing a line between their job description at work and their job description at home, which causes a power-struggle. This power-struggle typically results in the husband being stripped of his God-given power as head of the house. Shortly after, the wife will begin to complain that the husband is not strong, that he’s weak and that he’s not a “good” head of house. This is a delicate area in marriage and requires prayer. Think about how you’re going about your day. Wives, are you functioning in your role as the helpmate to your husband? Do you need to give your husband back the head of household power? Husbands, are you functioning in your role as the leader of the house? Are you walking in the power God has given you by making sound decisions and communicating with your wife?
Role of the Husband – Ephesians 5:21-24 & 1 Corinthians 11:3
Role of the Wife – Ephesians 5:22-24 & Colossians 3 :18-19
PRAYER
Dear God, Help us to recognize the error in our ways and help us to reconcile our relationships so that we may live the life of abundance you created for us. Allow us to ignore the pressure and expectations that society lays on us and help us to focus our attention on you. We love you Lord and we thank you in advance for restoring us in our right places in this sacred union. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
OBSERVATIONS
Of all of the challenges, this is probably the one I struggle with the least. I have no problem falling into place. LOL I can’t pinpoint when but somewhere along my life’s journey I gave up trying to be in control of everything. I am happy to allow my husband to take the trash out, put gas in the car, take care of the bills. Not having to do these things frees up my mind to do other important things. I know what you’re thinking? Well, my husband’s strength isn’t in taking care of the bills and those other responsibilities so I have to do it. Well, it may be true that your husband isn’t the best at paying the bills on time or remembering other responsiblities, but is that because he’s never been given the opportunity to try? How we handle our husbands is critical to how they will behave. If you treat them with respect and set the expectation that they will figure out how to be responsible in some of these areas, to our surprise they’ll likely rise to the occassion. Whether that means they figure it out, or they come to you and say, “you’re better at handling the finances, I’ll take on some of your responsiblities instead.”
How to join? That’s up to you! It’s completely your choice how you participate in this challenge. Truly, what matters to me is that you are putting these prompts into action prayerfully and intentionally. I want you to see the fruits of your labor when it’s all said and done. Here’s how you can follow along: (1) Check back here to find the daily prompt along with my encouragement, prayer and observations from the previous day. (2) Check out my Instagram where you’ll also see the daily prompts and can engage other participants. (3) Watch the live Periscope episodes over the course of these 14 days where you’ll find me talking about my observations in addition to tackling a Marriage Conversations Topic. Finally, (4) you’ll find a video dedicated to this challenge, with all the details and each day spelled out for you. This is in case you’re catching this on the 15th day and you really want to participate. The beauty is there’s no such thing as a late start. Anytime is a great time to start doing these things in your relationships. #MARRIAGECONVERSATIONS
Your Girl,