Wives, Win Unbelieving Husbands Through Loving Submission

1 Peter 3:1-2 “Wives, in the same way (Jesus was submissive to the Father out of sacrificial love for us) be submissive to your husbands so that, if any of them do not believe the Word, they may be won without talk by the behavior of their wives when they see the purity and reverence of your lives.” (Emphasis added)

            O Lord, this passage strikes such a personal note.  When I first trusted You as Savior, I wanted so much for my husband to share in Your forgiveness and transforming power too.  He never seemed to want to talk about it, so I left literature out in conspicuous places and played the sermon cassettes while he was home but in another room, hoping he would hear something that would strike his interest.  Lord, all of that had the exact opposite effect.

            Obviously, I had not gotten this far in my study of Your word, and the young lady who was discipling me had not touched on this either.  There came a time when this situation came to a head and broke wide open.  He told me, out of fear for me since he thought I was in some kind of cult, to pack everything up and get it out of the house and never speak of it again to him or to the children.  At that time my oldest son had already come to trust You.  I was quietly complying with his wishes, as I had learned that I must submit to him, when he returned and said that he did not have the right to tell me that, but to not mention anything to him again and to stop leaving things out and listening to tapes while he was home.

            Three and a half years later, he came to trust You because he had seen the change in my behavior with the children and him as well as the peace I had in the turmoil that was going on in our lives at the time.

            It was a couple of years later when I read these words and marveled at the fact that You had spoken Your truth into my life through my unbelieving husband.  Thank You, Lord, for Your loving intervention into the lives of new believers and the wisdom You give even when they do not recognize it yet.

            Now, there are two things I share with new believing wives who have unbelieving husbands that were not shared with me right away: 1) proper priorities and  2) these verses.