Nice & Wavy
Well-Known Member
"The wise woman builds her house, but the foolish tears it down with her own hands" Proverbs 14:1 (NAS)
This is by: Melanie Chitwood
I was feeling so frustrated that my husband was not making some changes I'd asked him to make - changes that I thought he should make. As I was telling God my frustrations, He gave me a picture of how I'd been treating my marriage. It could really apply to any relationship. Picture this as I describe it.
Imagine your back yard and in one corner of the yard is a huge garden filled and overrun with weeds. You know you need to take care of that garden, but you also know it's going to take a lot of work. But then you remember you have a big John Deer lawnmower. You can just use that to plow down every weed. So that's what you do. You hop on the John Deere, plow down the weeds, wipe your hands, pat yourself on the back and say job well done. Sure the weeds will grow back, but you can just mow them down again.
Then your eye spots another garden in your yard. Not as big as the first, but also filled with tall weeds. Well, I'll just use the lawnmower again, you think to yourself. So you walk toward the garden to assess the situation, and then you notice there's already a gardener there. This gardener is working slowly and carefully. He yanks out by hand each tall weed and deposits them in a trash pile that's growing taller. Well, that's going to take a long time, you think to yourself. Let me tell him about my lawnmower. You slowly walk toward the garden, and as you draw closer, you notice beautiful flowers, hidden by the weeds. The gardener sees you and beckons for you to join Him. You stop. You have a choice. Do you join the gardener in tending the garden, or do you insist that you use the John Deere?
God showed me that I was treating my marriage and its challenges like the first gardener. I was just plowing through, trying my own methods of fixing things, and leaving decimation in its wake. Not to mention my repairs were just temporary. I sensed God saying to me, Let me be the Gardener of your marriage. Let's try my gentle ways. I will help you uncover the precious treasures in your marriage.
Talk honestly with God in prayer about your marriage. If you see that you are using the John Deere method of gardening in your marriage, confess this sin to God and ask Him to be the Gardener of your marriage.
Dear Lord, thank you for my husband and my marriage. I want the marriage you want me to have, Lord. I confess that I try to do my own gardening many times. I surrender myself, my husband, and my marriage into Your hands, Lord, acknowledging that You alone know the best way to tend to the garden of my marriage. In Jesus' Name, Amen
The one thing that I know for sure is that I can't fix anything. And although I've known it all along, I've never really put into practice letting go and letting God in the area of my marriage. 
I'm paying dearly for riding on that John Deere for all these years. But yet, God IS!!! 
Isn't it a beautiful message? I have been reading so much this evening and being reminded that the Lord loves me so much and He just continues to pour out in me and bless me abundantly...I am sooooooo blessed...not just in my marriage, but my health, my finances (glory), with my friends (love you, sis) my family, my church family and in the ministry! I can go on and on!!!! I can see the Lord pouring out in your life too and you are blessed abundantly!
I love you my sister. Give Pastor A a huge hug for me. I love his heart. And this scripture speaks of him to the letter:
. Pastor A loves you too and we are always praying for you...always!
