The Power of Agreement

Can two walk together unless they have agreed to do so? Amos 3:3

When I ponder this question my mind immediately thinks of marriage.  It is assumed that two people coming together in a marriage covenant have agreed to walk together until death do them part. But is this really the level of commitment we see in marriages in our society? 

Recently, I saw a statistic that blew my mind about the divorce rate in our country based on different professions. 82% of football coaches’ marriages end in divorce. This was uncomfortable to read as a football wife. 

Why is divorce so prevalent in this profession?  

    

A few years back, I thought my marriage would be one of these statistics. My coach and I were not on the same page and the pressures from his career began to take a toll on our marriage.  Because I’m a woman of faith it was natural for me to pray about our circumstances. I went to the Lord and He asked me a strange question, “Why is the marriage covenant sealed with a wedding band as the covenant symbol?” Of course, I didn’t know how to respond to this question, hence, God gave me the answer, “Your marriage isn’t two points on a line; he’s traveling in one direction and you are moving in the opposite direction.  Your marriage is on a circle, just as the covenant symbol for marriage. Although you may be at two different places on the circle, I am holding the circle together. My people get a divorce because they have decided they don’t want me to hold the circle anymore. Is there anything too hard for Me to fix?” WOW!!! After hearing these words from the Lord I knew I needed to surrender my marriage to Him again. My confidence was no longer in whether or not I could fix my marriage, I believed God would fix my marriage.

Jesus Teaches the Higher Law of Marriage:

Some Pharisees came and tested Him by asking, "Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?" "What did Moses command you? He replied. They said, "Moses permitted a man to write a certificate of divorce and send her away." "It was because your hearts were hard that Moses wrote you this law," Jesus replied. "But at the beginning of creation God made them male and female.' For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and will be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh. So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God was joined together, let no one separate." Mark 10:2-9

 

Ladies-I am convinced it is impossible for two people to walk together for a lifetime without God holding the relationship together. I encourage you to completely surrender your marriage to the Lord and open your heart to hearing His instructions as He leads you out of any ruts.  Make a commitment to walk with God, agreeing with His word and place your faith in Him. He is the only one that can bring two hearts together as one.

Those that put their faith in the Lord do not expect to fail because there is no failure in Him.

Father, thank You for giving each one of us our spouse.  Thank You for bringing our hearts together and making us one.  Lord I pray these ladies submit their marriages to You and have the faith to believe You can fix any marital problems they may have, in Jesus' name I pray, amen.

Are you aware of the Holy Spirit's Presence?

The prophet Joel gave us a major message about a future time regarding God’s restoration plan through his Son: ¨And afterward, I will pour out my Spirit on ALL people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions. Even on my servants, both men and women I will pour out my Spirit in those days.¨ Joel 2:28-29

Joel was announcing to the Israelites, in effect a day is coming when God is going to make it possible for all of humanity to interact with Him and have an intimate relationship with Him by His Spirit.  I’m sure this message came as a complete shock to the Israelites when they heard these words from Joel.  Culturally, they had only experienced the Spirit of God moving upon a few people and only those people communed with Him.  I can imagine they thought Joel was exaggerating when He said, "God would pour out His Spirit upon all people."

When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place.  Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting.  They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them.  All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.  Now there were staying in Jerusalem God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven.  When they heard this sound, a crowd came together in bewilderment, because each one heard them speaking in his own language.  Utterly amazed, they asked: “Are not all these men who are speaking Galileans.  Then how is it that each of us hears them in his own native language?  –we hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues!  Amazed and perplexed, they asked one another. “What does this mean?  Then Peter stood up with the Eleven, raised his voice and addressed the crowd: “Fellow Jews and all of you who live in Jerusalem, let me explain this to you; listen carefully to what I say.  These men are not drunk, as you suppose.  It’s only nine in the morning! No, this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel: ‘In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams. Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days, and they will prophesy.’ Acts 2:1-8, 11b-12, 14-18 

Ladies-God fulfilled this prophetic promise and it is recorded for our knowledge!  This event happened over 2000 years ago just 50 days after Jesus’ death, burial and resurrection.  Peter could explain to the crowd what was happening because Jesus had promised him and the other disciples that He would not leave them alone. 

And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, to be with you forever. He is the Holy Spirit, who leads into all truth. The world cannot receive Him, because it isn’t looking for him and doesn’t recognize Him. But you know Him, because He lives with you now and later will be in you. John 14:16-17

As a follower of Christ I have read all of these scriptures many times.  Although I knew these words, I still wasn’t aware of the Holy Spirit’s literal presence in me.  I didn’t quite grasp that God is with us, now. I’ve often only imagined God being light years away and I needed a spacecraft in order to be where He is.  The Lord challenged my perspective and opened up my understanding in this area.

Have any of you ever had an imaginary friend? If you have, then you know that person was very present with you.  You made space for them in your world and you would have intimate moments communing with them.  This is exactly the kind of perspective God wants us to have about His presence.  Obviously, those who do not believe that God is will never understand why you communicate and make room in your world for Him.  This would all be foolish to them just like the notion of an imaginary friend. 

 

But the time is coming—indeed it’s here now—when true worshipers will worship the Father in Spirit and in truth. The Father is looking for those who will worship Him that way. For God is Spirit, and His worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.  John 4:23-24

Ladies-I pray you are aware of His presence in you and you have made room for Him in your world.

Lord-thank you for opening our understanding in this area about Your presence.  Thank You for sending Your Holy Spirit to be with us now and forever.  Thank You for being in us.  We gladly worship You and make room for You in our world, in Jesus name I pray, amen.

Has God asked you to do a hard thing?

Marry a Prostitute

When the Lord first began speaking to Israel through Hosea, he said to him, “Go and marry a prostitute…Hosea 1:2a

So Hosea married Gomer, the daughter of Diblaim…Hosea 1:3a

How dare God ask Hosea to marry a prostitute?   What lesson can He possibly be teaching when He commands him to do a seemingly immoral act?  

Has God asked you to do a hard thing? What lesson is he teaching you?  Are you willing to answer the call like Hosea?

As we keep reading in the book of Hosea, we find that Hosea is obedient to God’s instructions and he marries Gomer and they start a family.  Unfortunate for Hosea, Gomer isn’t faithful to him and she has an affair.  God again gives Hosea instructions that are very hard to accept.

Then the Lord said to me, “Go show your love to your wife again, though she is loved by another man and is an adulteress. Love her as the Lord loves the Israelites, though they turn to other gods and love the sacred raisin cakes.” Hosea 3:1

Has God asked you to forgive and restore a broken relationship?  Has God called you to love the way He loves? 

Ladies-when my coach and I were in the middle of planning our wedding I had cold feet. I knew God was calling me into ministry and when I considered where my husband was with the Lord I was not confident that our relationship would work.  I remember praying and asking God what I should do.  His instructions to me were very similar to His instructions to Hosea: “I have chosen him for you, love Him the way I love Him, beyond any judgement you have towards him.”

Hosea’s relationship was all out in the open for the public to see. Everyone knew Gomer was a prostitute and everyone knew that Gomer was having affairs.  God purposely used what was happening in Hosea’s life as a figurative picture for His people to see His undying love for them. I believe Hosea willingly followed God’s instructions because He knew God would somehow make it all work out for him.

 

I willingly followed God’s instructions too and my coach and I have been married for almost 18 years. I wouldn’t be ministering to Coaches’ Wives had God not decided I should marry a coach.

And we know that in ALL THINGS God works for the GOOD of those who love him, who have been called according to His purpose. Romans 8:28

Whatever you are facing, God wants you to know He will make it work out for your good.  Don’t be dismayed about this part in your story, whatever it is He will use it for His Glory and it will serve a great purpose for you and for anyone with public knowledge about your circumstances. I pray you will be obedient in this hard thing and I pray you can forgive the unthinkable thing just like Hosea.

Father, I pray Your daughters will step out in faith and trust You with the hard decisions You call us to make.  I pray we can walk in forgiveness and release those that have trespassed against us.  Lord, thank You for Your word.  Thank You for Hosea’s example in his faithfulness towards You and thank You for your faithfulness towards us, in Jesus name I pray, amen.

The Choice Young Men

As I opened the book of Daniel seeking the Lord about what He would have me to say, I didn’t get past the first chapter. The first thing I read jumped off the page, The Lord gave him (Nebuchadnezzar) victory over King Jehoikim of Judah. (God puts a plan in motion) Next, I read: Then the king ordered Ashpenaz, the chief of his officials, to bring in some of the sons of Israel, including some of the royal family and of the nobles, youths in whom was no defect, who were good looking, showing intelligence in every branch of wisdom, endowed with understanding and discerning knowledge, and who had the ability for serving in the king’s court; and he ordered him to teach them the literature and language of the Chaldeans. Daniel 1:1,3

This next verse made me think about our signing classes. In athletics our coaches make the same request as King Nebuchadnezzar. They scout around looking for these same qualities in their next crop of kids. When they get them signed and on campus, they teach them a new language and give them new playbooks.

I have often wondered what this was like for parents and the student athletes when they narrow their choices and say yes to a school. Quite naturally I turned to my coach, the former All-American highly recruited athlete to find out how he did it. Some of his testers were: was the coach comfortable in my environment, was the coach easy to communicate with, did the coach talk at me or to me, did the coach care about my life after football, did they eat my mom’s food, how did the coach interact with my siblings, did the coach pray before eating, did the coach revere God, etc. He told me these standards came from watching his high school coaches.

As a coach’s wife I was told by a parent that the reason they decided their son should play for my husband was because of the way my coach interacted with me and our girls. This never dawned on me. I thought I was getting in the way of his recruiting and our girls were a distraction. These words opened my eyes to what I believe many parents want to see during the recruiting process, what kind of man is this coach away from football. Will this coach be a father figure for my son? Will he teach him life lessons beyond the game? Can we count on this man to help my son become a great man?

Recently, I spoke to my cousin who's son was highly recruited this year and I asked her how they made the decision and she said, “We chose the school that was most concerned about the whole person and not just the athlete. The first person we met was the team chaplain. This meeting was a clear indicator to us that this program was built around all facets of life.”

Wow-His Coaches' Wives, I believe we have an edge in the recruiting game. We are concerned with the whole person and whether we have a chaplain on our campus or not, our families have a relationship with the Father that we live out in front of our players. Pat yourself on the back and know that God is leading the best players to your husband because God wants your family to influence the whole person.

High school wives you share in these experiences as well. The culture created by your husband at his program sets the standards for what recruits are looking for in their next program. Parents have watched your family love their kids for 4 years. I believe they are supposing to receive the same conduct as they move on to college.

Father, thank You for Your great plans for us. Thank You for bringing the right people to our teams. Thank You for letting Your light shine through us so that others may see You. Thank You for wives who have decided to live different and to be a difference in the lives of others. Thank You for families that live above reproach in our sports world and lead from the heart. We honor You and we give You the glory, in Jesus name, amen.