The 7th Day of Christmas with Jennifer Smith–Unveiled Wife

Welcome to the 7th annual 12 Days of Christmas Giveaways!!!

12 days graphic

12 Days.

12 friends guest posting sharing a Christmas idea, recipe or favorite with you.

12 great giveaways for you to enter along with one GRAND PRIZE for someone who comments to enter all 12 days!!

Please join me in welcoming Jennifer Smith of the Unveiled Wife on this 7th Day of Christmas. Jennifer began UnveiledWife.com, a web-based ministry for wives, in Bio-picMarch 2011. She publishes weekly marriage articles including encouragements, devotions, and prayers of the day. She authored The Unveiled Wife, Wife After God, and 31 Prayers For My Husband. Jennifer is devoted to encouraging wives all around the world to develop God-centered marriages.

Now, here’s Jennifer….

The holiday season is usually bustling with families drawing close together to spend quality time with one another. Families flock the shops for gifts, hand-in-hand they search for the perfect tree, and they nestle side by side at coffee shops with peppermint lattes and hot cocoa.

Ever since I was a little girl I have done this with my family and as I am out and about I see others enjoying Christmas too.

When I became a wife I had the privilege of sharing this joy with my husband. Although we encountered hardships throughout the year, we were good at intentionally making Christmas memorable. By our third Christmas, the burdens mounted so high, it was a struggle to embrace the cheerfulness of the holiday season. In fact, I escaped into fantasyland by using up all my free time to read the Twilight trilogy.

For three weeks I grew fascinated with the love story of Edward and Bella, desiring a strong love in my own life, convincing myself that my husband was not good enough. My husband sat next to me as I flipped the page of my books. I checked out of my reality and dived into a sea of discontentment. The more I read, the more unsatisfied I became with my marriage. The more I read, the more I avoided my relationship with God as well. My heart was turning hard against those I once loved, dwelling on the potential of what I could have if I chose to leave my husband.

I am sharing this with you because I know the pain that comes with marriage. I know how burdens can pile so high that a wife would rather escape, even if it is just into fantasy. I know how a whole holiday season can fly by without any intentional memories built because it is uncomfortable and sorrow-filled. I also know I am not the only one who has dealt with this, and I don’t want any wife to endure this type of isolation this Christmas!

The greatest thing that saved my marriage and transformed my heart was my husband’s willingness to pray for us. Even when I hard-heartedly refused, my husband was faithful. He prayed for us every night and asked God to help us. At that time when I isolated myself in books, my husband was unaware of all that I was internalizing, but he surely felt the separation in our relationship. Yet, he prayed.

I believe God hears our prayers and that He wants us to rely on Him. There was no way I would have recognized my sin of lusting in fantasyland without the Holy Spirit convicting my heart. And there was no way my heart would have softened and overcame discontentment without God showing me the purpose of marriage and how He can use our burdens to teach us and ultimately transform us.

This Christmas, no matter what condition your marriage is in, I urge you to pray. Ask God to protect your marriage. Pray for you and pray for your husband. By doing so you will be able to embrace the holiday season and more importantly you will be able to embrace unconditional love for your husband. There is power in prayer!

Here is a prayer for your marriage [click on the image to make it larger]. If you want you can print this out and frame it where you and your husband can view it daily and serve as a reminder for you to pray for your relationship!

Marriage-prayer

31 prayer cover - 5.25 x 8 final copy copy

 

Giveaway:  Jennifer is giving away a copy of her book 31 Prayers For My Husband: Seeing God Move In His Heart. Enter to win by leaving a prayer in the comments for your marriage and a random winner will be chosen.

Don’t forget to come back for all 12 days! {And remember, if you comment on all 12 posts, you might win the Grand Prize!}

204 Comments

  1. Lord, You are an amazing Father and I am so thankful for the work You have done in my marriage. Thank you for my wonderful husband! Help our marriage to reflect You to a lost world. Help us to reflect Your love to our children, to show them how to love others when loving is not easy or even desired. Keep working on us, in us, and through us, Lord. Thank You!

  2. Lord, I pray you would help me to listen to my husband as he tells me about his work day. Help me to pamper him and to show him how much I appreciate what he does for all of us. I pray you would help us to pray more together. Amen.

  3. Lord, thank you for a marriage centered on you. Thank you for a man that is committed to you, our marriage and our family. Please give us the strength to follow where you lead. Amen.

  4. Lord, I thank you for the gift of my husband, Bill. May You continue to knit us together as one in You. Guide and direct each step we take so that others may see You in our lives. Forgive us when we get selfish and mean spirited with one another and direct us back to You for encouragement. May we always put You first in all we do. Thank You, Father. Amen

  5. Lord, Thank you for helping us in our marriage. Thank you Lord, for the highs and lows. Continue to guide and direct both of us, give us wisdom and discernment with regards to each other and in our relationship with you. To have unity with each other and with you. Lord, I lift this marriage up to you and lay it in your hands I want you to have every part. Thank you Jesus….Amen.

  6. Lord, thank you for being with us this year during the crisis of breast cancer. Thank you for drawing us closer to you and to one another.

  7. Lord, I pray you would heal every area of my marriage, especially in putting Jesus first in everything, serving each other in love and unity, having a better understanding, communication and running our family with wisdom, trusting each other the way God intended in marriage and that we would grow to be an example, blessing and encouragement to other couples.

  8. Lord, that You would help us to daily seek You first, above all else. That we would do all that we do for Your glory understanding that all we have we owe to You. Oh, that we would commit our marriages into Your perfect hands and love one another the way You have loved us. (Thanks so much for the chance to win this book!)

  9. Dear Lord, Thank You for the gift of the wonderful husband you have chosen for me. He is perfect for me and I love him so very much. Thank You for our 43 years of marriage and our beautiful family of 5 children and 6 grandchildren. You have been so faithful to us and I’m grateful that all my children know and love you. My husband and I want to grow closer to You and draw others to know the beauty and truth of who You are!

  10. Lord, I know you have a plan for my life and the husband you have chosen for me is out there somewhere. Thank you for always taking care of me. Amen

  11. Thank you Lord for the gift of my husband. May I be a blessing to him. Bless our marriage and may we bless those around us.

  12. Dear Jesus,
    Thank you for my husband. I’m so thankful for the way that he looks to the heart and doesn’t judge. Thank you for his unconditional love and acceptance and his guidance. Thank you for allowing me to be his wife and please Lord continue to guide us both as we walk through life together.

  13. Lord, I hand over my marriage to you… it’s all in your hands. Please protect us both from things that could destroy our love and devotion to each other and to you Father. Please continue to draw us closer to each other and to you.

  14. Lord, I surrender our marriage to You and I pray that You will keep our marriage holy and do not let anything that will harm and destroy to come near us. We want to stay under Your wings from any unhealthy or dangerous desires to grow in our marriage. Let there be no thoughts of divorce or infidelity in our heart, not even a hint. Lord, may Your Holy Spirit free our past hurts, bad experiences and unrealistic expectations towards one another. Lord, thank You for pursuing my huband’s heart to enter into Your kingdom. I lift up his meeting with our pastor today and ask that if today is the day that he realizes being committed to You is less burdensome than not that he will let our pastor know immediately. Thank You for Your faithfulness. Amen.

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