Bending and Bucking

Eric has been talking about getting a new gun ever since Rylie declared she no longer wants to wear underwear. (Yes, we try to wear underwear in public but it's a fight every time, I don't even want to think about making her wear underwear in private.) I don't blame him wanting to ramp up his masculine side with all the female drama that goes down in this house. So he's had his eye on one for a while and has been waiting for an opportunity to go and get it. This opportunity came the other night when he told me his dad wanted to go with him after work this Saturday to pick it up. Since we live in the middle of nowhere the trip to get the gun would take several hours. We all know how I feel about Eric being gone on Saturdays so here's what happened...

I'll back up just a little bit. I've been reading the book A Woman After God's Own Heart. I love this book and if you haven't read it I would encourage you to, but be ready to be totally convicted! (I also got the inspiration for my blog title from this book.) Well, I recently read the chapter about wives submitting to their husbands. The author Elizabeth George talks about responding to your husband's words and actions positively. Try to "bend not buck" everything he says and does. This is hard for me mainly because I like to be in control of situations. Giving up this control and putting it in someone else's hands (the hands God wants to be in control) is not easy for me. I annoy myself when I tell him what I think should happen but I can't seem to stop myself. After I read this chapter I prayed that God would give me the opportunity to practice "bending." I knew this prayer would be answered quickly.

And, what do you know? Just a few hours later Eric came home and asked if I would mind if he went gun shopping with his dad on Saturday. I knew this was my big chance and I couldn't believe God was doing this to me. But I bit the bullet and said "Okaaaay" and I left the room for fear that thoughts would give way to words. I'm not really the yelling type, more the guilting type. So normally I would say something like "Great then I can sit at home all day and play cards with Rylie." This is throwing down the gauntlet, for we both know that playing cards with a 4 year old is the ultimate parental torture. Oh yeah...when I throw down, I throw down hard.

When I left the room I could've sworn I heard an audible "whoosh" as Eric let out the breath he had been holding. So on went the night and part of the next day without us talking any more about it. Then - this is the cool part - Eric called from work to tell me he couldn't go get the gun on Saturday because they didn't have it anymore. The only one available was an hour away and they were holding it for him. He asked if I wanted to go with to get it and go out to dinner that night while his mom watched the girls. Glory Hallelujah the Lord is Risen - yes I would like to go!

While I know things won't always turn out this way, I know this was an affirmation from the Lord that I'm moving in the right direction. However, this bending thing is going to take some getting used to....