Pray for your Husband Daily

When I first read the topic for week 3 of the marriage challenge, I thought to myself, "what kind of challenge is that? that's ridiculous,". Not because the concept of praying for your husband is ridiculous, but because I just assumed that it is something we all do automatically.

Until I realized that I don't.

Sure when he's sick I'll pray for him, or when he's having a really rough day, or if he has something major going on in his work life, family, or just in his brain. But do I remember daily to pray for him, for his well being, to be thankful to God for having him in my life? Every day? Sadly, I have to admit that I do not. There are occasions when the idea will pop in my head and I'll stop, take a second, and pray for whatever it is...but to make it a part of my every day routine is something that I've had to try to train myself to do this week.

In preparation for that, I thought about all the areas of his life. I would add "that need prayer" to the end of that sentence, but then I realized that there isn't an area in any of our lives which doesn't need prayer. So I made a list of things to pray for:
~his job
~his fatherhood
~his temptations
~his role as a husband
~his faith
~guidance for his life

As you can see, my list consists of 6 things and a week consists of 7 days. So then I got brilliant, as a true numbers-nerd would. I decided I would pray on each of these items, one per day, and on the seventh day I would pray on an item that he specifically asks me to. Day 7 for me is on Thursday, so tonight I plan to ask him what he has going on that he needs extra prayer for. I was amazed a few years ago when he told me that he prays multiple times a day...I guess I just didn't expect it. So given this, I assume he has an idea of what he needs most. If he selects one of the items above, that's ok - can't ever have too much prayer can we?

Then as this week's challenge ends and I move on to the next one, I'll make it a point to try and remember every day to pray for the topic of that day along with just his general well being. I didn't realize that it would require such a conscious effort on my part, but I'm glad that it does. It makes me conscious of his needs every day and aware of my ability to support him even when I have no idea how.