3 Ways a Wife Tears Her House Down
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I married later in life. Fact is, I wasn’t sure if I’d ever get married.
The one thing I always wanted to be was a wife and mommy. When all my school yard buddies wanted to be firemen, nurses, police officers and mailmen, I wanted to be a wife and mommy.
The years of being single among all my married friends granted me an inside view into what this verse really meant:
“The wise woman builds her house, But the foolish pulls it down with her hands.”
Over the years, I watched those who built their homes, while others teared theirs down….with their own hands.
That is a pretty amazing statement right there.
They don’t just bulldoze or take a wrecking ball to their homes. No, literally with their bare hands, they tear down their own homes brick by brick.
Have you been guilty of engaging in some demolition? I have from time to time, too.
3 Ways a Wife Tears Her House Down
1. A Critical Spirit
When we allow our spirits to become critical, bitter, and filled with gossip we destroy the spirit of our marriage, home, and children.
A critical spirit demolishes a home rather quickly, but a joyful spirit that encourages and fills the home with praise builds it into a luxurious mansion and haven for her family!
We do this by first taking charge of our thoughts and then our tongue; by filling our hearts, spirits and mouths with praise.
Turning each negative and critical thought into praise-worthy and positive thoughts.
Allowing God to cleanse our hearts of bitterness, and purposing never to gossip in our hearts or with other women.
Stop! You mean you can gossip in your own heart? Yes, you can! By thinking, meditating, and creating mock conversations about or with the one you are angry with.
And it breeds anger, criticism and bitterness.
Let us not be foolish women by tearing our houses down with criticism, bitterness, and gossip
Let us us be wise women by building our houses with praise, gratefulness, faith, and grace
2. A Worried Heart
As mothers and caretakers of our homes and families we often allow worry and anxiety to fill our hearts. We worry about how to care for our families when money is tight or sickness takes over.
We grow anxious over our children’s futures and our husband’s job security. Worry is a cancer that eats away at our heart and spirit. It guts out our homes and leaves them cold and empty.
However, a quiet spirit is a spirit at rest knowing that God always provides:
“I have been young, and now am old; Yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken, Nor his descendants begging bread.”
A quiet spirit knows that God loves and wants to care for our family even more than we do, and He will provide, even from unexpected or unknown sources.
It is a a faith-filled spirit that fills its home with rich promises of God’s Word and the warmth of His peace that blankets the home in the luxurious comfort of His presence.
Hebrews says that if we don’t have faith we cannot even please God.
If we want to please God then we have to have a secure, quiet, and steady faith in Him to provide and bring health to the ones we love.
We can build our homes with the building blocks of faith by memorizing verses about not worrying, reading books of great men and women of faith, and encouraging our children to join us in prayers for miraculous provision.
You can also keep a “Faith Chart”:
Draw a picture of a thermometer and color in each level as God answers prayer. Write the answered prayer beside each level.
This will give you a visual picture of how God provides and it will be a visual reminder to your children as well.
This is building your home with your own hands as a wise woman!
3. A Nagging Tongue
There is nothing worse than a nagging wife.
Even the Proverbs say that it is better to be dirt poor or to live in a corner attic than with a nagging wife who will not stop her endless prattle.
Here are a few pointers I have learned from my husband:
1. Lists and men do not go together. Do you want to frustrate your man? Give him a list with numbers 1-10. They do not bode well for his nerves.
2. Men don’t mind be reminded, but don’t remind him constantly and every day. Gentle but clear, occasional, and distinct reminders are helpful, but not when they are combined with complaints and sarcasm.
3. Men don’t mind being reminded as long as they feel gratefulness for all of the things they are already doing: like going to work everyday, helping out with the kids, or helping out around the house. Reminders combined with a grateful spirit will earn you kudos!
A wise woman can build her home by first building gratefulness in her own heart for what her husband already does and reminding herself that her husband needs Saturdays for downtime.
When it becomes a “honey-do” day he will quickly burn out. Give to your husband by first giving yourself a grateful heart.
And then wisely build your home with love and gratefulness – the other stuff will get done in its own time!
So this year let us purpose to be wise builders of our homes and marriages. It’s a life-time commitment.
We can start today by answering the following questions:
1. What you are thankful for in your family and marriage?
2. What you find unique and wonderful about your family and marriage?
3. What first attracted you to your husband?
4. What character qualities your children excel in?
5. What are those things your family and/or marriage can offer to your community and church family?<
6. What answered prayers or divine provision have you experienced recently?
I am starting today. Who will join me?
3. My Book Reviews
The Book That Took My Marriage from Good to Great
Silver Threads – a Look at the Older Women from Titus 2
When Marriage Isn’t What You Dreamed
4. My favorite books on marriage:
(You can also check these out in my online store)
Women Living Well: Find Your Joy in God, Your Man, Your Kids, and Your HomeMessy Beautiful Love: Hope and Redemption for Real-Life Marriages
Silver Threads: Weaving Godly Wisdom Into the Lives of Younger Women
The Unveiled Wife: Embracing Intimacy with God and Your Husband
Every Wife’s Choice: Loving Beyond the Mood of the Moment
Hope for the Hurting Wife: 30 Days of Practical Encouragement for Your Marriage
100 Prayers for Your Marriage: Draw Close to Each Other and Closer to God
Messy Beautiful Love: Hope and Redemption for Real-Life Marriages
The Good Wife’s Guide: Embracing Your Role as a Help Meet
The Power of a Praying® Wife
The 5 Love Languages: The Secret to Love that Lasts
The Act of Marriage: The Beauty of Sexual Love
5. More A Little R & R articles on marriage:
4 Powerful Ways to Invest Your Marriage
5 Ways to Revive Intimacy in Marriage
Wives Submit To Your Own Husbands
3 Ways to Tear Your House Down
Is Your Husband Your Spiritual Leader?
The Secret to Becoming a Proverbs 31 Woman
Supporting Your Husband in the Ministry
Preventative Maintenance In Your Marriage
Such important thoughts – this is being a Christian wife.
Rosilind,
From someone who has been married for 23 years (24 in April) — what you have posted is a great reminder to all who want to stay happily married. Thanks for sharing. God bless.
Good word, Roz! May the Lord help us to all be BUILDERS not BURNERS.
Fabulous post!! I couldn’t agree with you more! Thanks for encouraging us as women to build up our homes! I popped over for the first time from Raising Arrows — Glad I did! 🙂
Thanks for sharing your wisdom on this matter. Speaking from a husband’s perspective, practicing the points here does much to encourage a healthy and encouraging culture in the home.
On another note, I have also been thinking about the impact our words have, especially on children. As you pointed out, the way one uses their tongue has a big impact. Here are my thoughts…
http://www.fathervision.com/what-happens-when-we-complain-about-our-children/
There is so much wisdom and insight in this post! I’m grateful that my husband and I got a good and healthy start together, but I know I have to watch out for being too critical–that does neither one of us any good.
This is a well written post, Rosilind. Thanks so much for the encouragement to do right. Thanks too, for linking up with me.
Thank you, Karina!
Thank you, Renee. You definitely are an inspiration!! In this age of short-lived marriages, we newly weds love to see that it can work long term!!
Thank you, Linda!! I love that: builders not burners. Awesome!
Thank you so much for stopping by!
Thank you very much for your post that you shared and for stopping by. Yes, our words have a great impact on our children, don’t they?
Thank you, Rachel. Yes, a healthy start is so helpful!!
Thank you, Judith. I love linking up with you each week!!
Thank you for linking this up at our All Things Valentines Link Up! We’re excited to have you co-host the All Things Spring Link Up starting February 28th! 🙂 Hugs sis!
Thanks sis!! I can’t wait!!
This is such a great list, thank you!
I can so easily fall into having a critical spirit, all in the name of “instructing my family.” My word for 2019 has been “BUILDING” as a reminder to catch them doing things right and building them up through a word or a note. Your advice for a “grateful heart” has also been so helpful to shift my perspective.
I will certainly be pinning this to come back to so I can “check myself” every-so-often! THANK YOU!
Thank you so much for this article. I’m not married yet, and I am sometimes ashamed of having a reserved and meek attitude as a woman. This is because I grew up believing that the wife needed to speak her mind at all times, even if that meant having a critical spirit and always nagging the husband. My mother was overly critical of me growing up, and even now she tends to go off on my dad when she disagrees. My question, how can I address issues in marriage without resorting to these three methods of tearing a family down? Thanks.