The tub. Yes, the tub. That is where my husband gets all his revelations. If you read books about famous missionaries or other famous men and women that walked with God, they often talk about how they would wake up in the morning and see their Mom or Dad on their knees praying. Our kids will remember that their Dad spent time with God, but he was in water. I don't know what it is, but when he is in there I think he's just relaxing his achey muscles, but he's in fact receiving life-changing messages for our family.
He'll often walk out of the bathroom and say, "I know what I have to do now" or "We have to have a talk, I've got a plan" or "We're going to have a family meeting, I have an idea". These last few weeks alone, situations have come up where we've needed extra wisdom. In one case my husband realized that his teaching in the new year was coming to a close, so a while ago he came out of his tub time and said, "I'm going to create an online course for electronics". And that's what he did, because the idea came to him - in the tub. Over the past couple of weeks he's been getting a good number of new students that will all take his course starting in January. I've learned to not question him and instead help him realize the thoughts and plans that come to him.
Another time just a couple of weeks ago, a situation arose with one of our children that was causing some friction between siblings. I wasn't ignoring it, I just didn't quite know what to do, so I prayed. I'm 100% convinced there is a connection between how I pray for him and how God then reveals a plan to RM. And that's what happened. As I prayed for RM, God laid out the exact plan that we were to do. He called a meeting between the children involved and he explained to them, through the Scriptures that God had showed him, exactly how they were to handle the situation and one another. At the end of the short meeting, each child felt so happy, so relieved that their Dad had told them what to do! They felt so relieved that each one of their feelings had been acknowledged and that they hadn't been left on their own to handle the situation. I felt happy that he was leading our family as I didn't know what to do and we all walked away breathing a sigh of relief.
Just this past weekend, he came out of the tub again and announced, "Family Meeting!" Once again, an idea had come to him to solidify our family. As our older children are entering into relationships and as they are spending more and more time with their significant others or even just with friends, we've noticed that it is harder and harder to connect as a whole family. We recognize that this is normal, however, we also want to make sure that we never forget that we are a family and that no matter what, no matter who gets married and leaves home, we will always be a family. So in order to ensure that there is unity and that we are intentional about regular time together and regular conversations, he sat all of us down and in a kind and gentle way explained this to the kids and asked them to consider giving us one weekend a month. On the Saturday we will work together on a family farm project - the kids' girlfriends or boyfriends can come on that day to help out, too - then on the Sunday it will be a day of rest and fellowship, but all together, capped off with a great meal that we all help make. During that time we will intentionally talk, intentionally pray, intentionally have fun. Everyone was on board and excited about the idea. However, it will require kids taking time off work which we know is a sacrifice, but RM is wanting them to realize this is too important a weekend to miss and is asking them to take it off anyway. Once again I marveled at his leadership, at his strength, at how God gave him such a clear plan. I was so happy to see him step in like that yet again. I think it made the kids feel special and they were all excited as they miss seeing their older siblings who are often gone. They love the new people entering into our family, but they are a little jealous of how they take their siblings away so much.
These are just a few examples....RM has very specific plans for each child. He gets very clear ideas for many situations that I don't know what to do about. When this happens, I simply pray and ask God to show him and without a doubt, a plan comes to him. In this way, I feel like I can rest. I don't have to stress. God is answering my prayer by talking to RM. This allows RM to lead our family in a way that fuels the respect the kids have for him. It also fuels the respect and love that I have for him. It gives him a sense of purpose. I think it makes him feel significant and respected which I believe all men need and it allows me to rest in his leadership knowing I don't have to solve the world's problems. My shoulders are smaller for a reason. His shoulders can handle the load more and they're supposed to. Knowing this is how God intended the roles in a family to work and watching it be lived out is amazing. Why anyone would go against God's plan for the family boggles my mind. It's just asking for strife. Have all my problems disappeared? No, but I know if I just suggest my husband take a tub, we'll be good.
