When my husband and I first got married over 16 years ago, I didn't know the first thing about respecting him. My father died when I was sixteen, so my latter years at home didn't have a marriage relationship modeled for me during some of my most precious, impressionable years. I became a very independent young woman after my father died, doing a lot of the household chores for my mom as she dealt with her grief, watching my younger brothers, making dinner, and even caring for my mom to a certain extent. As a result, I began gathering a lot of bitterness inside, because I was taking on too much responsibility that wasn't intended for a teenager and I was dealing with my own grief, too. Fast forward 10 years. I married my college sweetheart and struggled with honoring him as God wanted me to and trusting him. I didn't want to have my heart broken again, so I put up a strong barrier to prevent any further hurt. As a result, I disrespected my husband for a number of years (and still sometimes do...I am not perfect) and brought more grief on myself. As I've gotten wiser, I've learned that we need to give out what we want to receive. Since I want my husband to love me like I need him to, I've got to provide the respect he needs. It works wonders. The Bible tells us women to respect our husbands. We are commanded to do that. Because God is God and we're not, we must stop resisting and JUST DO IT (as Nike says)...just respect our hubbies even when we don't feel like it. He may not deserve our respect, but we may not deserve his love either. Over time, we'll get the blesssing of our husband's love because God will honor our following His command and trusting Him. So yes, ladies, WE CAN RESPECT OUR HUSBANDS IF WE TRY...and when I say try, I mean pray to God to give us the strength to do it. We can do all things, through Christ who strengthens us...especially something that is in His will. He will help us to do it (Phillipians 4:13). Try it and let me know how your husband responded. We need to support each other with this issue!
Practical Tips for Respecting Your Hubby:
*Tell him you respect him and give an example or two of it
*Keep your mouth shut when you don't want to.
*Ask him for his opinion on something and leave it at that. Don't ask him why he said what he did.
*Go with his decision on a matter and don't question him or hold a grudge. Let it go...pray to God for help.