You get me.
I think all of us long to have people in our lives who deserve to hear three little words: You get me.
You husbands in the same way,
live with your wives in an understanding way,
1 Peter 3:7
I hope I don’t sound selfish — and I certainly hope I’m not being selfish — when I say that this verse means a great deal to me. I am like Anne of Green Gables. I deeply need a “bosom friend,” several actually. To me a bosom friend is someone who understands — not someone who mouths the easy words, “I understand,” but someone:
- Who has a heart that wants to understand and
- Who loves enough to try to understand and
- Who loves enough to communicate understanding in a way that I can understand.
I love that God loves me enough to tell Peter to tell Christian husbands to live with their wives in an understanding way. It is a hard command for a husband, but he will be a treasured gift to his wife if he will try year after year to learn how to obey it.
Many of you readers are years younger than I am, so I write this paragraph with a bit of trepidation. I mean it to encourage you and not to discourage you. After being married forty-four years, I am enjoying the treasured gift of an understanding husband. I am sure that many of you have husbands who have a long way to go before they will be as understanding as you want and need. Cling to God and cling to your husband and pray and pray. Gently encourage your husband’s efforts to do the same. Remember that God doesn’t change all of us at the same rate.
Three years ago I wrote a post about children growing at different rates and used pink roses as an example. The same principle is true for us wives and husbands and mamas and daddies. Are any of these yellow roses at the wrong stage? Or are they at exactly the right stage where they should be right now?
Meanwhile, I encourage you to work on becoming the kind of understanding person that you long to have for yourself. Many people in your life need that from you, especially your husband and children, but also your parents, your siblings, your friends, your brothers and sisters in Christ, and the other people God places in your life.
Those of you who have read these posts for a very long time know that I feel sheepish about talking about our curriculum. My number one purpose in Daily Encouragement is to encourage you — each one of you who reads these posts whether occasionally or every day. I am passionate about doing that.
However, I am also passionate about our curriculum. I pour my heart into curriculum that I believe will bless families. This week I read one of the best reviews I have ever read about our materials. It is obvious that this mama “gets” our curriculum. She had the reaction we hope for. She understands it in just the way we intend.
I decided to share it with you. God has blessed our company beyond what we could ask or imagine. We are grateful. I am not asking you to buy our curriculum by sharing this with you. I want you to receive the blessing this mama received if our curriculum can make your life easier. She wrote:
“I don’t really like writing reviews but I do have to say that after using Notgrass, our homeschool has changed for the better. For years we used what was considered a top of the line homeschool curriculum with a price tag that broke us every time. My children hated it.
I finally shopped around and found Notgrass. We gave it a try and to my delight, it truly is homeschool curriculum. Notgrass isn’t repackaged private school curriculum made for a classroom and paid teacher. My life as a mom and homeschool teacher is so much easier!
No huge overpriced “teacher’s” book that I’m supposed to use (that I never used anyway).
No headaches searching for the paperwork my children are supposed to fill out.
Everything is contained within the student book and easy to manage workbooks. THANK YOU Notgrass!
Best of all, my kids LOVE it! They find the books to be very interesting and don’t groan when they do their history.
I also very much appreciate the vocabulary words. It helps them see the new words in use as opposed to words that are static (sorry can’t really explain my thoughts on this well).
Notgrass is made for the homeschool family and I appreciate it so much.”
I think a good definition of loneliness is having no one who gets you. Let’s rise up and be women who get each other, who get our husbands and children, and who get all those other needy people in our lives. God loved us so much that he sent Jesus to earth to let us know that He gets us.
For we do not have a high priest
who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses,
but One who has been tempted in all things as we are,
yet without sin.
Therefore let us draw near with confidence
to the throne of grace,
so that we may receive mercy
and find grace to help in time of need.
Hebrews 4:15-16