When a Woman Inspires Her Husband

Cindi McMenamin

Description

Popular women's speaker Cindi McMenamin (author of When Women Walk Alone, more than 100,000 copies sold) shares candid and surprising insights on what can help draw a husband closer to his wife.This book is about how a woman can be the encourager, motivator, inspiration, and admiration behind her man becoming all God designed him to be.When a Woman Inspires Her Husband looks at how a woman can celebrate and encourage her husband's uniqueness. Cindi shares how a wife can embrace the man in her life byunderstanding his worldeasing his burdensappreciating his differencesadmiring him for who he isencouraging him to dream Every chapter includes contributions titled "From His Point of View," in which men share from their hearts what they want their wives to know. An uplifting and practical resource designed to strengthen marriage relationships!

Informations

• Publié par: Harvest House Publishers, Inc.
• Date de parution: 01 août 2011
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9780736942126
• Langue: English

Extrait

Cindi McMenamin

HARVEST HOUSE PUBLISHERS
EUGENE, OREGON
Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, New International Version NIV . Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Verses marked NASB are taken from the New American Standard Bible , 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. ( www.Lockman.org )
Verses marked MSG are taken from The Message. Copyright by Eugene H. Peterson 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002. Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group.
Verses marked NLT are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright 1996, 2004. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, IL 60189 USA. All rights reserved.
Verses marked CEV are taken from the Contemporary English Version 1991, 1992, 1995 by American Bible Society. Used with permission.
Cover by Left Coast Design, Portland, Oregon
Cover photo iStockphoto / LindaYolanda
WHEN A WOMAN INSPIRES HER HUSBAND
Copyright 2011 by Cindi McMenamin Published by Harvest House Publishers Eugene, Oregon 97402 www.harvesthousepublishers.com
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data McMenamin, Cindi, 1965- When a woman inspires her husband / Cindi McMenamin. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references. ISBN 978-0-7369-2948-6 (pbk.) ISBN 978-0-7369-4212-6 (eBook) 1. Wives-Religious life. 2. Husbands-Psychology. 3. Marriage-Religious aspects-Christianity. 4. Man-woman relationships-Religious aspects-Christianity. I. Title. BV4528.15.M46 2011 248.8 44-dc22
2011008668
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means-electronic, mechanical, digital, photocopy, recording, or any other-except for brief quotations in printed reviews, without the prior permission of the publisher.
Printed in the United States of America
11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 / VP-NI / 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
This book is for my husband, Hugh. You are the reason I ve been able to live my dreams. Now I want to spend the rest of our days helping you reach yours.
Contents
Embracing the Man in Your Life
1. Understanding His World
2. Becoming His Cheerleader
3. Easing His Burdens
4. Making His Home a Sanctuary
5. Giving Him Breathing Room
6. Encouraging Him to Dream
7. Enticing Him to Pursue
8. Letting Him Lead
9. Accepting Him Spiritually
10. Loving Him as God Does
A Parting Encouragement
Recommended Resources
Notes
Other Harvest House Books by Cindi McMenamin
An Invitation to Write
About the Author
Embracing the Man in Your Life
D o you have times when you feel as if you walk alone in your marriage? Are there some things you just don t understand about your man that might be driving a wedge between the two of you? Would you like to experience a closer connection, but find yourself uncertain about how you can achieve that?
Well, the good news is that you don t have to feel alone in your marriage anymore. You can be the woman who ministers to your husband in such a way that you draw his heart closer to yours in ways you never imagined you could.
After writing my book When Women Walk Alone (now ten years ago), and hearing from many wives who felt alone in their marriages, I started thinking about what we, as wives, could do so that we no longer felt isolated within our marriage relationships. How could we come alongside our husbands and inspire and encourage them and draw their hearts toward us to where they want to walk alongside us?
That s when I realized that to walk alone in marriage is somewhat of a choice. I must admit that for a number of years I expected my husband, Hugh, to understand me and therefore to be all I needed and wanted him to be. But in many ways I wasn t putting forth the effort to know a little more about his world so I could enter it.
As women, we can read all the books in the world about how to grow closer to God so we can survive a marriage. But what about making that marriage really great? What about investing our time in getting to know and serving our husbands simply because we want to love them unconditionally and bring joy into their lives? What about taking ourselves-and all we expect our husbands to be for us-out of the equation so God can work in their lives through us?
For years I asked God to change my husband so he can be all I want and need in a man. But eventually I learned that if someone or something I m asking God to change isn t changing, it s probably because God wants to change me. Upon realizing this, I began to spend time with God asking Him to change my heart, to help me seek Him for the immeasurably more that He has for me and my marriage. And as I did, He laid it on my heart to quit thinking about me and my needs- and the benefits of marriage for my life-and start discovering my husband s needs and the benefits of our marriage for him.
So I asked Hugh-my husband of 23 years- How can I be a woman who inspires you, who draws you closer, who makes you all you can be? (Prior to this conversation, my question was usually, What am I doing that seems to be pushing you away from me? But that was always too intimidating of a question. My husband didn t want a long, drawn-out conversation that would illicit my defense or tears. He liked the question that was aimed directly at what he needed, not indirectly at what I needed.)
The list he gave me eventually became the table of contents for this book. And after interviewing many more husbands, I realized my husband s list was not unique. He was speaking as a male; and many of the things he mentioned are inherently male. I also noticed that Hugh wasn t asking me to do really difficult stuff. In fact, some of it was even fun. And all of it was worthwhile.
When a husband is happy, his wife is happy. When he is treated like a king, respected as a man, admired like a hero, and inspired to be all he can be, his wife reaps the benefits. So you see, this book really is about you, in an indirect way. As you come alongside your husband and start living with him the way he wants you to, being for him all he needs you to be, you will end up one fulfilled woman!
Now, you might be thinking, Cindi, you don t know my husband. How can you say if I start serving him and pleasing him that eventually I ll be happier? And isn t that a little one-sided?
I ve learned that God is one-sided when it comes to marriage. He always wants to change the one asking Him for change. He always seems to want to work on the one asking Him to do the work. The starting point for real change in your marriage-real change in your husband-is you. Are you willing to trust God that as you please Him by serving your husband He will make it worth your while? Look at it this way: If you are laying down yourself so you can please someone else (God and your husband), God is not going to make you miserable in return. Trust Him. Trust the process. Get to know your man and love him more. And you ll be glad you did.
This book is about embracing the man in your life by understanding and appreciating him for who he is so that he can be all that he was designed to be for God first, and then for you.
But what if your husband isn t a believer and doesn t have a desire to live for God? Embrace him anyway. And as you do, you will be releasing his heart to discover who he is in God s eyes as he sees first who he is in yours.
Perhaps by this point you re thinking, Why am I reading another book about what a woman can do for a man? When is it gonna be the other way around? Why isn t my husband reading a book on how to better understand me and meet my needs ? Just in case you re beginning to wonder if the score is even, let me share with you what I believe is God s perspective on the issue.
In Genesis 2:18 we discover that we, as women, were created to be helpers to our husbands. The purpose of our existence is to come alongside our husband and be his partner, suitable for him in every way. That doesn t mean a woman can t know fulfillment in her life without a husband. But for the woman who is married, it does mean God s design for her life is to help him.
As you leave more of yourself behind and put more of your husband in front of you, you will find him becoming more of what you wanted in the first place. And you ll find there s more about him to love!
Gary Thomas, the author of Sacred Marriage and Sacred Influence, says, You can t make your husband serve you or care for you-but you can focus on helping him, and more times than not, that action alone will prompt him to serve and to care. Even if it doesn t, it will unleash a great spiritual adventure in your own life. 1
Are you ready for that great spiritual adventure? This book will help you see the unique heart of your man, how it differs from yours, and how you can use your strengths, softness, and God-given abilities to inspire your man to be all he was designed to be. This is a book on how to better understand your husband so you can help him reach the heights. It s a book on how to be the wind beneath his wings, the inspiration in his song, the light in his day, and the spring in his step. It s also a book on how to draw his heart closer to yours so you will no longer feel you are walking alone in your relationship with him. You ll be walking alongside your man-and loving it.
Now, I realize you may be reading this book because there are changes you d like to make in your husband. There may be certain adjustments in his attitude or work ethic or spiritual life that you d love to see. I want to encourage you to begin praying right now, God, please change me. And as God changes you, I trust your husband will change too. You are not the reason he is the way he is. But you have incredible power to encourage, inspire, and support him in a way no one