Did you know that the Bible commands the husband to love his wife (Eph 5:25)? Most women not only know this verse but have it memorized, analyzed and tattooed on their body. However, women did you know it also commands the wife to respect her husband EVEN if he does not deserve it? We are to give them unconditional respect just as they are to show us unconditional love. I Peter 3:1-2 says: "In like manner you married women, be submissive to your own husbands - subordinate yourselves as being secondary to and dependent on them, and adapt yourselves to them. So that even if any do not obey the Word of God, they may be won over not by discussion but by godly lives of their wives, when they observe the pure and modest way in which you conduct yourselves, together with your reverence for your husband. That is, you are to feel for him all that reverence includes - to respect, defer to, revere him,: revere means to honor, esteem appreciate, prize and in the human sense adore him; and adore means to admire, praise, be devoted to, deeply love and enjoy your husband." This is from the Amplified Bible. Did you know that you are to ADAPT yourself to him, not nag, complain, beg or whine? You are to be dependent on them and defer to him. When was the last time you checked with your husband if it was okay for you to go here or there? Or are you in the habit of just telling him what you are going to do and not caring if it fits into his plans or not? Am I stepping on some toes?

You might be saying, "I thought she was talking about respect?". Well I am. Isn't it showing respect to your husband as the head of your home to ask before making plans? Did you know that when asked if their wives loved them over 90% answered yes but when asked if their wives respected them it goes down to only 50 % or less?

It is so hard to fit all of this book (and we are only on chapter 11) into this space. Some of you know my testimony and to keep this as brief as possible let me say that at 10 years of marriage due to some things that had happened, I had lost all respect for my husband. When you do not show your husband respect, he will not show you love. It is true and it makes for an isolated, lonely, frustrating marriage. When I asked to be forgiven of my sins and invited Jesus to come into my heart, the people who led me to the Lord, told me that I needed to go home and ask my husband to forgive me for not respecting him, not treating him as he was which is the head of our home (ladies, like it or not this is what the Word of God calls them and the standard to which God holds them). I did exactly what they told me to do. Upon arriving home from church, I got on my knees before my husband who was sitting very hung over and drinking a beer in his recliner. I ask him to please forgive me for trying to be the head of our home, a position that was his and to forgive me for disrespecting him. He later told me that what I did was just like a gut punch to him. He did forgive me. I started daily to show him respect and the love returned to me from him. This all happened on 2-24-80. John asked Jesus to forgive him and come into his heart on April 15th of that same year.

It was not until I did what a wife is supposed to do, RESPECT her husband, that mine could or would change. Our husbands work in a world that does not give them much respect. They may be from families that did not show them respect. This need for respect is built into them. God in His Word tells us that we are to give this respect to them. If your children see you respecting your husband, they will respect their father and will look for people in their lives who respect them. The reverse is also true.* We are not called to change everything or everyone. We are only called to be obedient, and God will handle it from there. (*direct quote from page 90)

Now comes your part. There is an assignment for this month. If you are  currently married, for Father's Day your assignment is for you to write you husband a note telling him that you do respect him and why. Don't let that blank piece of paper intimidate you. Does he keep the yard mowed? Does he help in anyway around the house? Does he go to a job or head to a field everyday to put a shelter over your head and food on your table? If you have trouble finding something you respect him for, then you probably are not currently showing him respect. Ask God to help you find one or two things and write them in the note. If you were to go to the store and look at the cards for Father's Day they almost all would deal with what we need, love. Your husband needs respect

If you are in WAG, Part Two of the assignment is to make a copy and share it with the members of WAG at the next meeting. If you can not come to the meeting you are expected to get a copy of it to your leader. This is not optional. The "A" in WAG is for accountability and you are being held to it on this one.

When you tell your husband how much your respect him, it blesses him and you both!