Once, while giving her testimony, a friend of mine thanked God for her “godly husband.”
Those of you who knew her husband had to put our hands over our mouths to keep from laughing out loud.
I put my head in my hands, knowing that if I saw any of my friends looking at me, I would've burst out laughing
Now, don’t get me wrong. My friend’s husband is a great guy. In fact, he’s one of my best friends. But godly? That’s not a word I would've chosen for him.
After the service, several of us good-naturedly confronted our friend.
“We’ll let you get away with a lot,” we told her. “But we’re not going to let you get away with that. We know your husband, and there’s no way you can call him ‘godly.’”
We were all laughing—including her. Then she got quiet.
Slowly she began her answer, “You guys don’t understand. When I started going through my treatment [she was undergoing chemo at the time], I couldn't sleep. One night, when I was unusually restless, he got up and came around to my side of the bed and he prayed over me. I went to sleep, and every night since, I've gone to sleep listening to my husband pray for me.”
We were all stunned. None of us said anything else. We just walked away quietly.
But I've never forgotten that conversation.
What difference would it make if our wives went to sleep listening to us pray for them?
What if husbands went to work after hearing their wives pray for them?
What if children heard their parents call their names in prayer?
The old saying goes, “The family that prays together stays together.” It’s true, you know. Why? Because you can’t pray long for someone without coming to love them too.
