God's Path Is Straighter

If you remove the yoke from your midst,
The pointing of the finger and speaking wickedness,
 And if you give yourself to the hungry
And satisfy the desire of the afflicted,
Then your light will rise in darkness
And your gloom will become like midday.  Isaiah 58:9-10

I married young.  People thought we would never make it.  I was asked if I was sure.  I was told that if there was a problem I was welcome back home.  My dad feared because when he looked at me he saw a small, frail individual.  Now I am actually of normal, fairly average height and weight.  I admit that I am small framed, but I am healthy - now. 
As a child I was sick quite often; once a month to be exact.  I had what they then termed  chronic strep.  At that time I was small - too small.  At one point I was five foot three and only about seventy pounds.  That's what not being able to keep your food in your stomach a week out of every month will do to you.  After having my tonsils out for the first time at twelve, I became pretty healthy.  I gained weight, and though still a bit underweight, it was only by a small amount; about five pounds.  However, Daddy remembered me when I was weak and pretty frail, so I understand why he thought as he did.  What he did not know was I had been praying for nine years for God to show me who He would have me marry.
The first time I met my husband was at a high school football game.  Their team was the visitors.  He had brought a small pep band of his own making with him.  I think he must have hand picked the loudest players int he entire band.  The announcers actually had to ask them to quit playing so the plays on the field could be heard.  That's loud!  Anyway, a friend of mine introduced us.  The two of them were in an extended college class together and she thought we should meet.  He flirted, I ignored.  I had recently been told that I was getting too serious by a guy I had been dating, so I had told him basically, "so long" and was angry at guys in general. 

The next day my friend brought a note from my now husband asking me out.  I sat there at lunch pondering the note.  The thought went through my head, "What if he were the one you are to marry?"  I argued and said, "That's ridiculous.  That only happens in fairy tales that people meet and immediately know they are to marry."  The voice persisted, "But what if he is the one I want you to marry?"  This stopped me short.  I had been praying for God to show me hadn't I?  So I had no choice but to answer, "Then I will marry him."  Long story short - almost thirty eight years later we have been married thirty six and are happier each day that passes.

Today's study was on praying for our child's choice of a mate.  My parents prayed for us regarding this all the time.  My mom was the one to encourage me to start praying myself at the ripe old age of nine.  Being human, it was a difficult pill for them to swallow that I may truly have heard from God and was doing the right thing.  When asked for my hand in marriage, my daddy turned to me and asked, "Have you really prayed about this?"  I assured him I had and knew the answer for a certainty.  He then said, "Then who am I to say no?  You have my blessing." a few years later he admitted to me that he never worried about me anymore.  He had been watching and recognized the love that was being poured out on me and was extremely glad I had listened to my heavenly Father over his warnings.

This is not so true of other young people when they marry.  Parents refuse to accept their spouses into the family.  They back bite about them to others and even to their child.  What they do not realize is that they are not only making their own lives miserable by dwelling on all the negative, but they are humiliating their child.  What they say cries out that their child doesn't know how to make good choices for themselves.  It also tells them that their love for their spouse doesn't matter as much as what their parents want for them. 

Father, may we as parents learn to break the yoke of condemnation we tend to place on our children and their spouses or future spouses necks and set them free to be the people You have designed them to be.  May we refuse to point fingers and speak wickedness regarding those our children love and instead feed them on the meat of Your word and anoint their wounds with the oil of Your Holy Spirit so that the light of Your Spirit might shine through us onto them to help guide them in the directions they should take, whether they are the directions we would have taken for them ourselves or not.  Help us place Your desires before our own where our children are concerned so that the gloom of worry we may currently be feeling is lifted and the light You have placed within us shines like the noon day sun.