HOW TO SURVIVE A CRASH LANDING - PART ONE

A few years ago, I was on a commercial airliner waiting for take off.  As the plane was gaining speed to take off and  just as it was leaving the ground there was a huge "BOOM".... it sounded like an explosion.  We leveled off and kept flying.  About 15 minutes later,  the pilot announced that the tires on the landing gear of the plane had exploded.. and we were returning to the airport. We had to keep flying for 45 minutes to burn off some fuel. It was tense on that plane... let me tell you.  We were instructed about the possible bad ending to a flight with no tires on the landing gear.  We heard instructions for a chute evacuation, fire in the cabin, etc.  As we approached the airport, the runway was lined with the flashing lights of waiting ambulances, firetrucks and people dressed in foil-looking coveralls.  As the moment came when we were about to hit the runway....... ALL THE FLIGHT ATTENDANTS WERE SHOUTING IN UNISON

 " Keep your head down and your hands around your ankles." 
 " Keep your head down and your hands around your ankles."
 " Keep your head down and your hands around your ankles."

Simple words. Spoken loudly. Repeated over and over to help us survive a crash landing. We walked off the plane unharmed.  But I learned something about crash landings that day.   I felt the helpless feeling of being trapped in something that had the potential to destroy me and I was powerless to save myself.  

In my last blog, "Crash Landing Husbands" I discussed a verse in 1 Peter 3:7 which says, in essence, that the way a husband treats his wife could have a bearing on the way God treats the man's prayers.  And while it's true that 

• some wives are not willing to be led 
• and some pastors don't teach about this - and - 
• some pastors DO teach but men won't listen..........

I was and am -  writing to that wife who is doing her best to obey God's Word to wives... and she is living with a man who doesn't care one bit about obeying God's Word to husbands. She feels panic, she feels fear, she feels abandoned, she feels forgotten.  She sees the crash landing of her marriage and family coming and she feels powerless to save herself.    If I were the flight attendant on the crash landing that is her marriage I would shout over and over again:

"Keep your head up and your hands around your Bible." 
"Keep your head up and your hands around your Bible."  
"Keep your head up and your hands around your Bible." 

Simple words. The way to survive a crash landing. Not only in your marriage but in life.  I am not an unintelligent person trying to give trite answers to huge problems.  Just because the problem is complicated doesn't mean the answer has to be.

Keep your head up.  Look to God, remembering that HE CARES about what's going on around you. This requires a change in your focus. This requires NOT looking at what your husband is or is not doing.  This requires NOT looking to someone else to come in and give your home a quick fix.  This requires NOT looking at people around you who seem to have perfect lives.  It means... LOOK TO GOD.  I don't mean staring at the sky.  I mean, in your heart, with your will, determine that GOD ALONE is your help.  Because, dear sweet woman, HE IS.

Keep your hands around your Bible.  I am not a fan of people who read the Bible every day because they think they are SUPPOSED to.  Before your read, ask the HOLY SPIRIT to make the words come alive.. and you will see that the Bible will become like a telegram from God. I don't know how He does it, but God will give you His Word... so personally... that you will believe He wrote the Whole Book just for you.  Try it.

On the day I was on a plane with the potential to crash land - there were emergency personnel waiting to help us deal with the repercussions of a crash landing.  In the same way,  today's blog is NOT saying... "You're on your own, honey! Just pray.. just read the Bible. "  No..God understands that a crash landing often has severe consequences.  He sends the emergency personnel to help you.  This is just the FIRST STEP.  O.K.? O.K.

In the next blog... (because this one has the potential to turn in to a Book) I am going to discuss the season in her life when Mrs. Older actually argued with God - (and in His mercy He allowed me to live to tell) about the following verse:

"In the same way, you wives, be submissive to your own husbands so that even if any of them are disobedient to the Word, they may be won without a word by the behavior of their wives,when they see the purity and reverence of your lives."

Yes.. that verse gave me SPIRITUAL HIVES. Yes.. I felt that God was UNFAIR. Yes. I did.  I'm not proud to remember prayers like -
"Uhhhh.. excuse me Lord... but that verse is saying that I HAVE TO OBEY EVEN WHEN HE DOES NOT???? AND THAT I HAVE TO OBEY IN SILENCE??? THAT'S NOT FAIR... NOT FAIR... NOT FAIR...  Have You noticed how UNFAIR YOU ARE BEING???? LORD?????" 
(Obviously I had also not made the connection between calling Him, "Lord" and actually allowing Him to be "Lord" of my life...but that's another blog on another day.)

So if you want to read about how IMMATURE Mrs. Older can be....keep watching for - "How To Survive A Crash Landing - PART TWO"

For today.. Will you try.. today... just try... to look UP to your Father in Heaven? To take some time to simply pour your heart out to Him?  

To consider considering that He is closer than you think... more involved than you might believe?

I have discovered that

WHEN I SPEAK TO GOD ABOUT MY HUSBAND
GOD SPEAKS TO MY HUSBAND ABOUT ME

Before I close... I want to say thank you to the wonderful women who write these blogs

The Warrior Wives
and
To Love Honor and Vacuum

for discussing this blog on their blogs. 
You may want to check out their blogs as well.

Also..

Mrs. Older is on twitter

A Word To The Wives On Twitter 

Please sign up to follow me on twitter?  I'm not too proud to beg.
I believe the whole idea to being on twitter is to have followers and to follow others..

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XOXO,
Mrs. Older