I found an elderly prayer warrior in church the other day. She told me, "You are obeying the Lord. He will bless you."
8, I can say is that God is pleased with you. He will bless you. Your kids have good heads on their shoulders and your church is a gift to them.
The only thing I think you might want to work on -- and it's something I need to work on too -- is the self-righteousness. We are being hurt badly and we tend to be good at the self-pity. "Look at me, I'm being hurt, yet I'm being faithful, etc." The flip side of it is self-righteousness. Our spouses can smell it a mile away. That smug, "If only YOU would snap out of it" posture. We all need the encouagment of this board and we all feel that our spouses are in a fog of sorts. BUT...I think it should also be clear to us that Jesus was not shocked at people's sins and could enter with compassion and forgiveness into any situation. The trick is how do we remain non-judgmental and compassionate when we feel that our spouses are hurting us, hurting our children, being selfish and, to use the old biblical language, "sinning against heaven and against us"? Good question. I'm working on it. It's real hard.
