Don’t Attribute Wrong Motives to Your Husband

wrong-motives-to-your-husband

Don’t attribute wrong motives to your husband. In the same way that you are a new creation at salvation, your husband is also a new creation. Deep down he desires to please God. Even if he is trapped in his flesh and sins out of habit–usually through some form of selfishness–so do you. None of us who are true believers wants to do the wrong thing. Our conscience makes us feel bad, and we ask God to help us overcome sin.

I used to attribute wrong motives to my husband without even realizing it. My husband would make a statement, and I would twist his statement to make him seem like he was attacking me when he wasn’t. “Susan , you’re just hurting yourself by making up something that I didn’t say,” he told me one day. I stopped in my tracks and realized that he was right. He had made a statement that was not positive or negative, and I had extrapolated a negative motivation behind it. And there he was, refusing to defend himself because I was the one causing the problem.

“I don’t know how to stop doing it,” I said to my husband, referring to the fact that I would subconsciously attribute the worst motive to him instead of giving him the benefit of the doubt and expecting that we were on the same side. “What should I do? My brain automatically makes you out to be the bad guy, and I don’t want to do that any more. Help me figure out what to do.”

We sat down, and he prayed with me. We asked God to break this pattern of negative interaction. Do you know what? From that day forward, I stopped doing it!

Most areas of sin in my life take years for me to overcome, but this one was resolved in an instant. I’m not sure if God just fixed the negative pattern in my brain through a miracle, or if realizing that I was twisting my husband’s words and hurting my marriage caused me to be aware of what I was doing. In any case, I praise God that this destructive pattern is gone from my marriage!

I talk about this a lot more in my free audio about how powerful praying with your spouse can be: How to Get Your Husband to Pray with You

JOIN OUR NEWSLETTER
I agree to have my personal information transfered to MailChimp (more information)
Join our occasional newsletter for new articles, videos, encouragement, a Bible crafts e-book, & more!
We hate spam. Your email address will not be shared with anyone else.

Tags: , ,

6 Responses to “Don’t Attribute Wrong Motives to Your Husband”

  1. I have a history of doing that too! I will have to ask my husband to pray with me over that issue. Thank you for sharing your story and being vulnerable!

  2. Esther Irish says:

    I am guilty of this! Instead of accusing him of the wrong motive, I try to ask, “This is how that sounded to me. Is that what you meant and why you said it?”

  3. Shecki says:

    I’m guilty of that one, too. 🙁

Leave a Reply for Shecki