Welcome to Week 2 of the #30DayHusbandFast (which for all intents and purposes I'm shortening the hashtag for #30DHFast) but anyhoo back to the topic at hand, how was Week 1 for you? Go on be honest
...tough? Challenging? Fun?...Well I'm personally praying that it's been helpful, deep, challenging but uplifting! All the goodies you ned for Week 2!
As always, major disclaimer (lol) The weekly themes, daily prayer guidelines, suggested devotionals and readings are ultimately there to inspire direction, but please feel free to switch it up if the Lord is really speaking to you about an area. So, if you wanted to continue deep-diving into some of the topics from the first week - be my guest. It's important that during this fast you are connecting with God even deeper, so you can really commit this desire of a Husband to him, in a way that will be fruitful for your growth
But if you're down for another round, it's Week Two and I hope your as excited as I am to start this new week.
Week Two – Purpose
One of my favourite things to talk about, ever/always is Purpose.
Yes really! Although at this point in time (as I write this) I'm trying to discern and understand what God is calling me to do (in line with my purpose), it doesn't deter my absolute passion for this subject.
Purpose is one of the most overrated and underrated subjects within Christianity because, it can go down so many tangents making it both underwhelming and overwhelming to think about.
But, I genuinely believe that understanding your ‘purpose’ is one of the key cornerstones in finding a Husband.
Yes you read correct!
Work out your purpose - get the Husband.
(Trust me it'll make sense below ;-))
(Now disclaimer if you want a mini-deep-ish dive into all things Purpose i.e. what it means, how to discover yours etc, take a look at my blog post here which should start you off. Then jump back here to continue where you left off...(if you do want an even further actual deep dive, feel free to reach out to me at chatswithlou@hotmail.com and I can send you a lil e-book I wrote all about this).
You may be asking yourself Where is he? Where is that Husband you so deeply desire. Why can't I find him Lord? / Why doesn't he pop up out of thin air and show on my doorstep? (Funnily enough I do have a story about that, which one day I hope to share). Well I pose to you, you may not have found your Husband yet because you lack/don't have direction. Now when it comes to direction, your seeking God's direction - (of course, ding ding correct answer,) but how does this direction manifest? Through your purpose.
Your purpose, calling and assignment I believe, is a key indicator in where your Husband is. Now I don’t mean exact GPS location (although, hey he could be on team at Church lol), but I mean more so your understanding of what God has purposed you for, will help you in the journey of finding your Husband. This is because your purpose becomes a measuring tool/guide to weed certain men out and cultivate a soil to plant your Husband in.
For example, if you have a purpose regarding social transformation and have started taking action with that, by regularly feeding the homeless at a night shelter and being on team there, think how would this impact a relationship/marriage? What kind of Husband would you need? You would need a Husband whose understanding of your working schedule, perhaps they may have a working schedule/lifestyle/job that complements this or balances this out. A Husband whose active/serving within the Church or a team elsewhere regularly, so they have a commitment that requires...regular "out of hours" commitment. A Husband who has a passion/hobby/purpose/calling/assignment that complements your purpose. It may not be exactly the same as yours, but there is a shared mission and values around what you are both doing, knowing that's it's leading to a "good and perfect end" i.e. you are doing x and I am doing y knowing that it’s leading to z.
Work out your purpose - be better directed in finding your Husband!
Me personally, my purpose is in a leading and teaching capacity. I have skills when it comes to teaching/helping people better apply the Bible to their lives. That’s something I do as a Sunday School Teacher, Connect Group Leader (at 2 different Churches) and qualities that are even impacting my approach/strengths in my professional life. Therefore, when it comes to an understanding of who my future Husband would be, someone who isn't active within the Church wouldn't cut it, someone who isn't serving on a team wouldn't cut it, someone who just turns up for a service on a Sunday and then leaves once the service finishes wouldn't cut it for me. Someone who is in a leadership role at Church or pursuing that would. We would balance eachother out, have an understanding of our commitments and work to support each other in how we are serving the kingdom. And, yes if you're wondering the above is literally what God has revealed to me.
Work out your purpose - get the Husband.
In essence purpose is a deep topic, and during this time as much as you may be praying for your future Husband I encourage you to pray for yourself, as a future wife, on this topic so that you lead an amazingly, beautiful, purposefully fulfilled life.
The daily guidelines below aren’t exhaustive, but just a general guideline on topics that are to do with purpose. But by all means, take out, add in, swap around what you feel like when it comes to this topic. You may want to spend more than 1 day on a subject – go right ahead. The reality is, purpose shapes our life, so please feel free to focus on that as much as you wish.
Suggested Youversion Bible Plans / Bible Chapters
Living Changed: Purpose - 5 Day devotional that helps you tackle the questions around purpose to better trust God to lead you in discovering what that is.
The Call of God – 3 Day devotional that explores how to listen to God’s voice and work out the call He has for your life
Clear Vision New Hope Devotional - 3 Day devotional
Purpose Passion and Potential – 3 Day devotional exploring how our relationship with Jesus feeds into our purpose, passion and potential and provides practical suggestions to better explore these/live these out.
#MADEFOR: Discovering The Purpose Planted Inside of You – 5 Day devotional which helps you, yes discover your God given purpose.
In Addition to the Devotionals or alternatively if you'd rather not do the devotionals here are some Suggested Bible Chapters/Verses to read over the 7 Days
Proverbs 16: 1-4, 9
Psalm 32: 8-11
Psalm 37
Isaiah 43: 1-7
1st Corinthians 12
Ephesians 5
Check out Day Eight here!
If for any reason you are jumping into this fast - well, hello there - great to have you on board, I strongly suggest checking out the #30DayHusbandFast intro blog here and also the FAQ's which breaks down certain aspects, questions of the Fast which will help making this post easier to digest. It's best to start this fast from Week 1 as well, so to ease you into the fast.
