I was getting my travel self ready for a flight across the ocean a handful of weeks ago, preparing to teach at a conference. As is usually the case when anticipating an event like that, the week prior had it’s share of difficult moments.
Josh and I weren’t fighting per se, but we weren’t connecting either, know what I mean? Like we were speaking two different languages? I knew some of it had to do with the fact that I was preparing heavily for the conference. Some of it had to do with the fact that it’s sometimes just part of marriage. As I was thinking about how I wasn’t looking forward to leaving things like that, I had an idea for a secret project. One that he ended up loving, and one that I need to implement as a daily project. And not just a one-time-gift while I’m gone.
There is so much power in praying for your husband. But when they know that you’re praying, and what you are praying for specifically? There’s even more power in that! I went to the store and bought a set of blank thank you notes. And then I wrote Josh 14 notes – one for each day that I would be gone. On each card, I began with thanking God for something about him (the way his skin smells, the way he makes me laugh, his integrity, etc), and spent the rest of the note praying over that particular attribute (protecting his body from illness, that he would continue to make me laugh even when we fight, etc).
If you’re single, you can do the same thing – but write prayers for your future husband that you can give to him someday. I actually did that and had an entire stack of letters that I gave to Josh when we got engaged. They’re now tucked safely into the back of a scrapbook telling the story of our dating, engagement, and wedding.
It’s the first of my unofficial and practical traveling-without-my-favor