A Lesson in Submission

Last night my husband and I went out to eat for our date night. This is something we try to do if not weekly, at least every couple of weeks. It's always an enjoyable time, and it gives us a chance to discuss certain things without our daughters listening in. Because we were going to Target, he suggested we go to the place we normally go, but to a closer one. I like the tea better at the other one so we went there. Afterwards, we drove to Target to buy a roaster for Thanksgiving that they had on sale. I was afraid they wouldn't have one, and we didn't see them at first. My husband went to their customer service counter, talked with someone and I was going to call them today after their trucks came. While he was doing that, I stayed behind to look at tea pots, and things like that. On our way out of that section to head home, his eyes fell upon not only one roaster, but four of them. I was so thankful he saw that.

Before we had gone to Target, we stopped at the grocery store. We were in need of batteries for our card shuffler. I saw some batteries, and he said we should get them at the dollar store because they were cheaper there. We walked out of the grocery store with the batteries.

We have had a headlight out on our van that I had forgotten about. On our way home, as we approached the light where we turn left, I saw on the other side of the road a police car suddenly turn on their blue light. That was the third blue light we saw last night, two others had gotten stopped, and looked like they were in the process of being given a ticket. We talked about how the police officer had ruined both of their nights. So, when I saw the blue light go on, my first thought was how he was going to ruin that person's night. Much to my horror, he did a u-turn. Even then it didn't occur to me that he could be after us because I knew my husband wasn't speeding. As we turned left, suddenly it dawned on me that we had a headlight out, and he might be after us. I hesitantly asked him if the police car was behind us, and he said yes. I couldn't see the blue light on, so I asked him if he saw one, he didn't see one either. We drove a little further, and he still hadn't stopped us. At first, I thought it was because it's a small two lane back road, and there was nowhere really to stop. As you drive further on though, there are new subdivisions being built, so I thought for sure he would stop us there, but he still wasn't. As I stated in my other post, my husband is easy going, and nothing worries him. I, on the other hand, am the opposite of him. I was sitting there with my stomach in knots, wondering how much a ticket was for a headlight that was out, and was thinking that it was the worst possible time to get a ticket. He told me not to worry because if he hadn't stopped us by then, he probably wasn't going to. He added that they usually give warnings the first time. I still sat there with my stomach in knots, until he made another turn a couple of miles later.

After he turned it hit me, and with a sinking feeling I remembered that he wanted to buy a headlight about a month ago when we were at Wal-Mart. Finances were a bit tight then, so I said we needed to wait until we saw how much we had left. We left there without the headlight. With more of a sinking feeling, I remembered the batteries (and that they had them at Target for dollar too I pointed out to him when we got there), and then his suggestion earlier of going to the other place near Target. I was kicking myself inside knowing that I had done it AGAIN. Not only ONCE, but THREE TIMES last night. The Lord used that police car to show me my sin of not submitting to my husband, not yielding to him. I sat there wondering if I was ever going to get it. My disobedience to my husband could have cost us a ticket. I was so ashamed of myself, and have determined in my heart, with the Lord's help, not to do that again. Obeying God, by submitting and yielding to my husband, is much more preferable to me than having my own way, and then feeling ashamed when I sin that way again.