I just want to say that if you aren’t letting your husband make decisions in your home, then you’re totally missing out. Completely.

There’s a certain joy and freedom in letting go and letting the man make the decisions. Even if you think he doesn’t care about the outcome itself, if you are wrestling with a decision, I beg you, please let your husband in on your secret struggles and let him decipher the problem.

The outcome will be resolved quickly, painlessly, and you will have such amazing peace in your soul, that you’ll wonder why you didn’t come up with this idea of submission yourself. Men have this way of cutting through the emotions and knowing what really matters in the long run.

Of course there will be times that you will be wondering “why on earth do I have to submit to him?” and Lord, are you sure about his decision? Submission isn’t always easy. But it always produces JOY.

Two examples from this year: replacing the countertops and Halloween. When we went to replace the countertops, Rob wanted Granite. I knew that would be a major expense, and rather than replace the counters with more Formica (or other laminate), I was initially pushing for leaving the counters as they were. But as he continued researching and discussing with me, I could sense that I needed to back off and let Rob do this. As a friend advised me, “If you husband wants to bless you — let him! Don’t worry about the price tag. That is his burden to carry, not yours.” So I have have a granite kitchen. I love it. It looks so professional.

Our neighborhood is full of children which is wonderful. There’s no shortage of play mates. But our neighborhood is really into Halloween. Several homes “decorate” with pumpkin lights, gravestones, spider webs and other ghoulish motifs. I knew we had to make a decision about whether or not to participate in Halloween and at what level. I have no problem dressing up or eating candy. What I have a problem with is the history of Halloween, and everything that I know goes on with this dark holiday. I have a problem with my girls dressing like a ghost when Jesus is the Author of Life. I spent almost all of September wondering how I was going to deal with this holiday. It’s not like you can pretend not to be home when your 4-yr-olds run to the door every time the bell rings — which would be often in our neighborhood. So, I wrestled, and prayed, and chatted with my girlfriends. Finally the discussion came up at a dinner party and my husband looked with shock at me, “Why don’t you let your husband call the shot on this one?” I sat there speechless. DUH, of course I should let him call the shot on this. Why hadn’t I thought of this sooner? Why did I wrestle for so long on this issue which should have never caused me to lose sleep? It was such a relief to sit down later with Rob, and discuss my feelings and thoughts and have him make the decision for our family. It was only afterwards that the Lord gave me the idea for our family outing today.