Praying at the Dinner Table

The other day Brad and I were eating at a nice restaurant and a few tables over , and an older couple held hands and prayed before their meal. I told Brad I want to still be like that when we are that age.  A few minutes after I said that, a young couple right next to our table sat down and the first thing they did was hold hands while he prayed. This couple was no older than 23 at the most – no children with them – just the two of them and it just melted my heart! My daughter and her husband pray before meals and are teaching their 2 year old  - but they were praying together before he was ever born. 

To be honest, it hasn’t been that long since Brad and I started praying together at home, much less in public. At first it was a little awkward, ok, maybe a lot awkward – and we took turns. It was like we kept up with it – we had words like “it’s your turn” and “no, it’s your turn”. About a month ago that changed. Brad just walks in the door – totally random – and says “from now on I want to be the one who prays for our meals” and then he added – “unless there are times you really want to”. I asked him where this came from all of a sudden and he said “because I am the spiritual head of our home” Praise the Lord and Hallelujah! People – this is what I had been praying for! I wanted God to show him that this is his responsibility and He did!

When we started back to church – it seemed I was the one who was leading us and I was doing the best I could with God’s help, but I knew it wasn’t right. Brad had never been one who studied the bible, he had never been involved in church at all, never did devotions, never attended men’s conferences, anything of that nature. He just counted on me, I guess.

Thankfully, that has all changed – he wants to be just as involved as I am. He wants to study the bible and know it as God’s word. He wants to be in God's will. He wants to be a doer and not just a bystander. He is now an usher at church, we are both greeters, he has gotten to know people and we have attended several functions. We are going to dinner with a couple this Friday night and seeing a Christian comedy show. We have a couples’ night coming up at the church this month for dinner and a video. He has gone to men’s breakfast and we have helped with decorating the church for Christmas. He has even gone with me to the nursing home with the ministry I have been involved with from church.   We have been married almost 14 years and even though we attended one church for 3 years previously, we were never involved, we didn’t participate in any shape or form and we regularly missed service. We never made friends with anyone in the church. We went through the motions, that’s all. Now we can’t wait for Sunday. Wednesday nights are now spent at church. It is just amazing.

 I am so thankful that God stays true to His word – I knew He was working on Brad and I am so glad that Brad was listening and obedient to Him. 


For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior. Ephesians 5:23