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Is one of two full-time co-pastors at Providence Presbyterian Church in Concord, North Carolina. The congregation models itself after the account in Scripture of Jesus sending out his disciples two-by-two to proclaim the Kingdom. All the church's ministries are team governed and operated. Mark met his wife, Tara, while studying at Covenant Seminary in St. Louis. They served as missionaries in Ecuador, and have raised three sons.

Genesis 2:18–24 describes the creation of Eve. In all the creation, Adam could not find for himself a suitable helper. The phrase "suitable helper" can be translated literally to "helper according to his opposite."

Like a left and right hand, the two are equally made but correspond exactly as mirror images. In other words, God created the woman as a helper for the man, and a man to be a helper for the woman—as one hand is a helper to the other. After all, it's not good for man to be alone.

The bottom line is that God designed your wife to complement you. Proverbs 31:11 reads "Her husband can trust her, and she will greatly enrich his life." We understand from the context of this verse that there are some things women do better than men. As you think about your wife, what are the things she is better at than you are? The more you appreciate her feminine design, the more you will see her flourish.

Adapted from How to Pray for Your Wife (Crossway, 2006); {35-36}

Copyright © 2009 by the author or Christianity Today International/Men of Integrity magazine.
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Prayer for the Week

Help me, Lord, to build a strong marriage by appreciating and benefitting from the ways I and my wife are different by your good design.

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