Part two of a four-part series
Today we’re continuing our CHEER for our husbands!
Count it a joy to serve together
Hear his heart
Be Elastic
Encourage
Reconcile quickly
Last week we talked about the C in CHEER – Count it joy! Today we’re focusing on the H (Hear his heart) and E (Be Elastic).
Hear his heart.
One of the most sincere forms of respect is to listen to what our husbands have to share. My husband and I like to take a few minutes in the morning to connect. Here are some questions we ask each other at the start of our day: What is the one thing you need most from me? What are you looking forward to? Not looking forward to? How can I help you today? How can I pray for you?
My friend Laura says connecting time with her husband is in the evening. Here are some ideas of what she and her husband, Bill, like to share at the close of their day:
“I ask him whom he talked to, and if he had any meetings. I love hearing all the details, even if they seem insignificant! He asks me how things went at home… I love that he asks me about these things because I get to share my day with him. We ask each other, ‘What are your plans for tomorrow?’ We also talk about what we could be praying for each other. If there is something heavy that we are dealing with, we spend time talking and praying about it. It is easier for us to do our communicating at night because we are not hurried.”
Listen daily to your husband’s heart. Let’s give our cheering voices a rest while we take time to hear his heart. “But let your adorning be the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God’s sight is very precious.” (I Peter 3:4) 
Be Elastic.
One of our four daughters loves to do splits and cartwheels. I wince when I watch her. I don’t like being flexible, but it is a part of my cheer routine. I prefer plan A, but we often go with plan B-Z, don’t we? Someone drops by to talk with the Pastor on our laundry day, so we set the family clothes aside, letting our home be a place where people can visit. Once I had emptied four cupboards worth of Tupperware and baking pans all over our small kitchen floor when there was a knock at the back door. It was an older lady from church, and we both smiled as I invited her in. We had a great visit right in the midst of my piles.
My husband does a lot of phone counseling due to people being spread out in rural areas. One day, I heard him say, “Would you like to come over for supper tonight?” He covered the mouthpiece and silently mouthed to me, “Is that ok?!” What’s a PW to do? I have started saying a quick prayer for wisdom and flexibility every time the phone rings.
The best stretch routine I know is to pray throughout my day. Lord Jesus, please be in control of my day. Give me wisdom for every situation and phone call that will come today. Help me be willing to change plans quickly and cheerfully as needed. Thank you that plan B is often what You have in mind to teach me that Your plan is exceedingly better than mine.
Finally, look to the example of “Flexible Priscilla” who cheered her husband on as they moved together (Acts 18:2), worked together (Acts 18:3), traveled together (Acts 18:18), counseled together (Acts 18:26), risked their lives serving together (Romans 16:4), hosted church in their home together (Romans 16:5), cheered others on together (I Corinthians 16:19), and left a legacy together. Paul shows a glimpse of this couple’s legacy by including their names in his final greetings in a letter he wrote to a young pastor he was discipling. (II Timothy 4:19) The legacy of “Flexible Priscilla” stretches to PWs still today. 
Denna, I love how you strung together the examples of “flexible Priscilla.” I don’t think I have every put the passages about her together like that, and I loved it! We have so much to learn from her.