Your soul is weighed down with many cares, yet the heaviest burden is the state of your husband’s soul and body. You ask for healing and a favorable outcome, but do not make the healing of his body your first petition. Seek first the salvation of his soul and your own. The body groans under years of affliction, and the mind is storm-tossed with anger and the desire for death; this is indeed a fierce spiritual attack. But do you not know that God at times permits such fires so that we may cling to Him alone, and not to this fleeting life? The ### and the ### are means, but unless the heart bows to Christ, all external remedies remain weak. Urge your husband, with all meekness and gentleness, to take his ### as prescribed, for to despise a lawful remedy can be a form of tempting God. Yet be careful: if you try to persuade him by sharp words or impatience, you will fail. Even if he rages, your quiet submission and unfailing love, the wife’s true adornment, may win him better than any argument. The holy apostle teaches that the wife is bound to her husband as long as he lives, and she is to be subject to him as the Church is to Christ, who is the Savior of the body. You are not released from this bond because of illness or turmoil. Your steadfastness, when he sees it, may yet draw him back from the brink.
But what shall I say of his cry that he wishes to be dead? This is the enemy’s voice, not your husband’s own heart. When a man is shadowed by deep melancholy, the foul thoughts are not always his full consent, yet they become a dangerous snare. Wrestle for him in prayer without ceasing, but do not pray merely for relief from the agony, pray first that he would repent and turn to Christ, for what profit is there if his body is healed yet his soul is lost? The death of Jesus was our salvation, and through His bonds we are loosed from eternal death; point your husband to the cross, not the grave. And be sober-minded about the ### and your ###. Why are you troubled about these things? Do you not remember that the thorns in the parable, which choked the seed, are the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches? To seek a favorable verdict or money without first seeking the kingdom of God is to build on sand. If you are bending your prayers to ask God to give you victory over your adversaries in legal matters, examine your heart: are you praying against men, instead of for your own deliverance from sin? Such a prayer may be unlawful. The Lord commands us to pray even for our enemies; how much more should we entrust a temporal cause to His justice without demanding a particular outcome. Set this matter lower than the one thing necessary.
I do not overlook your aged father and your brother in their frailty; you do well to ask mercy for them. Yet all these bodies heal only in part, and all our earthly stays give way. Would you truly see a good outcome? Then let the Holy Spirit find in you a heart free from wrath, from extravagant longings for comfort, from reliance on any earthly power. You are told, “Thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee.” That word is not a harsh sentence but a shelter: by embracing the order God has set, the wife finds a true haven. You will not soften your husband by any outward adornment or anxiety, but by a quiet and gentle spirit, even if he seems debased by his afflictions. Meanwhile, see to your own hearing of the Word; attend carefully, remember it, and let it produce fruit in patient endurance and contempt of worldly things. Without that, no part is sufficient for salvation.
Therefore, continue to pray, but let your prayer be, “Lord, save my husband’s soul, and my own, and the souls of all my household; heal according to Thy will, and grant us the grace to bear whatever Thou dost appoint, that we may not murmur or desire death, but may glorify Thee whether in health or in sickness.” And do not neglect to examine yourself: are you so clinging to ease that you become soft and unmanly in your faith? The way is narrow; fortitude is required. Implore the Holy Spirit’s intervention, yes, but to convict of sin, to kindle repentance, and to teach you to love the things that are eternal. Then the lesser matters, whether the ### or the body, will be disposed by the Wisdom that knows better than we do. Let your first care be to stand blameless before the Bridegroom of your soul; all else is secondary.