365 Days of Spirit-Filled Fruits Challenge-Day 170

I had an in-depth discussion with my daughter about sex last night in the spa. This was spurred on by the fact that she has been clicking on links on the internet due to curiosity. We have a program that shows us what she has been to so I asked her about it and while at first was faking not remembering, she did honestly say she saw it but got bored with it. Thankfully nothing she went to was explicit! I am not sure where she got her understanding of sex but she seemed to have a good concept of it. To her it is basically a way to have children. She didn’t understand the concept of pleasure so we discussed this and I came up with a hands-on demonstration of how sex can bring about a stronger bond between a husband and wife. I put my hands together and intertwined them and asked her to try pulling them apart and she couldn’t. Than I put them together with only the first inch of my finger tips meshing with my other hand. She pulled those apart and said a big “Ah-ha”. So she understands the concept of pleasure and its role within marriage as a bonding agent based on love. And, of course, we went on to discuss that God created sex to be within marriage and nowhere else. I am sure this will be just the beginning of many more discussions about sex, marriage, love, etc.

Song of Songs 8:6 Place me like a seal over your heart, like a seal on your arm; for love is as strong as death, its jealousy unyielding as the grave.

365 Days of Spirit-Filled Fruits Challenge-Day 147

I am so proud of my husband. He took action and drove up to Sterling to talk with his brother and mother. Someone needed to see first-hand how things were going in that house. He came home early the next morning because he couldn’t sleep there. The smoke and televisions on all night long were just too much. He was so thankful to be home and for the blessings of his family. It was tough to go into a hard place but it needed to be done. He was encouraged about his brother but did not anticipate how bad off his mother has gotten. She is an alcoholic and is spiraling into a very dark place. We need prayers for her that the Lord will lead her out of this darkness.  Sometimes the only action we can take is prayer. That is the place I am in with this situation so I ask everyone of you who read this to pray for Susan that God will bring her out of the pit she has made for herself. Our kindness for others can be in the form of prayer for someone we don’t even know. It doesn’t matter that we don’t know them. Every human being is loved and valued by God. We have to have that attitude of love in our hearts as well. Take a moment and pray for a human being whom God loves who is hurting and needs help. http://www.christianprayercenter.com/

Hebrews 13:1 Keep on loving each other as brothers.

365 Days of Praise Challenge-Day 357

How did I get so blessed to have the husband I have? He has always been a tremendous support to me, showing his love and caring. In terms of love languages, I think he likes to give love by his acts of service. I see this in him everyday but it is especially evident when like yesterday I was feverish from fighting off some virus, dealing with the shoulder pain and the after affects of my work. He tells me “sit down and relax” and is up and getting me anything I need all evening. I am just so thankful to God for my husband and so thankful to be able to be a witness to seeing him grow and mature in his faith. It is a privilege to be able to walk along side him in this journey of our lives.

1John 4:12 No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us.  

365 Days of Praise Challenge-Day 262

We celebrated my hubbie's birthday with my brother and his family yesterday. I am so proud of who my husband has become over the 16 years of our marriage. Nobody is perfect and everyone has things they can improve upon but over time we can see the growth and the wonderful changes that occur within someone. I caved in and decided to let my husband open one of this gifts for this birthday even though its not until this Wednesday. Its always fun to open gifts in the company of people you love and who love you. I gave him the choice of the predictable gift or the "oh my gosh" gift. Well, all the kids wanted to see the "oh my gosh" gift and started chanting in unison "open it, open it, open it". My husband was so sweet and gently ask our two young neices to help him open the present. It turned out to be a great "oh my gosh" moment. He totally did not expect to get an Xbox. It turns out he had contemplated getting one since getting his bonus in July but decided he needed to use the money for debt and house things. It couldn't have been a more perfect gift and the perfect time.  Jesus is our perfect gift given to us everyday. He is within us and we can call on the Holy Spirit to bless us with the gifts we need for that day and the rest of our lives. Thank you Lord for your perfect gift to us and for the gift of my husband and being a witness to his growth in you.

1 Peter 4:13 But rejoice insofar as you share Christ's sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed.

365 Days of Praise Challenge-Day 211

So today was a first! I asked my hubbie if he would help me color my hair. Never in our 16+ years of marriage have I asked him to do anything like this but my shoulders are just not doing well and I can't lift my arms above my head like that for long and forget trying to do the back. I didn't do such a good job last time and had my hair dresser cleaned up the mess I made. Summertime is just higher expense time so I had to sacrifice getting my hair done by a professional and pay the $8 for a box of color and ask my hubbie to do it. I have to say it was a good little bonding experience and my husband's attention to detail was a big plus. He did a great job! So, I am praising God for the joy of sharing something with my hubbie that we haven't done together before.

Ephesians 5:25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her.

365 Days of Praise Challenge-Day 129

A little bit of wisdom applied can go a long way... My awesome hubbie unexpectedly said lets go out for a drink. Sitting face to face with the man you live with day in and day out just doesn't seem to happen enough. He told me his love tank was at rock bottom. Ouch. But God led him to listen to the audio book by Gary Chapman, The Five Love Languages-Men's Edition. It was something I had suggested he read after I had read the books and discovered so much value in them. We had such a great heart-to-heart talk and I learned more about what will make him feel loved. However, I know it is in human nature to forget. Life will start creeping it's way back in and around us and I will end up not speaking his love language which we discovered is totally opposite of mine which is words of affirmation. So, what to do, what to do? My first thought is to create a positive affirmation to read everyday and write a prayer card to have at work. Like this challenge of praising God everyday, I am challenging myself to show my love to my hubbie in ways that will fill up his love tank. Lord, help me to shower my husband with the love he can feel. Amen.
Proverbs 17:24 A discerning man keeps wisdom in view, but a fool's eyes wander to the ends of the earth.

365 Days of Praise Challenge-Day 101

I have to confess I have a hard time with mistakes. When I make them, the world turns up-side-down. I treat each mistake like it's a deep canyon that I have fallen into and I have to try to climb my way out. Thankfully, I have my faith and all the tools that God provides to help me climb my way out. That first tool, is the bible. I found myself deep in the canyon the other night after choosing to react in a disrepectful and not-listening-to you kind of way to my husband. To make a long story short, I let the stress in my life direct my actions. After storming out of the room, I flew down straight to my bible. It was already open to Pslams so through my tears, I read and started to feel myself calming down. Prayer is another tool God give us to help us get out of those canyons but sometimes our minds are not capable of even forming the thoughts directed to the Lord. That's where I found myself the other night, trying to analyze the situation but not getting anywhere and just needing to cry out to God. My bible was opened to Pslams so I just started reading and came to Psalm 121: 1-2 which I know from a Christain song on the radio. That became my prayer, singing it in my head over and over again until I could relax, breathe, listen and finally head back to bed and to sleep. I am thankful to God for three things based on this experience the other night: the tools he gives me to help me, knowing that he loves me no matter what, and a forgiving husband. This, unfortunately has been one of those mistakes I have made over and over again so I am praying for God's help to just love my husband in all ways, respect him no matter what and let my love and respect direct my actions. Are you using the tools God has given us when you make those inevitable mistakes in life?
Psalm 121:1-2 I lift up my eyes to the hills--where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth.

365 Days of Praise Challenge-Day 12

I got a great book about our love languages called God Speaks Your Love Language. I had heard about the love languages but had never read a book about them. What an education that was! I wish I had known what I learned from that book years and years ago. It really helped me to understand the people I loved and how the best way to love them and about me and what love language really speaks to me. I very highly recommend reading any of the love language books so you too can get in on this valuable information. After reading the book, I went through and tried to figure out the dominant love language for those close around me. My daughter was easy to figure out. She is 'Quality Time'. If I balance life well and give her some of my time her love tank is always full. My son was easy too! He is 'Physical Touch'. He loves to hug and be hugged so now into his teenage years I have found other ways to give him a loving touch without the embarrassment issue that teens can have.

My husband was a little more challenging to figure out. I think he is 'Service' which means he is always up doing and helping with any and everything but he read a summary of the love languages and thinks he is 'Physical Touch' so I have to try to give him love in both those ways to try to keep his love tank filled. I bring this all up only because hubbie has been a rock these days with helping me on things, he even becomes the 50's wife stereotype at times like last night and has dinner on a plate for me and has me come in and sit down and serves me dinner. So, today I want to praise my hubbie for all his service-oriented love for me. Although, it is not my dominant love language, having read the book, I am aware of how he shows his love. My husband loves me and I am thanking God for that and him.

Ephesians 5:33 However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.