Let’s Get Real

“Let  your wife be a fountain of blessing for you. Rejoice in the wife of your youth. She is loving deer, a graceful doe. Let her breasts satisfy you always. May you always be captivated by her love.” (Proverbs 18-20)

 

I have heard and read many debates about the purpose of marriage recently. People shout that marriage was simply put in place for procreation. Others defend that marriage is a religious institution and that it should be separate from the state altogether. And still others argue that marriage is a way for two people who love each other to commit their lives to each other publically. I am not about to go into a political debate this morning. However, whatever God intended marriage to be He intended it to be fun….or funny, I can back and forth between the two.

 

When God made Eve He did not tell Adam He was making a baby machine. God made Adam a helpmate or a companion (Genesis 2:18). As you walk through the Bible you read of many people falling in love, staying together for longer than I care to be alive on this earth, having children, making mistakes, growing families, building their homes, fighting wars, and staying together through it all. This is more than two people getting together to simply fill the earth with people (and by the way, if you haven’t noticed, the earth is pretty heavily populated). The Bible shares stories and examples of people sharing their lives, pushing through hard times, and devoting their marriages to God.

 

But let’s get back to the fun part. It is my desire that every married couple truly enjoy themselves. We need to love our husbands and wives with a love that the world does not understand. It’s an agape love that transcends anything you will find in a romance novel. It’s that love that shines when your bride is walking down the isle as much as when your husband is puking all over the bed from food poisoning. It’s that love that sticks with you even when the days are long and you can’t remember what it was that drew you to your spouse. It’s a choice to love someone when they have bad breath or when they wear that one sweater than you like so much. God gave you your spouse. Love them fiercely, even more when you are mad. Enjoy them immensely because you can. Laugh often, fight fair, and be silly whenever you can (that is what works for us anyway). The days won’t always be easy; in fact there will be some parts that suck. But, the journey will be worth it and eternity will make it all clear.

 

“My lover is mine, and I am his. Nightly he strolls in our garden. Delighting in the flowers until dawn breaths in light and night slips away.” (Song of Songs 2:16-17a)

The Path You Are On

“Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of Jacob’s God. There he will teach us his ways, and we will walk in his paths.” (Micah 4:2)

 

We had quite a lively discussion on the way to my parent’s house on Saturday. I had shared with my husband that they had arrested the estranged husband of a woman who was shot and killed on I-235 a couple weeks ago. My husband, in his confusion, couldn’t believe that anything could bring him to such a breaking point as to shot me. We started debating the reasons behind divorce, the rationalization behind who should pay support, and the problem with the way people view marriage. There are very few things that truly get my husband riled up but marriage is definitely on the top of the list.

 

We were going back and forth until I had reminded him that our marriage is set in our faith and we derive our values, morals, and priorities from that faith. Ohhhh, now he gets why I was saying what I saying. I wasn’t looking at things from my point of view. I was trying to get him to understand that when people live by the values set out by our culture that their thought process, and maybe even their reality, is not the same as ours. The Christian faith is all about commitment, monogamy, love, relationships, honesty, trust, and faith. If you didn’t want to fit in as much as possible in our society the best thing to do is to claim Jesus as your Savior and people will steer clear of you. It’s kind of sad.

 

It is so easy to walk away from things that seem to make life difficult. It is so much easier to say yes to what you want, every time you want, without considering the consequences because you want to feel good right now.  It is so much easier to sleep in on Sundays, lust after co-workers and friends, do things in anger, not forgive, and step over a line that you can’t see but you know is there. However, the rewards are so great when you stay on God’s path. You will struggle, but in your struggles you will find joy and peace. There may be turmoil in your relationships from time to time, but in those you will find forgiveness and grace. And when you are in community and worshipping your Lord you free yourself from the bonds of the world we live in and you have that small taste of heaven that carries you through until you go to meet God once again.

 

“May you always be filled with the fruit of your salvation—the righteous character produced in our life by Jesus Christ—for this will bring much glory and praise to God.” (Philippians 1:11)

It’s Breaking

“Can anything ever separate us from Christ’s love? Does it mean he no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or hunger, or destitute, or in danger, or threatened with death?….No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us.” (Romans 8:35, 37)

 

Have I mentioned I love the weather we have had lately? It’s been cool and kind of rainy and for some reason I have been basking in it. I am not usually this excited about the cold coming in but it just seems like such a nice relief. However, with the cold hitting my skin I have noticed that stress and worry have been hitting my heart and maybe even my soul. Is it just me or does there seem to be more stress, breaking relationships, grief, and pain right now? Has the gray sky of the season blocked out our ability to see all the blessings in our lives?

 

Lord, I really don’t know what is going on but I know that so many people need so much healing. We need healing in our homes, in our relationships, in our bodies, and in our hearts. O God, please remind us that You are always near and always walking with us. Dear Jesus, help me, and everyone, peel away the layers that keep us from experiencing Your peace and comfort and the layers that keep us from the people I love or need to love. Lord, guide our hands, feet, and hearts towards Your will and Your perfect plan. May we chose to walk with You Lord and may You please give us the strength to do just that….even when it seems so much easier to walk away. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

 

“And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:20b)

An Intimate Conversation

“You parents—if your children ask for a loaf of bread do you give them a stone instead? Or if they ask for a fish, do you give them a snake?” (Matthew 7:9-10)

 

Here is the phone text conversation:

 

“Oreos”

 

“LOL. Reg or DBL?”

 

“U Pick”

 

I had been having a craving for Oreos. I had an Oreo blizzard thing from McDonalds a few days ago but that just wasn’t cutting it. I felt like it had been years since I had good few moments of dunking and I couldn’t resist any longer. So, while my husband was about to get off of work the other night I sent him the above text. Imagine my delight when he brought the Oreo cookie package to me that night along with a glass of milk. Not only had he brought me what I wanted but went above and beyond to give me more! What an awesome example of what God does for us all the time: give us more than we asked for.

 

Talking with God should be as easy as talking to your best friend or your lover. Simple conversations are what God wants with you. There needs to be nothing fancy. There needs to be respect, love, and yes, even some fear but no big haughty language or things like that.  God knows you so well that you really don’t need to tell Him anything because He already knows but He still wants to have a relationship with you so He is always ready to hear.

 

Talk with God. Go to your Lord with your joys, sorrows, celebrations, and disappointments. Ask to help you. Thank God for saving you and blessing you with the people in your life, the material blessings you have, and the struggles you have gone through. Ask God to be with you today; to walk with you through this world. Ask God to be with your family and friends and they go through their days at work, school, looking for jobs, and dealing with finances and health issues. Simply go to God and watch Him give you so much more than you could have possibly asked for. Go to God in love and faith and watch your relationship with Him grow.

 

“Keep on asking and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives. Everyone who seeks, finds. And to everyone who knocks the door will be opened” (Matthew 7:7-8)