May. 21, 2009 - ~Happy Anniversary~My Best Shot
It's been 20 years. Hard for me to get a grip around that number. Just does not seem like 20 years already. This is the anniversary number of old people! But I don't feel that old. Okay....I am a little sore and tired from a long day yesterday, but other than that.....
*Hubby about to enjoy his yummy lunch at our first visit to IKEA yesterday for our anniversary. The cafe holds about 350 people. This place is huge!
Being that it's been 20 years and I am absolutely and totally crazy about my husband. Being that it's hard not to constantly touch him and I can't stand being away from him. Being that I love making him happy and he is a constant encouragement to me. Being that there is no man I respect more. Being that he is gentle and kind and consistently gives and gives with no end in sight. I think I have a little (just a little) something to share after 20 years of marriage. >
<
The Lord tells us that marriage between a husband and a wife is a picture of Christ and His church. Scripture tells us (in Ephesians 5) that this is a great mystery. And isn't it now? We live in a world where truth is poo-pooed. Backwards thinking is elevated and it does NOT matter if that backwards thinking has been proven wrong or not. 'There is a way that seems right to a man, and in the end is death', says scripture again.
Marriages end all of the time because a husband and a wife try to do things their way and they rely on their own thinking, or the thinking & reasoning of mankind in general. I can say, after 20 years, I have actually put the Bible to the test and it works! I love my husband far more and appreciate him far more now than I ever have. We have been through THICK and we have been through THIN. I know his secrets and insecurities and I love him more for knowing. He is fully aware of my baggage and quirks and they only endear us more. Life is not peachy-keen and I am not Cinderella in a story book. My movie doesn't revolve around me and knowing this brings me great peace.
I have learned principles in Gods word (His breathed out voice to me) that have done me much good. I wish, oh how I wish, I could save the heartaches of others, but to remain sober in our own lives is a chore in itself. The voice of this world and mankind are so LOUD and consistent. These false philosophies are prospered by being spoken over and over until it rings as truth. Isn't that the saying....'a lie oft repeated becomes truth'.
I look back over my lifetime and see the day of my salvation. That day is the day I came to the end of myself, or the first wave of the end of myself (Step one....heart change). I finally figured out that I was in need. Then life marched on and I continued to 'think' like others thought and it took many years for the Lord to show me my thinking was off. So, step two.....the Lord began to change my mind/thinking.
Now, I must say.....this is the extremely cool part! Because this is where the rubber really meets the road. I cannot count the times where I read something in the Bible that absolutely and totally went against how I was raised or trained or felt and I stepped out in an act of faith and Whamo! Sometimes that 'Whamo' was instant. Sometimes it was over the course of a l-o-n-g time and series of events. But it's the coolest thing to watch and be a part of. I mean, you're literally doing something 'backwards' of what you feel like doing and it works! You're actually able to watch things unfold and click in to place!
Take this passage for example:
Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the saviour of the body. Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in every thing.
Ladies, does that ruffle your feathers? I mean seriously.....when you read that don't you just get a little peeved? 'Submitt?! He's the head?! Hello......this is 2009 for goodness sakes!' Is that how you feel when you see those words?
And maybe some of you JUST had a little tiff with your 'inconsiderate' husband. If so, the words above will be a little more irritating.
Okay, so now read this:
Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish. So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth himself. For no man ever yet hated his own flesh; but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as the Lord the church:
Ohhhhh....now that's a different story altogether isn't it?! You probably liked the sound of a few of those words. I know I did....... Love, gave himself, nourisheth, cherisheth. Now that's different!!!
My 4 year old daughter just came to me with her little cardboard doll her sister made her last night. She asked me to color her doll for her. While I was coloring, I said "Why don't you color it?". In a sleepy and little whiny voice, she said: "I can't - I'm a little girl". I laughed. She's fully capable of coloring her cardboard dolls dress with the blue crayon! She may be lacking in energy or willingness, but she is not lacking in ability.
That's just like us! If we are in Christ (if you need to know more of what I mean, I'd be happy to explain) we are fully capable! God has given us everything we need to color the doll! The choice is up to us. God has a plan of blessings in store for us. So why are we choosing another way that does not work?
And sometimes wives, it starts with us. It takes a small step of faith on the part of the wife to get the ball rolling. This is one thing I noticed about the above passage. Notice the 'address' was to the wife first? And again - this is a mystery. A mystery that has a very happy ending for the husband AND the wife......
For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones. For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh. This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the church. Nevertheless let every one of you in particular so love his wife even as himself; and the wife see that she reverence her husband.
*Hubby about to enjoy his yummy lunch at our first visit to IKEA yesterday for our anniversary. The cafe holds about 350 people. This place is huge!Being that it's been 20 years and I am absolutely and totally crazy about my husband. Being that it's hard not to constantly touch him and I can't stand being away from him. Being that I love making him happy and he is a constant encouragement to me. Being that there is no man I respect more. Being that he is gentle and kind and consistently gives and gives with no end in sight. I think I have a little (just a little) something to share after 20 years of marriage. >
<The Lord tells us that marriage between a husband and a wife is a picture of Christ and His church. Scripture tells us (in Ephesians 5) that this is a great mystery. And isn't it now? We live in a world where truth is poo-pooed. Backwards thinking is elevated and it does NOT matter if that backwards thinking has been proven wrong or not. 'There is a way that seems right to a man, and in the end is death', says scripture again.
Marriages end all of the time because a husband and a wife try to do things their way and they rely on their own thinking, or the thinking & reasoning of mankind in general. I can say, after 20 years, I have actually put the Bible to the test and it works! I love my husband far more and appreciate him far more now than I ever have. We have been through THICK and we have been through THIN. I know his secrets and insecurities and I love him more for knowing. He is fully aware of my baggage and quirks and they only endear us more. Life is not peachy-keen and I am not Cinderella in a story book. My movie doesn't revolve around me and knowing this brings me great peace.
I have learned principles in Gods word (His breathed out voice to me) that have done me much good. I wish, oh how I wish, I could save the heartaches of others, but to remain sober in our own lives is a chore in itself. The voice of this world and mankind are so LOUD and consistent. These false philosophies are prospered by being spoken over and over until it rings as truth. Isn't that the saying....'a lie oft repeated becomes truth'.
I look back over my lifetime and see the day of my salvation. That day is the day I came to the end of myself, or the first wave of the end of myself (Step one....heart change). I finally figured out that I was in need. Then life marched on and I continued to 'think' like others thought and it took many years for the Lord to show me my thinking was off. So, step two.....the Lord began to change my mind/thinking.
Now, I must say.....this is the extremely cool part! Because this is where the rubber really meets the road. I cannot count the times where I read something in the Bible that absolutely and totally went against how I was raised or trained or felt and I stepped out in an act of faith and Whamo! Sometimes that 'Whamo' was instant. Sometimes it was over the course of a l-o-n-g time and series of events. But it's the coolest thing to watch and be a part of. I mean, you're literally doing something 'backwards' of what you feel like doing and it works! You're actually able to watch things unfold and click in to place!
Take this passage for example:
Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the saviour of the body. Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in every thing.
Ladies, does that ruffle your feathers? I mean seriously.....when you read that don't you just get a little peeved? 'Submitt?! He's the head?! Hello......this is 2009 for goodness sakes!' Is that how you feel when you see those words?
And maybe some of you JUST had a little tiff with your 'inconsiderate' husband. If so, the words above will be a little more irritating.
Okay, so now read this:
Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish. So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth himself. For no man ever yet hated his own flesh; but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as the Lord the church:
Ohhhhh....now that's a different story altogether isn't it?! You probably liked the sound of a few of those words. I know I did....... Love, gave himself, nourisheth, cherisheth. Now that's different!!!
My 4 year old daughter just came to me with her little cardboard doll her sister made her last night. She asked me to color her doll for her. While I was coloring, I said "Why don't you color it?". In a sleepy and little whiny voice, she said: "I can't - I'm a little girl". I laughed. She's fully capable of coloring her cardboard dolls dress with the blue crayon! She may be lacking in energy or willingness, but she is not lacking in ability.
That's just like us! If we are in Christ (if you need to know more of what I mean, I'd be happy to explain) we are fully capable! God has given us everything we need to color the doll! The choice is up to us. God has a plan of blessings in store for us. So why are we choosing another way that does not work?
And sometimes wives, it starts with us. It takes a small step of faith on the part of the wife to get the ball rolling. This is one thing I noticed about the above passage. Notice the 'address' was to the wife first? And again - this is a mystery. A mystery that has a very happy ending for the husband AND the wife......
For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones. For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh. This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the church. Nevertheless let every one of you in particular so love his wife even as himself; and the wife see that she reverence her husband.
Comments
May. 22, 2009 - Marriage :-)
Posted by Anonymous
Hey Eunice,Thank you for sharing your heart and scripture on Marriage, that was encouraging. Our Pastor is doing a series on The Family and shared as the husband is the head, the wife is the heart of the marriage. That really makes sense and it takes both! Love, Deanna :-)
May. 26, 2009 - Untitled Comment
Posted by SweetSavages
That is a great post! I hope I'm as wise as you when we have our 20th anniversary in 5 years, when I'm old. LOL. j/k That was very well said.
What is IKEA? I thought it was a furniture store or something, but you eat there? I think I"ve been stuck in my "holler" too long. = )
