Walking Together Towards God

If I could use one word to sum up what marriage has been like this year, I would chose the word: SURVIVING. It hasn't been great for the obvious reason of the effects of the corona virus on all of our lives. Marriage has been, well...complicated for reasons like...homeschooling, not really being able to date outside of our house, financial strains, missing the fellowship of our churches and so, so much loss of life. Has it been this way for you too? We know that God is with us and that a virus is no reason for a divorce or anything, but some of us have seen parts of our spouses that we have never seen. They are still mourning the loss of loved ones and everyone deals with death differently. They are stressed over the fact that jobs are lost or changed or just a horrible atmosphere right now. They are tired of the additional weight that teaching their children has caused when they were unprepared to do so. The back and forth of "lock down" and or "quarantine" sit

Being careful with our speech, actions and reactions is not always easy as a woman. Taking the time to think before your respond is an artform. Learning to stay silent....well, that is practically divine! Women who have mastered discretion make wonderful wives. This type of woman knows when to talk to her husband and when to wait. She is a walking proverb who quietly influences her entire home, work and business. She can set the atmosphere with her praise and live in confidence because her God is within her. How do we get to be her?  Carefully. I always watched those older women in my church who spoke just the right things to the younger ones. They were not offensive, but gave us stern and loving advice. They were the prayer warrior women who we confided in and we just knew that they heard from the Lord! Those women were always quoting scripture and kept their household in order. Wow, I wanted to be her. So I watched and I learned. I asked questions and I observed responses. I copied h

 At first, I thought of titling this "Has Your Marriage Changed?" but, who are we kidding? With a worldwide pandemic happening and all of the things that come with it, we all have changed. The best news is that God has not. I am sure that I am not the only one struggling with respecting current leadership, managing my home with work schedules and homeschooling and trying to figure out when and what to feed my family. Buying, washing and/or making more masks, deciding for or against flu shots and trying to maintain decent mental health in this hyper-racial climate adds even more stress. We could say that we have changed, but better yet, we are adapting to changes happening around us. Could it be that we have not changed much, but that current life circumstances are just revealing who we have always been on the inside?  Just as we apply pressure on a tube of toothpaste, we are being forced to reshape and express ourselves in new ways. As christians, our marriages are doing the

They were...Down. Why do you seek the living among the dead? He is not here, for He is Risen. There is NOTHING here. There is no one here. The tomb is empty and the only people who see Jesus are those who have Him. Within them. Because SOMETHING happened! The world cannot hold on to Him. He told the woman in the garden "do not touch me". She could not hold on to Nothing. He was going to His Father. One disciple had to touch him in order to believe Him. "Behold my hands and my feet and see that it is I". There it was. Nothing. In the holes of his hands,  it became something. It happened in his heart! Those who walked with Jesus by the way said "...did not our hearts burn within us as He walked with us by the way?" By the way....there He is! By the way...something, is happening. There is nothing in the grave. There is nothing in the Tomb! There is nothing that could hold Him down! He is risen. Hallelujah!! After Jesus died we thought nothing was happenin

All around us we keep hearing about death, fear, money troubles and anxiety about the future. Although things are uncertain, we have been trying to keep the perspective that at least we have each other through it all. How does a married couple know God's joy in the midst of such sadness? In our marriage vows, we pledge "until death do us part", but we did not consider the toll that deaths around us would take. Life is really heavy right now and people are doing everything they can to keep their sanity. Joy is almost unthinkable for some. Nevertheless, it is possible. You see joy is something, that we learned long ago, is supernatural. We are in the middle of crisis with a worldwide pandemic, constant natural disasters, loss of life and financial unrest, yet, there can be joy in marriage still. The joy that the Lord gives to us can never be taken away. First, we have to remember that this life is temporary and fleeting. We are strangers, pilgrims, temporary residents

I think that my boys are enjoying all this time away from civilization. They have happily locked themselves in their rooms for hours at a time. They chat and text with their friends online and they eat like there is no tomorrow. However, there are moments of sadness. They miss church. They miss "hanging out" with other teenagers. They are growing out of their favorite cool clothes, lol. There are also no girls here (aww shucks)! So with the good and the bad times, we are taking this time to bond with our teenagers. Thankfully, neither of them has been sick at all. Glory to God! We are trying to maximize this time. No one knows how much time you really have with your loved ones! So we have had some very meaningful conversations. Just the other day over dinner, we were discussing what it meant for God and Jesus to be All-Powerful. We actually used scripture to come to the conclusion that Jesus was fully God and man and that He had all power all the time, while on e

Hey friends! How are you holding up? Better yet...how is your marriage holding up? During this worldwide pandemic, we are facing an unprecedented challenge as a people. So, obviously, in the face of such surprise, tragedy, death and confusion, there is marriage tension. When we are told not to touch and to be careful not to spread disease, it affects relationships. Even though, we more than likely, live with our spouses, the tension is real even there. I cannot imagine how some of my nursing friends and other essential workers are coping with not living with their spouses at this time for their safety. I don't think I could do it really. Even those of us who are at home daily with our spouses (and maybe with homeschooling children), there is tension still. We are all forced to grapple with how to do life under these circumstances. Some of us are loving the extra attention from our mate while others are annoyed. The boundaries are new and some are getting broken. Schedules are

You may be thinking to yourself "What on earth is a marriage routine?", and "What should be so routine about marriage anyway?". We are so glad that you asked. One of the things that people so often complain about is that their marriage is routine and boring. Day in and day out is so redundant and similar to the day before. However, we want you to explore the idea that things that become a habit seemed to last a bit longer. There are some things in your marriage that if put to practice on a regular basis can actually transform your relationship and give it more of longevity. Have you ever noticed that older couples who have been together a long time often die very close to one another? They are so accustom to a daily routine together that life just does not seem possible to manage without their spouse.  We are not suggesting that you cannot live without your spouse or that life is bleak without another person, but having a marriage routine can often compliment