Walking Together Towards God

 All the good people tell us to go to church and get the Word. However, most do not disciple you how to hear from God when you go to church, how to maximize the message that you are hearing and what to do during the week. If that is you, here are some ideas AND a way to help you to remember them! First, pray before you go and ask God to open your heart and mind to what He has for you. Many times a Pastor will share the Word and we tend to think of how others could benefit from what is being said instead of concentrating on what the Lord may be trying to tell us. Ask God to give you focus and to really give you what you need in that moment. Thank Him for it in advance like a meal that you love and know it is coming. Set your expectations high. Next, come prepared to receive God's message to you. One way to do this is to ask God to forgive you of all of your sin (even thoughts that do not please Him) so that, like preparing for a meal, you are "hungry" for the Word. (Psalm ...

As a wife, I am not the best at caring for myself. In American culture, if you sacrifice yourself for work then you are esteemed more valuable. However, it is not true. People are praised for being tried, exhausted, mentally drained and very busy, but no one praises the person who takes a long vacation to connect with family or seeks psychological or financial help in areas of weakness.  Take care of your body. Exercise is a form of self-care. I recently decided that I would join a fitness club so that I could get the support I needed to move my body (since I sit a lot) and to strengthen my joints as I get older (40s club problems :) It was worth it. Now, I look forward to feeling good and having my regular workout even if it is only once a week for now. I also suggest checking your insurance for all your benefits. More than likely you are not using everything that you are paying for. For example, this week I called my benefits person and found out that I have 90 chiropractic visit...

There are a lot of buzzwords going around about sexuality right now. Not only homosexuality (same gender sex), but MSP (mutiple sex partners) which may be male or female. There is talk of being attracted to either gender (polyamorosity) and not so much about monogamy in marriage anymore. Then there are the topics of adultery, fornication, masturbation and sin in general.  We want to be clear about where we stand and what the Bible has to say about such topics. Instead of trying to define these things out and explain our position, we will let the scriptures speak for themselves. According to the Holy Bible: Romans 1:24-32 Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves:  25 Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen. 26 For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change...

 Life is busy. It is also very familiar with your same spouse. Anyone who has been married over a yearcould attest that newness is welcome in marriage to keep things.....well, fresh! Enter Intimately Us. This is an amazing app for married christian couples. I have never seen a app that you can literally "share" with your spouse. After you sync your account to theirs, you can add your likes, dislikes, wishes and dreams, and the app sends messages and suggestions to your spouse for you!  It has a calendar to track your dating habits and intimate times together, fun games to play and daily challenges as well as reminders and ideas. Want education? You can watch videos and hear from their sexperts and all about healthy sexuality and open communication between you and your spouse. There are sections about overcoming difficulties and emotional stress in marriage too! There is also a flirty chat app within the app called "Just Between Us" where you can send special texts t...

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 copi...

 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 ...