A Marriage Transformed

1 Corinthians 13

 ¹ If I speak in the tongues^[a] of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. ² If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. ³ If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast,^[b] but do not have love, I gain nothing.
 ⁴ Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. ⁵ It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. ⁶ Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. ⁷ It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.


 ⁸ Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. ⁹ For we know in part and we prophesy in part, ¹⁰ but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears. ¹¹ When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. ¹² For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

 ¹³ And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.



Valentine's Day is tomorrow. Next week is our anniversary. We will be married for fourteen years. I can't believe how the time has passed. I feel emotional today. I can't stop thinking about my husband. We have been through so much together. We have actually been together for twenty years. We were high school sweethearts.



Mike and me at senior prom



I'm sure many of you will probably think this particular post is very mushy but I feel the Lord prompting me to tell you about our marriage. I am absolutely more in love with my husband now than I ever have been. I just can't believe how much I love him. And I know that he feels the same way about me. He makes me feel special and beautiful (on the outside and on the inside.)  Without a doubt I believe that we were created for each other. Remember that line from Jerry Maguire "You complete me."? That's how I feel about him. I love him. I need him. I want him. I feel so blessed by the Lord to have such a happy marriage.



Our marriage hasn't always been so blissful. I am serious when I tell you that we have had some really rough times. We've had times when I've questioned him, myself and our love for each other. There have even been times when I've questioned God. We've faced a real "Am I going to die?" health crisis. We have also both made our fair share of mistakes. We've said and done things that can't be taken back. I can remember several occasions when I've sobbed myself to sleep, worrying about what the future really held. I'm sure you must be wondering how we got from there to here.



our wedding day



Well, first I must tell you that we were not Christians when we married. We weren't bad people, we just were clueless and hadn't been exposed much to the things of Christ. When I was saved, our marriage suffered. Mike didn't understand my new outlook on life. We argued frequently during this time. Mike then was saved several months later. We were baptised together a couple years after that. Our marriage still wasn't perfect. We were young Christians and we were attacked by Satan. I truly feel like our marriage was under attack. Things really spiraled out of control as we continued to make some bad choices. It was a very difficult time in our lives that I would love to forget forever.

We humbly sought the Lord and gradually started to get back on track. We had a long way to go but we were trying. Then we got to the point where our marriage and our life was just very routine and monotonous. I just assumed that when you've been married for almost ten years, your marriage just becomes a bit blah. I expected our marriage to continue to be this way for . . well, maybe forever.

And then I had a great idea. I started praying for our marriage. I prayed for all aspects of our marriage: our love, our sexual intimacy, our walk together in the Lord, our communication, our affection, etc. I also started praying specifically for Mike in all areas of his life: his work, his reputation, his walk with the Lord, being a Godly leader of our family, his temptations, etc. I got this idea after reading The Power of a Praying Wife by Stormie Omartian. It is a great book and I honestly believe that it was the first step in the complete transformation of our marriage. I highly recommend this book to all women who want an absolutely wonderful marriage. Our marriage didn't change overnight. I have been praying in this way for our marriage and for Mike for probably four or five years now. And like I said earlier, the changes were very gradual. It wasn't until just yesterday that I really thought about our marriage and I thought, "We're there! This is what I wanted for our marriage."



Mike and me November 2011

 I'm not saying that we don't still have our issues. We certainly do. We still have an occasional argument. We will always have different opinions about some things. There are no two people in this world that will always agree on everything. He still annoys me sometimes and I know that I can get on his nerves. (Just between you and me, sometimes I try to annoy him just a little bit . . . you know, just for fun.) But we really love each other beyond what I thought was possible after fourteen years of marriage. And you know what else? I think he is sexy. In my opinion, there is nothing sexier than my husband being a Godly man and leader of our family, seeking the Lord with all of his heart and being a Godly role model for our son. That is what really does it for me.

Well, hopefully I didn't lose any of you in all of the mushy details. Please know that my God is absolutely capable of anything. If you ask in faith and continue to pray regularly, He will answer you. The answer may not always come in the form that you expect, but it will come. Be patient, have faith and be faithful to Our Heavenly Father.

Now. . . I'm patiently waiting for God to start his transformation in our son so that he will actually do what we ask him to do the first time we ask instead of the fifth time. . .
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A Love Unlike Any Other

With Valentine's Day just around the corner, I thought that blogging about love would be a great idea. I searched my journal of God's words looking for any words that He has given me about love. I found a few sentences here and there but didn't really find anything that really addressed God's love for us. I sought Him this morning, asking Him to give me His words about love. These are the words that He gave me today. I hope they touch your heart like they did mine.

You will never know or understand the full weight of My love for you and My other children. I can only begin to help you understand My love for you. I love you so much that I created the world and the entire universe for you. I love you so much that I gave you and all of My other children free will, even though I knew many of you would reject Me as a result. I love you so much that I came humbly to the earth as a helpless infant into a world that hated Me and wanted to kill Me. I love you so much that I willingly endured torture and humiliation as I freely sacrificed My own life for your life. I did this to pay the price for your sins so that all who accept Me and My sacrifice shall not be separated from My Heavenly Father but shall live forever with Him in paradise. I love you so much that I, the Creator of all things, want to know you personally and hear about everything in your life, good and bad. I love you so much that I give you the Holy Spirit so that you can experience true peace and joy, even amidst your hardships, and so that you will know what it feels like to truly worship Me. For I have created all of My children to worship Me. Those who choose not to worship Me will try to fill that void within themselves with other things that are not of Me. They will find that these things will never satisfy them. I am the only One that can fill the hearts of My children. Go now and love others in the ways that I love you. Let My love within you pour out onto others. Share Me and My words with them. Let them know that they will experience a love in Me unlike any other love.

I thinks these words are powerful, humbling and amazing. I feel blessed that the Lord gives me these words to share with others. I pray regularly that these words and my obedience in them will touch many lives. I filled the last page of my journal this morning with the above words. I still am in awe the amount and content of the words the Lord has graced me with. Please share this blog with others as the Lord moves you.

Psalm 103

¹ Praise the LORD, my soul;
   all my inmost being, praise his holy name.
² Praise the LORD, my soul,
   and forget not all his benefits—
³ who forgives all your sins
   and heals all your diseases,
⁴ who redeems your life from the pit
   and crowns you with love and compassion,
⁵ who satisfies your desires with good things
   so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.

 ⁶ The LORD works righteousness
   and justice for all the oppressed.

 ⁷ He made known his ways to Moses,
   his deeds to the people of Israel:
⁸ The LORD is compassionate and gracious,
   slow to anger, abounding in love.
⁹ He will not always accuse,
   nor will he harbor his anger forever;
¹⁰ he does not treat us as our sins deserve
   or repay us according to our iniquities.
¹¹ For as high as the heavens are above the earth,
   so great is his love for those who fear him;
¹² as far as the east is from the west,
   so far has he removed our transgressions from us.

 ¹³ As a father has compassion on his children,
   so the LORD has compassion on those who fear him;
¹⁴ for he knows how we are formed,
   he remembers that we are dust.
¹⁵ The life of mortals is like grass,
   they flourish like a flower of the field;
¹⁶ the wind blows over it and it is gone,
   and its place remembers it no more.
¹⁷ But from everlasting to everlasting
   the LORD’s love is with those who fear him,
   and his righteousness with their children’s children—
¹⁸ with those who keep his covenant
   and remember to obey his precepts.

 ¹⁹ The LORD has established his throne in heaven,
   and his kingdom rules over all.

 ²⁰ Praise the LORD, you his angels,
   you mighty ones who do his bidding,
   who obey his word.
²¹ Praise the LORD, all his heavenly hosts,
   you his servants who do his will.
²² Praise the LORD, all his works
   everywhere in his dominion.

   Praise the LORD, my soul.

John 3:16,17

 ¹⁶ For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. ¹⁷ For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.

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