It was Valentine’s Day weekend of my Junior year. The lanky basketball player, future preacher to whom I had given my heart dropped to one knee and officially asked me to spend my life by his side. Of course I said, “Yes.” And he slid the ring we had chosen together onto my left hand.
Fast forward a few days . . .
Back on my own campus I had hurried from class to my weekly ironing job. I walked a little more lightly that winter afternoon in Chicago as I began dreaming of wedding plans and married life.
Ironing board in place.
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We were running late. The baby was screaming though his diaper was clean and he was freshly nursed, shoelaces were needing to be tied, one child was still in the shower, dinner plates were strewn all over the kitchen with some still on the table, and my hair still up in the disheveled knot on the top of my head that had kept it out of my face during the early morning garage sale we held and the 2 soccer games we played in (well, I cheered at) immediately after. One child yelled from the other room how he couldn’t find the matching shoe, another was digging in the basket of clean clothes that had sat in the living room corner all week trying to find socks, while one more ignored every effort to insist he get ready quickly.
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Sometimes marriage can become as stale as the box of Cheerios your ten-year-old left open on the pantry shelf. What once burned hot and bright may now be a cold, black dirty log in your fireplace.
Do you drool over those married couples that look as if they share a secret no one else knows? The secret is they know how to be intentional in their marriage. A good marriage takes work. A great marriage is like wallpapering your two-story den – it seems impossible. But, alas, it is not.
Here are 5 easy tips for turning up the heat in your marriage.
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The lights burn my tired eyes. The dishwasher hums. Kitchen chairs sit askew. Bicycle helmet and badminton rackets lay on the couch next to the book I was reading this afternoon. The fridge is littered with schedules and lists and reminders — all my attempts to organize this life. A glass bowl full of ripe pears on the counter along with three huge donated butternut squashes.
The kids asleep. The husband away. And me.
Me feeling like somehow life has gotten away, taken its joy and its wonder and sneaked away like a bandit.
Me feeling faithless, dried up and empty from so little time spent thinking and so much time spent doing.
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I struggled with knowing what to write here. I shuffled back and forth from what I thought you might want to read, and what is pressing on my heart to share. I chose the latter.
God has been doing a work deep in my heart, and I know it has to do with true compassion. Something, I still know so little about.
“I would rather feel compassion than know the meaning of it.” — Thomas Aquinas
“Moved with compassion, Jesus stretched out His hand and touched him.” (Mark 1:41 NASB)
In order to be the hands and feet of Jesus, our hearts must beat in rhythm with His.
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“Step. Slide. Hang on tight. Breathe.
Okay. Good. Now, repeat.
One more thing.
Whatever you do… don’t look down.”
I whispered these words to myself as I stood on a wooden bridge, high in the air. I was attached by a simple harness and pulley system, facing a fear I didn’t even know I possessed.
Going to Stone Mountain Park was my idea that hot summer day. Standing in line for Sky Hike, the adventure ropes course, was my idea, too. But fear was never part of the agenda.
Following each platform pit-stop is a pair of apparatus. Each climber must choose which path to take.
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There are days I feel discouraged.
Days when nothing I do seems to matter and I wonder why I bother.
Days when what I think are God’s plans for me don’t make sense and I question if I misunderstood.
Days I know the enemy is working on my thinking, and yet, I can’t seem to stop the attack which leads to self-doubt.
Discourage—to deprive of courage, hope, or confidence; dishearten; dispirit. (dictionary.com)
When I feel discouraged, I feel like giving up.
God knew His people would have days like this—days they felt discouraged and ready to give up. But He promised He would be with them.
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Written on
October 8, 2012 by
Kris in
Blog
Faith is something given, not achieved. It is created by God’s word in Christ. H.A Williams, via Madeline L’Engle, Walking On Water
The week ‘s wrung me out with the constant upset of a house filled with colds and sleepless nights for a chain of days on end. The schedule fell between the cracks as I watched the sun rise each morning, through bleary, heavy eyes and a heart weighted down with a rap sheet of mishaps and forgotten chores. Laundry threatens to swallow me right up, and the dog stinks and needs a good clipping.
In my frustration over a long week where every moment turned opposite of the way I willed it to, I find I’ve stuffed God into a box, determining for myself how He will answer my prayers–or not.
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