What I'm Thankful for: The Thankfulness Series Pt. 2

The person I would like to spotlight today...wait for it...is my hubby!! The greatest husband any wife could ask for! It's also his birthday this week, so I thought he would be a good person to start off the 'What I'm thankful for' posts. This smart, handsome, amazing guy is all mine (so back off ladies!)...actually he is all God's and knows that, which is why I love him so much.  In all seriousness though, he has often told me that 'I love you the most, after Jesus', and that marrying me was the greatest thing to happen to him, after salvation. This guy has got his priorities straight, and when looking for a future husband/wife those are things you should be looking for!

Not only am I thankful that his priorities are in the right place, but I am also thankful for his leadership in our home. He initiates the Bible reading we do in the evenings, and he leads us in prayer (I do it every once in a while). He makes financial decisions and pays the bills, and even though he makes the final decisions on things, he always wants my input, and listens to me...which brings me to the next thing...

He listens to me even though I talk his ears off!! I will say though, I warned him the first time we ever sent messages back and forth over Facebook (we had an interesting long distance courtship...if you would like to know the full story, just let me know!). Thankfully he hasn't seemed to get tired of me talking, which is good, because I have a hard time stopping!

There are so many more things I could talk about (like how fun it is to watch Doctor Who together and then use phrases from the show in front of people that have absolutely no idea what we are talking about!) but there are clothes to be washed, a kitchen to be cleaned, a floor to be vacuumed, etc., etc. so I will just end by saying that my husband is amazing, and I am so thankful God gave him to me!

Jesus loves you!

My apologies for the long break in blogging. My husband was on spring break one week, and I decided to do some spring cleaning (even though it feels like winter outside) the next. So, here I am 2 weeks behind! I was going to continue with talking on subjects my husband talks about in class (and I still might later this week), but something really hit me today that I wanted to share.
I listen to K-love daily. I enjoy having the app on my phone and being able to carry my phone around with me as I'm cleaning different areas of the house. A song came on this morning that I've heard several times, but this morning as I sang along I really thought about the words. The title is 'Someone Worth Dying For' by Mikeschair, and although I see where they are going with the song and I really like it, it made me think about the fact that really we are not worth dying for! Why?

We are sinners(Romans 3:23)

It's a plain and simple fact, and we know it all too well. Even for us who have grown up in church and were saved at an early  age understand how evil our hearts and minds can be. I think about things I've done, or thought and realize just how much of a sinner I am. If I was worth dying for, Isaiah 64:6 would not be true. Something I have done would have had to be good if I was worth it.
Your a sinner, and nothing you could do can save you from your sins. I am not worth dying for! But you know what?

Jesus Died for you anyway! 

Really this is the beauty of the cross, Jesus died for us while we were sinners.He suffered beatings and mockery, crucifixion, and God's rejection so that we could have salvation and a relationship with Him. Why? Because He loves us!
Romans 5:8, But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners.
Isn't this amazing? That God loved us so much that He sent His son to die for us on the cross so that through him we could have eternal life! (John 3:16) I pray that as Easter gets closer, you'll read about Jesus' death and realize just how much He loves you and wants to begin a relationship with you!

Day of Love

Valentines Day is fast approaching, and even though I said I wasn't really going to post about marriage until after our one year anniversary, I thought I would just give a challenge to all my married friends to try to do something thoughtful on this 'day of love'. It's always nice to do romantic, thoughtful things on other days, but most especially this Thursday.Let your husband/wife know just how much you love and care for them. And you know what, have fun with it! You will probably enjoy putting your romantic gesture together as much as they will enjoy receiving it!

Jesus Comes First

Ross King, in his song "Clear the Stage" sings:

"Anything I put before my God is an idol.
Anything I want with all my heart is an idol.
Anything I can't stop thinking of is an idol.
Anything that I give all my love is an idol"

It's a very powerful message that makes us have to stop and think about what we've been spending all our time doing, wanting, thinking about etc. And, of course, this includes relationships we have with people.

My husband broke up his lesson into three parts, and I'll do the same here, but like I told someone last night, even though the points sound the same, it's my own take on the lesson.

Building our relationship with Jesus

As you can see, this lesson was about putting Jesus first in, well, everything. So before we start a relationship with someone else, we need to make sure our relationship with Jesus is where it should be (or going in the right direction. First off, I need to ask the question: Have you accepted Jesus as your Savior? This is the foundation, the beginning of a relationship with Him. You see, we are not perfect and therefore have no way of redeeming ourselves or no way to get to heaven on our own. Jesus is perfect, and volunteered to die in our stead so that we could have a personal relationship with Him and one day live with Him in Heaven!
If you are a believer, then where is your relationship? Are you putting aside some time to spend with Him? or are you too busy? I struggle with making sure I spend one on one time with him. My husband and I study the Bible together (which is great! I love having that time where we read scripture together and get to talk about things we are both reading about!) but I also need to spend some individual time as well.

Once you are in a relationship with someone else, you must realize that:

Your dating relationship is part of your witness!

As my husband said last night, if you are not putting God first (and putting that other person first instead) others can tell. How? By how much you are willing to compromise the guidelines you made to be with that person. Your relationships are a light to others around you. It is a witness and shows your relationship with God!
My husband and I talked only about two weeks after we started dating (before we 'fell in love') about how that we were going to put God first, and that each other would be second...not first! I am so glad we talked about this, because it helped keep each other accountable.
Remember, what ever you do, do all for the glory of God (see I Corinthians 10:31), which includes dating. This can mean that:

Sometimes dating someone will not bring God glory

You know those dry spells, when it seems no one is interested (and you are not interested)? Instead of getting down or depressed, see it as a time where maybe God is saying let's work on our relationship! If you dated during that time it might not bring glory to God.
When I was nineteen I moved to Thailand (you can see some of my stories at missionseahelper.blogspot.com)  and spent three  years there. My purpose for going was to spend my single years wisely (I'll talk more about singleness next week), and it gave me an opportunity to serve God and bring glory to Him there, and there God made a way for me to meet my husband and give glory to God by dating, and eventually marrying, him!

So remember: "Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need." Matthew 6:33 NLT