funnies

to quote uncle albert from mary poppins, "I love to laugh,(ha ha ha ha) loud and long and clear...the more I laugh, (ha ha ha ha) the more I fill with glee, and the more the glee, (hee hee hee hee) the more I'm a merrier me!"

sometimes it's good to take a break and laugh. these past few days i've been watching a lot of funny clips from youtube. here are a few i found funny. some are separate postings but make sure to check them out!


for some reason i can't get the links to work, so check out these websites when you can.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XaruNs_7okY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bvVz-YtEpr8

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yb6EbzT_leI

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pOMqqI-kzHY

the power of prayer to change your marriage

so i've been reading a lot. i mean, a lot! i've never been a huge reader but lately i've had the time and the drive to read. a book i just finished was called "the power of prayer to change your marriage" by stormie omartian. i had heard of her "power of a praying..." series but never read any of them. this book just jumped out to me.

it was an excellent book and i think i have over half of it underlined! each chapter covered an different area that marriages can face. the topics included:

Communication
Anger, Rudeness, Abuse
Forgiveness
Depression/Negative Emotions
Children
Finances
Additions/Destructive Behaviors
Outside Influences
Hardness of Heart
Priorities
Divorce
Infidelity
Leaving Home
Needing a Miracle

each chapter was filled with incredible truth and jam packed with scripture to back up those truths. regardless of your marital status, it is a powerful book that can change your relationship...and the Lord knows, we all need to change!

here are some of the nuggets of wisdom i gleaned.

-it is not only about praying through struggles to find healing, restoration, and change. it is also about praying to prevent these struggles from ever developing into anything serious in the first place.

-getting married is just the very beginning of your relationship. being married frees you to feel secure enough to let your true self show-for better or for worse-so you can see where you need God's healing and transformation. staying married depends on you both being able to communicate with one another.

-forgiveness doesn't make the other person right; it makes you free.

-God has given you a way out of them (situations) through the power of prayer, praise, His Word, His presence, and His love. bask in all that until you are free. and don't lose hope. be confident of this, that "He who began a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ." (Phil 1:6) God won't give up on you, so don't give up on yourself or your spouse.

-any secret life of lust grieves the Holy Spirit. it makes a mockery out of a Savior who laid down His life so that we can escape sin and its consequences. it's as if He set you free in vain because you don't want what He died to give you. it offends God when His children choose to open up to that which separates them from Him.

-when you keep your marriage vows, God stands behind your marriage. that's why your prayers for the preservation and strengthening of your relationship have such power. they are already God's will before you even speak them. praying puts God's will into action. it means God's power will stand against any enemy you face-whether the enemy comes from the outside or it is actually one or both of you.

-because God is a God of miracles, He can bring back what has been lost or resurrect what has died. the greatest thing you can do while waiting for your miracle is to let the joy of the Lord rise in your heart.

WOW! some powerful statements there. it's a challenging book! definitely a read for those who are looking for God's best in their relationship.

selah

powerful

it's no surprise how much i love music. it is my way to express myself emotionally, physically and spiritually. these songs are so significant to me at this very moment. i hope they bring encouragement to those who hear.

"God is in the hard stuff"

This is the title of a book I've been perusing the last couple of days. It was written by Bruce Bickel and Stan Jantz. It's been good to be reminded of several truths when we face difficulty in life. One of the sections in the book was on marriage. Here are several things that I couldn't get out of my head.

"When a marriage begins to disintegrate, there is friction between the spouses. That dislocation of the relationship is always difficult to endure, but both individuals know that it will happen. The often unexpected and unarticulated pain of marriage difficulties comes from a sense of disillusionment. At some point, each spouse will come to the shocking realization that their romantic dreams of matrimonial bliss are totally unrealistic. The wife is dejected because she had envisioned a continued courtship with lasting, loving attention from the man she married; this is now just a dashed dream. The husband is disconsolate because he has not received the love and respect he had assumed would always be forthcoming from his bride; the stark reality of it all hurts."

Wow. It's good for me to be reminded that I often romanticize my marriage and how that is just a disillusion. As a little girl, I grew up reading fairy tale stories and wishing that one day, I too would live happily ever after. It never will be like those romantic stories. Because we are sinners, and we marry sinners, we will never have a perfect relationship. If we love God first we are able to love our spouse like God would.

"Whether a marriage is irrevocably broken or still hanging together by a thread, it is important to realize that a person's needs will never be completely fulfilled by a spouse. That is an unreasonable-and impossible-expectation. While a loving spouse can be supportive in many ways, only God can provide you with a sense of worth and wholeness. Don't expect a spouse to provide what is available only from God."

For me, that is a reminder I need to hear. My first and foremost love should be to God. My husband comes second and my child third. It's difficult to keep that in balance.

Here are some good summary points from the end of the chapter:

-"God should be the love of your life."

-"A good marriage won't happen unless you get a divorce from yourself.
You can't love God or your spouse if you love yourself more."

-"Don't be desperate to get married. Be desperate for God."

Some good reminders about marriage whether you are married or not.

my how time has flown...

It's been since March since I've blogged and it seems like it has been an eternity! So much has happened. We welcomed our beautiful boy, Benjamin James into the world in July and he has been such a joy in our lives! With the new baby arriving, life has gotten hectic and thus, no blogging. However, today is December 31st and I am determined to start blogging again, BEFORE the new year! So it's not technically a resolution because I started the day before. :)

Today is the last day of 2009. I think back on all I've endured in the last year and it has been full of emotions. Sadness, unbelief, joy, exhaustion, delight, and more. This has been an incredible and hard year in many ways and I'm thankful for every moment, for it has made me the person I am. It has been a convicting year, one in which I've seen things I must change. So I look toward the future with hope. 2010 is going to be the best year yet whether it brings heartache, surprise, wonders & miracles for it will be another opportunity for me to become the wife, mother, daughter, sister, aunt, cousin, friend, woman, I am supposed to be.

Broken & Beautiful

As I was flying to Ohio, I was listening to my ipod. I usually let it shuffle but this time I was listening to Mark Schultz. He has a song called "Broken & Beautiful". I just love the imagery in this song. Once again, it is a song that stirs deep emotions within me. It's overwhelming to think of how I am so undeserving of God's love because I am a sinner. Knowing that I sin, I continually sin, but with God's grace, I am not broken but I am beautiful to Him. This song has such a positive message of redemption. No matter what we have done in our past or present or future, we can come to Christ just as we are...

I hope this song ministers to your heart as it does mine.

slow fade

i posted this song back in october but wanted to post it again. this song really touches a chord in me. this morning as i was listening to it, i was struck by tears. the powerful words of this song ring so true. as i think of bringing a child into this world, it hits me even harder. my husband and i are to be an example.

in today's world, affairs and divorce are common place. it truly takes God at the center of a marriage to make it work. i remember a friend i used to work with. she was older and she eventually went though a divorce. her and her husband were a godly couple who were very active in their church and ministry. you wonder how do people who are walking with the Lord get to that place? i remember her telling me it was a slow progress over a period of time. it started with missing a few sunday's here and there. then missing devotional time...it was a "slow fade". he was then at the point of giving himself away because he was no longer focused on Christ individually or as a couple. through God's amazing grace we can be picked up by His outstretched arm and be brought back to His side, but we still face the consequence. this song for me, more or less, is a warning...an encouragement to "be aware". don't let yourself slide. don't allow the black and white to turn to gray. be a lover of Christ. have Christ as the center of each and every relationship. be aware of those who look up to you as an example. whether it be brothers, sisters, friends, children, etc. be an example of Christ and of His relationship with His bride.

many of us remember the song "oh be careful little eyes what you see"..."slow fade" ties that song in beautifully in order to convey the message in such a poignant way. i hope it speaks to your heart like it does mine.