God's Relocation Program

We recently made a quick trip back to our former church where in Tennessee.  As I traveled I recalled our initial move to Tennessee.  We knew God had called us there to serve, but we left behind family, our family pet, friends, and a wonderful ministry in the state convention.  I personally hate God moving us to new locations of ministry and will fight with all my being to stay where I am.  However, I have learned God has his reasons for implementing the “ministry relocation program.”

 Over the years that we were at this specific church we developed some rich friendships that continue even though we are in a new ministry place.  As a matter of fact, our quick trip back resulted in a “gathering of the old gang” for pizza supper.  The laughter was plentiful and the fellowship sweet.  Isn’t it wonderful that even though God moves you on in his work that true friendships can still remain intact? These friendships are all made possible by God’s relocation program.

Our time in Tennessee resulted in lasting memories.  I recalled the fun mission trip to Iowa and Nebraska and how our team of volunteers bonded in God’s work.  Every person learned to sacrifice personally from taking ice cold showers to scrubbing nasty restrooms in an old youth center.  Through these trips, God called out some of our youth to go in to full time ministry, become Christian camp counselors, and to become Sunday School teachers to preschoolers.  What a sweet memory that never would have been made without God’s relocation program.

This trip also brought back the sweet memory of the special bond the staff wives had.  We might not talk to each other during the week but we had each other’s back.  On Sundays, we might be able to chat for a couple of minutes and plan a “girl lunch.”  Other times we simply would pass in the hallway and mutter our code word “LULU,” which meant “I need to talk!”  Even today with all three of us in different churches and separate by hundreds of miles, the three “LULU” sisters (that is what we call ourselves) text almost on a weekly basis.  I love these girlfriends and I would never have met them had it not been for God’s relocation program.

I am sure some of you are in the process of God beginning the implementation of a ministry relocation program.  It can be a difficult and emotional time.  You want to be in His will but at the same time, you may love where you are now and are comfortable. (A word to the wise:  never get too comfortable because God will probably move you to a new place of ministry).  I want to encourage you to be open minded to what God may be getting ready to do in your ministry.  There are new opportunities for ministry, new and rich friendships, and so much more that will only happen with God’s relocation program.

Job Description

I was just jotting down some fun ideas for a blog the other day and found myself writing a job description for a pastor’s wife.  Now, I can tell you that I have literally had some of these requirements mandated on me over the years in the ministry.  I even know a few women who have held down ALL the rolls listed below and still managws their own households.  I know; that is crazy!!

For fun, I want you to play along with me.  I have listed just a few “descriptions” of what I have been asked to do.  Now, I want you to post what some of the rolls you have had to fill.  You do not have to be a pastor’s wife to include a description. 

I do want all of us to remember that we are called to serve the Lord in our roles in ministry.  Sure, the stress can be high, demands overwhelming, and we become weary.  The pay is often minimal.  However, just remember, our Lord faced the same issues as we do and he still fulfilled his earthly purpose.

Job Description for a Pastor’s Wife

Must play the piano

Must sing and lead choir

Must be the director of VBS

Must lead the WMU

Must be a great janitor

Must be a master gardener

Must attend all services even when sick or when children are sick

Must attend all baby and wedding showers and bring a gift

Must provide meals for homebound person

Must wear the most stylish clothes on a shoe-string budget

Must teach Sunday School and ladies Bible studies

Must plan monthly churchwide fellowships

Must lead the Women’s Ministry team

Must be the church secretary

Must work in the nursey every week

Must serve in the children’s area every week

Must visit nursing homes, hospitals with pastor husband

Must be absent from work for funerals, noonday service, etc

Salary package:  $0

Benefits: Extra jewels in your heavenly crown

Planting, Watering, and Pruning

Ladies, do you like to garden?

I have to admit that I most assuredly do not have a “green thumb”. However, I understand (a little) the concept of having a successful garden.

Maybe it can be summed up in three simple steps…

First, there’s the planting, tilling the soil, and putting the seeds in the ground. Also, there’s the watering; if we want our flowers and shrubs to thrive, they must be nourished with lots of H₂O. The third step (which I sometimes fail to do if I plant anything at all) is also extremely crucial, the pruning, which cuts away the deadness that can hinder the plants from reaching their fullest potential.

Hmmm……. this process also sounds a lot like our growth in Christ. Maybe I can sum up this very important process in three (sometimes not so easy) steps...

First, the soil is our hearts and the seed is His Word. We have to position our hearts to receive instruction from the Lord. This can be equated to the tilling process. Having a heart that is tender and teachable means striving to get out all of the “junk” that keeps the seed from taking root. Bitterness, unforgiveness, resentment, anger, jealousy, strife, impatience, and things like these can hinder the Holy Spirit, our Teacher, from strengthening us in the Lord. We all need to “do business with God” often and ask Him to show us the “soil” of our hearts; then the Precious Seed, the Scriptures, can transform us more and more into the image of Christ.

Also, the watering is spending daily time in prayer and reading and meditating on the Word. None of us can live a life that's pleasing to our Father unless we spend that wonderful one-on-one time with Him, talking to Him and allowing Him to speak to us. What an awesome privilege to have access to His throne room, and we can call on Him whenever and wherever we desire. We also have His Word to teach us, train us, rebuke us, correct us, comfort us, and encourage us! His Word indeed does water our hearts, but we must be intentional to seek the treasures that are found there.

Finally, the pruning can be painful, but oh so vital to our walk with Christ. I have some things in my life, and you have some things in your life that desperately need to go! I love the metaphor of the vine and the branches that our Savior tells His disciples shortly before He goes to the cross. The Lord cuts away the evil, sinful, unrighteous elements in our lives that keep us from bearing fruit for Him. Sometimes, He uses trials and suffering as part of the process. It hurts! Yet, without allowing the Lord to prune us, we could never grow in Christlikeness without it.

Planting, watering, and pruning…our gardens need these essential elements, and so do our hearts!

“Create in me a clean heart, O God. Renew a right spirit within me.” Psalm 51:10

Happy Saturday

 

If you are reading this, I consider you My Friend.......

 

Have a great day and may God Bless You!

Fashion Statement

I was at a Ladie's Conference shortly after I first became a Pastor's Wife and the leading lady made a comment about how pastor's wives had to be careful because they set the fashion stage for what the other women of the church wears.

I'm here to tell you............if that is TRUE.......the ladies in my church are in TROUBLE.  You see...........I wear for comfort....and price.  So....I am pretty sure if you see me wear something and you would like to have one like it........too bad, because I purchased the last one on the "marked WAY down" rack....or Goodwill only had one.

That's just me.

It may stem from growing up poor.......my dad was medically retired when he was 32 years old, so they literally raised us on Social Security.  But, for whatever reason..........I am a bargain HUNTER.  I do like some nice things......but I can promise if you see me with any name brand anything.......I got a SUPER DEAL on it and would love to tell you about it.  Smile.

Over the years, many times my husband would ask me....after the fact....can't you just say thank-you when someone compliments what you are wearing?  Why do you have to tell them how "cheap" you purchased it.  I guess...........BECAUSE....I get excited when I find a bargain.

When my children were growing up...........it was a joke.  Our weekly meals were based on "the Sales Flyers".  If it was on sale.........we ate it.  If not........we waited.

There was 18 years when I was a stay-at-home mom and we lived off one small income.  Being thrifty was a necessity. At this stage in our lives...............we are both still working and do not have children at home,etc.......so we could afford more.............BUT....STILL....I AM A BARGAIN HUNTER.

No shame....just Fact!

I say all of this to say..............if the ladies in my church are relying on me to make a fashion statement.....................WE ARE ALL IN TROUBLE!!!  What you see is what you get.

GOOD Girl - BAD Girl

Okay, Ladies.....it's time to start getting out those "spring" clothes...........you, know........the ones that DO NOT have the bulky sweaters to hide behind.  Whewww......and I MEANT to shed the pounds BEFORE this time.

(Last year, I lost a lot of weight.  Since that time, 13 lbs. have snuck back on and I can't seem to get motivated enough to get rid of them.)  I am only 5'1" so 13 lbs. is a lot..........and I don't want my body to get use to those 13 and add 13 more and 13 more until ALL of the lost weight finds its way back.  :(

I know what I need to do.............but doing it is another thing.  I

t's just like in our spiritual lives...............we know WHAT do it....but DOING it is another story.

Anyway..............back to my "title"......last week I had done so well and was actually proud of myself and eating habits for the week when toward the middle of the week, I began to really want something "sweet".  You know that feeling.

I decided to be the GOOD Girl...............and I made my diabetic cake.  (1 box angel food cake mix + 1 large can of crushed pineapples packed in natural juices...........mixed together, poured into a 9x13 pan and cooked at the temperature the cake mix suggests....until brown.)  We ate the pineapple cake with lite Cool Whip and YUM.  It was light, but sweet and refreshing. 

I felt good about my dessert.  Roger even enjoyed it.

BUT....Saturday was colder and yulky and the BAD Girl wanted CHOCOLATE. 

I remembered saving a Facebook post from Patti's Restaurant in Grand Rivers, KY and looked it up to see what it required. 

Patti's Kentucky Chocolate Pecan Pie

And, wouldn't you know....I just HAPPENED to have ALL of the ingredients...........so what is a girl to do? 

Give IN to the BAD Girl and make that pie.

That may have been one of the worst decision of my life.

That pie was to DIE for..................it was soooooooo yummy..........so rich...........and sooo sinful.  The LAST thing I needed was to find SOMETHING ELSE I LOVED to EAT.

BUT.....being the BAD Girl that I am..........I decided to share the sinful recipe with you.....because we ALL know........misery loves misery.  Smile.

Seriously....Sisters........when a girl has just gotta have chocolate........this will hit the spot.

Patti's Kentucky Chocolate Pecan Pie

Ingredients:
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup melted butter
2 eggs6 oz. pkg. chocolate chips
1 cup chopped pecans
1 tsp. vanilla
9" unbaked pie shell

Instructions:
Mix sugar and flour.  Add butter, blend well.  Stir in eggs, chocolate chips, pecans and vanilla.
Pour mixture into pie shell.  Bake in preheated 325 degree over 1 hour or till golden brown.

Note:  This is a very rich pie.  Great served with ice cream or whipped topping.

NOT a PRIORITY

Who will lead us tomorrow?

What future does the church we know today have?

I have been thinking about this a lot.  Back when I was growing up....EVERYONE went to EVERY Revival at all of the neighboring churches EVERY Spring and EVERY Fall.

Sundays..............we went to church.  NO QUESTIONS.....NO EXCUSES.

Today...we can not even get the people to attend Sunday Morning regular....much less any other meeting time. 

• The weather is too pretty
• The weather is too bad
• The fish are biting
• The ball fields or courts are calling our names
• It is our Family Day
• It is our ONLY day off

CHURCH is NOT a PRIORITY to the MAJORITY of PEOPLE.

What example are we setting for the young folks who will be left to carry on the church of tomorrow?  They are not being taught that it is important.  They are being taught that EVERYTHING ELSE is MORE important.

I fear that the church we know today....will not exist when we are gone.

PRAY....PRAY....PRAY.....for the future of our CHURCHES
                                           for the future of our CHILDREN
                                           for the future of our GRANDKIDS

IF WE don't set the example...NO ONE WILL!





       

Our Baby is 32!

A Special HAPPY BIRTHDAY to our oldest......Kacie Lynn is 32 years old today.  We are so blessed.  She is a wonderful daughter, sister, wife, teacher and mom to our two grandchildren.

March 14, 1985.....changed our lives forever; made it even better.

DEATH....a Reward....

It seems as if when one person dies....more follow.  We have not had a funeral in our church in a while.  

A couple of weeks ago, one of our members lost his mom.  He was an only child.  The next week, we lost our oldest living church member....Mrs. Margaret Baker who was 91 years old and also another church member lost her granddaddy, who was the one that raised her.  This week another church member passed away and then, yesterday I posted about the pastor's wife that passed away from a stroke..............

Death is soooo hard on the ones left behind.  

And in the mist of our grief, we fail to stop and realize that if that person was a Christian..........they were just given their ultimate reward.  They are NOW walking the streets of Gold with, none other, but God himself.  How awesome is that?

We, being human, we want to keep everyone here forever.  I have a friend that keeps saying she does not want to die and does not want any of her family members to die.  She just wants the Lord to Come Back........and take them all at the same time.

If all of our family members are Christians....that would be WONDERFUL....

Unfortunately, we all have family members, friends, neighbors, co-workers or at least know  people who are NOT Christians.  They are not ready.  It is our jobs to take every opportunity we have to set an example and witness to them so that they will be prepared.

Heaven Gained Another Angel

Humanly, I am very sad to post this.....but one of our Tennessee Bi-Vocational Wives went home to be with Jesus this past Saturday.

Kathi Daniels from Gallatin, TN area.  Kathi had a stroke on Friday and never recovered.

Another example of how we NEVER know when OUR time will be.  I first met Kathi at a pastors' training event at Carson Springs Bible Camp.  I had been asked to lead the ladies.........which is WAY out of my comfort zone.  Kathi was so precious and encouraging.....and I could feel her prayers the entire time.

Her and her husband also came to the yearly Bi-Vo Retreat in January.  Please keep her husband, Buddy in your prayers and their church, where he was Senior Pastor.

Oops.....Lost an Hour...

I saw this on Facebook Saturday and thought I would share with you Ladies..............the Story of MY LIFE!  smile.

On a serious note.........I pray that everyone went to bed early and are feeling perky today!  Love you!

True Transparency

"It's okay to not be okay"

This is a saying that Matt Chandler says they use at his church, The Village Church in Texas.

For some reason, in our world of Pinterest perfection and Facebook facades, we have come to believe that we have to have "it" altogether all of the time. We put all kinds of crazy expectations on ourselves and allow Satan to convince us to think less of ourselves when we fail to measure up to the impossibly high standards we set for ourselves.

On top of all of this, life happens and it can be painful and hard. Whether our pasts and presents are our own doing or have been done to us, we still feel a responsibility to put our "best" face forward. Maybe even as a result of all we've been through, we put on a veneer and shut people out for various valid reasons.

For those of us who have grown up in the church, we know the "game" and how to play it in the pews and hallways of shiny sanctuaries. We know when to sit and stand. We know in which part of what song to raise our hands. We know the right words to say to keep everyone close, but not too close.

Dear Sister,  please hear me say, "It's okay to not be okay." Give yourself permission to hurt and feel. You CAN make mistakes. You WILL fail. I know this to be true, because we all do all these things: hurt, feel, make mistakes and fail.

It is here in our shortcomings and failures, where our deepest needs are felt. It is here where God gladly meets us, counting all our tears and, if we let Him, intervenes.

When we are vulnerable and honest with Him, He can redeem our pasts and give worth to our current circumstances. His grace covers it all.

Chandler often explains that we can't just stay "not okay," but the only way things can really change is if we are willing to confess that we aren't "okay."

In my last post, I pointed out that God knows all of us anyway. We may try to compensate with good deeds and polished prayers, but He has shown He loves us, sending His Son to die for us while we were still sinners and far from Him.

God is the first One we need to real with. Once we are open and honest with Him, confessing our worst and letting Him make us new by healing us from within and setting us free from the bondage of our own expectations - then we can be real with ourselves and with others.

It is in this transparency with Him, that we can live in a sincere joy for today and in an honest hope for tomorrow.... When He is that real to us, we will want Him to be that real to others too.

Life then is no longer about us, but God using us to show Himself to the world - That's true transparency, being so real that only He is seen....

FAKE or Focused

I am blessed that my husband is my best friend.

He is the one that I WANT to tell everything. If something good happens, I want to tell him. If something bad happens, I want to tell him. If something strange, unexpected, funny, or even the most mundane happens, I want to tell him.

As we have shared life together for nearly 20 years and I having told him all these things for all these years, he knows me pretty well. He can tell when I am feeling FAKE. I honestly, can't be FAKE for him very long before he picks up on the fact that something is "off" and he asks me what is up. (Most often, he is afraid he's done something to cause my "off" attitude in reality has nothing to do with him at all.)

We can talk about my FAKE feelings and he can offer his advice, but even as great of a husband as he is, he can't make those FAKE feelings go away. He can listen and pray with me, but ultimately the only One who can eliminate the guilt, insecurity and inadequacies is God.

For me to look to my husband or any other relationship to combat my feeling FAKE, I have made an idol of that person.... I am asking and looking and hoping that they can do something only our Creator, Savior, Loving God can do.

I know this, yet, I VERY rarely tell Him how I feel no matter how I am feeling -FAKE or even just happy or sad. When something happens that evokes a strong reaction in my gut, He is sadly the last one I seem to turn to talk about it.

Why?

In my head, I know He loves me unconditionally. In my head, I know He is intimately involved in my life. In my head I know He wants me to come to Him with even the slightest details. In my head, I know He can more than handle my emotionally baggage.

But.... In my heart, Satan ruthlessly attacks my most vulnerable parts and turns my focus on to anything but Him.

Several ladies responded to my first blog post this week by commenting on here and on my Facebook page. Their comments were similar as they talked about what they allowed themselves to focus on when fighting the feeling of being FAKE. They each reminded me that when those feelings of being FAKE start to rise, I need to intentionally turn my attention back to Christ.

This really got me thinking . . . I was preparing to encourage you to pray for someone for you to be "real" with, when the Holy Spirit convicted me that He was the One we needed to be completely open with in the first place.  He is the One we need to tell everything, EVERYTHING.

Yes, sometimes it is the hardest to take off the mask when we come before our God. It is so easy to listen to Satan's lies about Him and ourselves, believing that He doesn't really care or that we can only come to Him when we have our junk completely together. Maybe we've been taught that we can only pray in the King James and that it would be sacrilegious for us to tell Him honestly how we feel.

Let's think about that for a minute.... If God made us and loves us and sent His Son to die for us.... If He is all-powerful, and all-knowing and everywhere at once..... Doesn't He already know the real us? Doesn't He already know how we feel? Doesn't His Word tell us over and over again to come to Him and talk to Him, confessing and receiving redemption and grace?

Only He can change our heart. Only He can transform our feelings. Only in finding our identity in Him are we able to stop feeling FAKE.

If we choose to keep our focus on our feelings, we will wallow there and those feelings will grow, poisoning our ministries, our families and even our own health.

If we take those feelings and confess them to God, learning to be transparent and real before Him, we can learn and grow and become more like Christ.... Then, and only then will we have the ability to take the risks and be real with others. That ability won't be of ourselves, it will be the work of the Holy Spirit within us.

So, dear readers.... a couple of closing thoughts....

1. Are you putting someone else in God's position in your life? Are you looking to or expecting some person to provide the friendship or the confidence or the healing that only God can provide?

2. If the answer to quit feeling FAKE is found in focusing on God, (which I believe it is) how do you do it? How do you do it and how do you maintain that focus on Him?

There are definitely times in my life where I do expect my hubby or one of my friends to fill that void. And there are definitely seasons in my life that are harder to keep my focus on Him. I do NOT have it altogether. I need your input, and I think it is safe to say others do too....

How do you go from feeling FAKE to finding focus?

Feeling FAKE?

Do you ever feel FAKE?

I mean do you ever get dressed in your Sunday best clothes, walk in the doors of the church and smile when all you want to do is stay in your jammies, go anywhere but the church and have a good, ugly cry?

I have to confess, even recently, very recently, this has been me. I have felt so very FAKE.

I sang the hymns and shook the hands and smiled the smile because I knew that was expected of me, being a minister's wife and all. People were watching after all. I'm not just making that up either, being paranoid or self-absorbed.... I had them actually tell me.

As I thought about it, I realized that this charade isn't limited to us ministers' wives. It is not even exclusive to the Christian either, trying to portray that their life is easy and perfect because of their faith in Christ. With the added pressures social media has placed on the average American woman to be extraordinary in her daily balancing of life - no one is immune from from this feeling of being FAKE.

Why is it so hard to be transparent? Why is it so difficult to be vulnerable?

There is risk involved. Rejection. Judgment. Chastisement. Our reputation. Our spouse's standing. Our child's acceptance. Financial repercussions.

What will people say if they knew what you were really feeling this morning? Even worse, what would they think or say to someone else?

Please don't hear me say I've got the answers on how to be vulnerable and transparent. I am not even convinced that we always should be. Remember, I started this post by saying how very FAKE I have felt so very recently.

I do know how it feels to feel FAKE.

When I feel FAKE, I feel like I am dishonest, purposely letting people believe that I've got it altogether. I feel guilty because my head tells me I have been so blessed to be focused on whatever issue that has caused me to feel the need to be FAKE. I feel alone and isolated as if no one truly knows me or would even want to know me. Depression is never far behind the loneliness.

So... what do we do with our FAKE feelings?

These feelings are real and restricting. They paralyze us and keep us from living the full lives that Christ promised us in John 10:10. The Thief has a big time stealing our security, killing our joy and destroying our community.... all from feeling FAKE.

I thought I'd use my turn to blog this week to see if we could discuss how you've learned to handle these feelings or maybe just even give you a place to confess that you know the FAKE feelings I'm talking about.

Can you relate? Have you ever felt FAKE?

Why Did You Get Married?

Why did you get married?  It’s a fair question.  Why DID you get married?

My reasons for getting married were part Godly and part fleshly!  Since I had only been a Christ follower for a short time all I really knew was that I wanted a Godly marriage.  I got married because I believed it when people told me we would be better together than we would be alone.  I believed that he would make me happy.  I believed that it would be his job to meet all of my emotional, spiritual, physical and any other needs I might have.

What I learned was that many times my marriage would look anything but Godly.  That many times I would much rather be alone than with him.  That there would be many times that he would make me unhappy and I was so disappointed to learn that his job was not to meet all of my needs!

But I discovered all of that while we were engaged and before we even said “I do”!

So, why did I get married?  Sometimes I forget.  Sometimes I need to go back to the very beginning (Are you now adding ‘a very good place to start.  When you read you begin with A-B-C when you sing you begin with Do-Re-Me”?  Got the tune in your head now?  Ok, let’s continue) and remember what it was that drew me to him in the first place.

It was in the spring of 1974 that I first remember seeing him.  He was playing the banjo with the other musicians at our weekly Young Life leadership meeting….leading worship is what we would call it today….not sure what we called it back then! 

He was adorable.  Long hair, blue eyes, focusing on his banjo, not singing…I was attracted to him and intrigued by him….who was this ‘new guy’?  I was super excited when we broke up into small groups…and I found myself sitting next to him!!  We all sat cross legged on the floor….we were instructed to share prayer requests and then pray for the person on our left.  Well….I was the person on his left….and he was to pray for me!!  How precious!!

My excitement was short-lived because, apparently, I was much more fascinated with him than he was with me!! When he began his prayer he prayed for DIANA!!  Diana?  Not Dana!!  Who in the world was Diana?  I wasn’t even significant enough for him to remember my name!! 

Sometimes the enemy will lie to me now and tell me that if he really loved me he would remember _______________!  You can fill in the blank!  The blank could be anything from remembering to pick up something at the store or remember what I like to order or any other insignificant thing that causes me to focus on me and dissatisfaction.

Fast forward to the fall semester…Our paths crossed periodically and then one night he called and he asked me out.  I was so excited!! Ernie picked me up and we headed for the Spaghetti Warehouse in Dallas.  Since we were in Fort Worth, it was a good 45 minutes to an hour so we had ample time to talk. 

We got to our table, read over the menus, and were ready to order.  I had dating experience and this guy was a seminary student so I knew to order the cheapest meal on the menu. 

Waiter to me:  “What would you like?”  “I’ll take spaghetti, no meatballs, no salad please.”

Waiter to Ernie:  “What would you like?”  No words come out of his mouth.  He looks at the waiter.  He looks at me.  He looks around.  He looks down.  He turns red.  He looks embarrassed.  And says, “Ummm….I’ll just take an extra plate please.”

Wait!  What did he say???  “I’ll just take an extra plate??”  The waiter looks at him.  The waiter looks at me??  I shrug….I have no words.  I ordered the cheapest thing!!  I’m thinking to myself, “Did you not even bring enough money to cover both meals???”  This is nuts!  After what seemed like FOREVER, he smiles and says, “I'll have lasagna!!”

Ha!  That was so funny!  And fascinating.  And scary.  And cute!!  And adorable!!  I loved it!  Took me off guard.

However…..to this day that man cannot give a straight answer!!  What was fun and cute and interesting and fascinating then can sometimes be not fun and annoying and frustrating today!!  See what I mean?  See how the enemy takes what is good and makes it bad??

From the moment he picked me up, throughout the 45 minute drive and during dinner he kept telling me that there was something he wanted to do that he had never done before on a first date.  It was odd.  A little disconcerting.  Somewhat fearful.  Over and over he kept saying he wanted to “do something” but would not tell me what it was.  Who was this guy?  Did I really know anything about him?  Just because he was in seminary didn't mean he couldn't be a serial killer or rapist!!  (Vain imaginations still plague me to this day!!)

After we ate and got back to the car I could tell he was nervous.  He kept lingering and acting rather strange…and saying he wanted to do something he’d never done on a first date before.  THEN he asked me to scoot over to the middle of the car!!  (That was when there were no consoles and we could actually sit in the middle….but it was reserved for relationships that were way farther along than ours was!!)  What did you say??  You want me to sit in the middle?  Next to you??  Close? 

However….I scooted!  What in the world??  He became more and more nervous and had such a hard time coming out with whatever it was he wanted to “do”.

Finally he spoke.  He said he had been in several relationships and they were not centered on Christ.  It was his desire that ours….regardless of what the future looked like….would start out focused on Him!!  And he wanted to pray with me over our relationship and what it would become, if anything.

I was overwhelmed with joy and appreciation and relief and gratitude!  I had never experienced anything like that before and I knew he was someone special.  We prayed over our new, unformed relationship, giving it to the Lord, asking Him to take it, giving our future to Him....it seemed so odd yet so normal.  We didn't have to worry about what was to come of it....there was much peace knowing it would be OK because we had given it to Him.  Little did I know that we would spend the rest of our lives praying together!!

We got back to my apartment and he walked me to the door…..I have no recollection of what we said….because he shocked me one.more.time!!  He kissed me!!  He kissed me on our first date!!  THEN after he kissed me he stepped back, looked me straight in the eye and said, with all seriousness and conviction, “I didn’t think Christian girls kissed on the first date!”

What did you say???  I was dumbfounded.  I had no response.  I was mute and angry and shocked and happy and confused and laughing.  I loved it and I hated it!!  I was entertained and I was shocked.  And this was only the beginning of what our relationship would look like!

Our first date is somewhat indicative of our relationship.  He continues to dumbfound me and confuse me and make me laugh.  He keeps me on my toes and I never know what he will say or do next.

Take a few minutes and think back to when you and your husband first met.  What attracted you to him in the first place?  Was it the way he looked?  The things he said?  What he did?  Stop now and thank God for bringing you two together and tell your husband! 

You might be in a season where you do not like him very much right now….you might need to remember why you married him!!  And, perhaps like me, the very thing/s that brought you together might be the very things the enemy uses to pull you apart. 

Happy reminiscing!