Marriage Monday ~ When you husband needs encouragement

"...let us encourage one another..."

 Hebrews 10:25

Life has been a bit hard lately for the town I live in. 

This past weekend the 2nd Police Officer was shot & killed since Christmas. We live in a small town halfway between 2 larger cities. We have our share of bad things but nothing like this ever happens.

My kids have asked questions & I don't know what to tell them. I try to answer their questions the best way I know how but we are still left wondering & asking God 'Why'. 

Why?

If you have kids you hear that one word question many times throughout the day. Jeff & I answer the kids questions as best we can but we have found over the years when we get stumped they will accept the answer "Because that's the way God made it." Believe it or not they really do accept that answer. They know that God is a BIG AMAZING God and that sometimes we just don't have the answers to everything.

Now I'm having to trust that God in His BIG & AMAZING way will make good out of something so difficult to understand. 

photo courtesy Ruth Rackley Photography

I know a couple of ladies whose husbands are on the police force. They are hurting, angry, scared & they don't understand why. They are discouraged and need to feel the loving arms of God wrapped around them. 

These wives are struggling to know how to help their husbands. 

Like my friends you may be struggling with how to encourage your husband.

• Your husband may have recently been laid off from work.
• He may be under a lot of stress at work or with other responsibilities.
• He may be having difficulty with a friendship or family member.

Whatever the reason, as wives we need to be loving and supportive of our husbands. How do we encourage them when they are going through difficult times?

• The most important thing we can do for them is pray. We need to pray that they will feel the loving arms of God wrapped around them. And then we need to pray that God will help us know what we can do to encourage them.
• Be available - stop what we are doing & give them the attention they need. It may be to talk or it may be to just sit & watch tv with them. However they need our presence we need to give it to them.
• Does your husband have a favorite meal? Plan a special dinner for him at home with just the 2 of you or with the whole family. If he knows he has the support of his wife & kids he will be able to stand up to almost anything.
• Make a list of things that he does or things about him that you are thankful for and share them with him. 
• Give him Grace. When he is discouraged, scared & worried he may be short tempered & easily frustrated. Give him the grace of understanding his coping skills may not be as good as they normally are. Allow him some latitude & show him loving kindness.

God intends marriage to be a place of refuge and a source of strength. How can you help your marriage be a place of refuge, strength & encouragement for your husband?

In His Calm,

Mary

God Showed Up BIG

Blessings my Dear Sisters!

I'm sorry I have been "missing" from the blog for almost 2 weeks now. I shared with you in my last post I am working with a group of ladies to bring Anne Graham Lotz and her revival Just Give Me Jesus to our area. This past Tuesday we hosted the Kick Off Events for the revival. I was the Kick Off Chair.

I am still riding high on the gratefulness I have to my Lord and Savior for answering so many prayers. God's Presence was palpable in both the Pastors' Event & the Women's Celebration Event. We prayed that God would overflow both events and He did. He overflowed them with His Amazing Holy Spirit. Lives were touched and changed. I CAN NOT wait for the actually revival September 21 & 22, 2012.

I have begun to process the wave of emotions & hurdles we had to climb over the last few months to get to Tuesday. I promise I will share them with you as I am able. We still have a large amount of work to do to prepare for September but God proved He is Faithful and He will enable us to do HIS WILL.

For now I want to continue counting 1000 Gifts with Ann at A Holy Experience by counting just a few of the MANY ways I have to be thankful for Tuesday.

Counting Gifts #354 - #364

• God's Holy Spirit "overflowing" 2 Sanctuaries
• Hearing the "voice" of Angels in the voices of 1500 women singing praises to our Lord & Savior
• watching God's Will shine Glorious
• feeling God's Calming Presence as months of following in His footsteps materialized
• Precious prayers with spiritual sisters
• support from family & friends
• watching God work in the lives of Pastors & Church leaders
• Fog lifting to reveal God's Glorious Love
• answers to prayers for strength, clear mind & calm
• seeing the smiling faces & hearts of greeters & ushers
• God's Perfect timing

Taking the Joy Dare of counting 1000 gifts with Ann at A Holy Experience 

In His Calm,


Mary

Joy Dare

"Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift"

2 Corinthians 9:15

Life gets crazy sometimes and we forget to slow down and thank God for His Indescribable Gifts!

When life is calm & quiet its easy to see Him in the quiet ray of sun or the gentle kiss from my daughter.

But when life gets busy I don't stop to thank Him for the stretch of green lights that gives me time to get where I'm going or even the long red light that kept me still and out of an accident. I just rush around from place to place crossing off 1 more thing on my to-do list.

I've been sharing Thankful Thursdays for several months now with Ann at A Holy Experience. Her book One Thousand Gifts showed me how to find God's gifts in daily life. This year she has challenged us to Take the Joy Dare. I will be joining her in counting 1000 gifts in 2012.

God deserves my praise & thanksgiving in the good, the bad & the in between. I would love for you to continue to join me each Thursday for Thankful Thursday as I dare to count 1000 gifts in this wonderful life God has given me.

And oh... I know its Monday and normally I post Marriage Mondays but can you give me a little grace this week while I also ask you for a few prayers...

Next Tuesday several months of prayer & hard work will come together as a team of ladies I have the honor of working with will host Anne Graham Lotz and AnGeL Ministries for a Pastors' & Church Leaders Event and Women's Event. These events will be a time of worship with Anne Graham Lotz, Stephanie Seefeldt and Dr Crawford Loritts as they minister and share Anne's heart and her dream of the Just Give Me Jesus Revival.

Thank you for your prayers. My prayer is that God's Glory will be shown to everyone in attendance.

Counting One Thousand Gifts #321 - #353

• being vertically challenged ( being short is who I am :-) )
• allowing God to mold me
• being a faithful friend
• leaves rustling on the ground
• the warmth of a welcoming fire
• birthday dinner with good friends
• "Our worship on this earth is nothing compared to the worship we'll be able to give to God in eternity." Jill Savage
•  "So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded. You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised." Hebrews 10:35-36
• the sound of silence
• the gift of God's love & grace
• God's gift of a new mentoring friend
• blue streaks of clear skies
• Real Mom, Real Jesus by Jill Savage
• making myself push beyond my insecuritites
• God making everything fall into place
• reaching into my purse to find a pen to take notes in church & finding only a crayon to write with
• gourmet chocolate ice cream
• saving Grace of God
• Grace of forgivness
• Grace of understanding
• Grace of unconditional love
• pink glow in the morning clouds
• reflection of fall leaves in a mountain lake
• rays of sun shining on a glassy lake
• precious little 5 year old hand & a growing boy's 7 year old hand in mine
• being led with my eyes closed by 2 giddy children
• the excitement in the eyes & voice of my kids as they sing Happy Birthday
• the pucker on G's face as he eats a lemon
• chocolate cake with chocolate chocolate chip ice cream
• good morning kisses
• roses in birthday flowers
• glimpses of the sun peaking through the clouds after a storm
• left-over embers of a new years fire

Taking the Joy Dare of counting 1000 gifts with Ann at A Holy Experience 

In His Calm,


Mary