Face-to-Face

Thank you for joining my Marriage Monday. If you have a moment I would love for you to visit another wonderful blog. Julie at Come Have a Peace http://comehaveapeace.blogspot.com/ shares many insightful thoughts on Marriage Mondays and throughout the week.

Hebrews 10:25 – “Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another…”

This past week God started working on my heart in the area of one on one, face-to-face communication with my husband, my children and my friends. I love Hebrews 10:25 because when we meet together face-to-face we have the opportunity to be a great encouragement to each other. There are things we can learn from personal contact that we can’t learn from facebook, texting or email. We pick up facial expressions, body language and intonations while talking to someone that we can’t pick up in a quick message.

Taking the time to call a friend says, “I care about you.” Stopping what we are doing and spending time playing with our son or daughter says, “I love you and want to spend time with you.”

How much one on one communication do you have with your spouse? When my husband and I first started dating we talked for hours. We took turns asking each other different questions. We wanted to know everything we possibly could about each other.

These days we are busy with work, kids and other responsibilities. We don’t have the hours on end to talk like we once did. One of the things my husband is great at doing is calling me during the day to check in. It may be a very short phone call but it tells me he is thinking about me and that he loves me. It makes my heart happy to hear his voice during the middle of the day.

One of the areas we can work on, is at night when the kids go to bed. Instead of going straight to the computer to check email or facebook we can sit down and talk. Maybe its time we start the question and answer session again. Who knows, as busy as we have been in the last 15 years our answers may have changed.

What can you do to improve personal communication with your spouse this week? Is there a friend or child you need to encourage?

I’d love for you to leave me a comment and let me know what you’re going to do to improve face-to-face contact this week. Who knows, it may be the perfect thing for someone else to try.

In His Calm,

Mary

First Love

So, I imagine your probably thinking, "Ok, Mary has a blog on Marriage. What makes her think she is such an expert that she can tell people how to have a Godly Marriage."

I'll tell you a secret. I am no expert. After 12 years of marriage I still mess up. I still become selfish, focusing solely on myself. And I still say and do things I shouldn't. But, one thing Jeff and I did early on in our relationship and still do today is commit to put God first and foremost. 

Revelation 2: 4,5 - But I have this against you, that you have left your first love. Therefore remember from where you have fallen, and repent and do the deeds you did at first...

I have had two opportunities in the last month to hear someone speak from this passage. The first was Karen Ehman who spoke at She Speaks, the  Proverbs 31 Ministries speaker, writer, and women's ministry conference I attended. The second was my pastor. Karen did a wonderful job helping us think back and remember how we felt when we first felt Christ's love for us. My pastor briefly looked at it from the stand point of the relationship with our spouse.

When I reflect on these verses a wave of emotions overcomes me. I am nearly brought to tears when I think of the incredible warmth of love I feel in the arms of Christ. He loves me when I become frustrated and lose my temper. He loves me when my thoughts wander away from Him He loves me when I commit to spending time with Him and then I get busy and I forget Him. He loves me in-spite of all I am! Feeling that love makes me want to go out to the mountain top and yell it out for all the world to hear. God loves me and God loves you! He loves us in-spite of who we are!

Then, when I think about how I felt about Jeff when we first met, I get all giddy inside. I remember the butterflies I would feel in my stomach every time I saw him. I would do anything to please him. I made sure I always looked nice. I gave him my utmost attention. I looked for ways to make him feel special. Now, 12 years later we have 2 young children and all the craziness that comes with life. And I think, do I still try to look nice? Do I give him my utmost attention? Do I look for ways to make him feel special? Honestly? I don't much of the time. I let the busyness of life overwhelm me and by the time life settles down enough for us to connect I have nothing left.

About two weeks ago I decided I would look for ways to help Jeff feel special. Last Saturday I woke up early and made Jeff a hot breakfast. Some of you may be thinking so, I do that a lot. Not me, Jeff loves a hot breakfast. Most of the time I go without breakfast. On mornings when we get a hot breakfast, other than frozen waffles from a toaster, its because Jeff makes it. As he finished breakfast that morning he looked at me and wanted to know what the special occasion was. I told him there wasn't one. I just wanted to make him breakfast just because I love him.

What about you? Do you remember what it was like when you first met and fell in love with your spouse? Is there something you need to rekindle? What do you need to do that you haven't done in a while or have never done?

Do you know Christ's love for you? Are there things in your life you need to change in order to turn back to God? I am reminded of a song we sang in choir this past Christmas. Forgive me, but I can't remember the name or the writer but the words are, "I believe in a cross; I believe He came for one, He came for all. Heaven's Child became a man; He gave His life for me in-spite of all I am."

Wow! God loved me so much He gave His Son for me! He gave His Son for YOU! I hope you are able to find some quiet this week to ponder that truth.

In His Calm,

Mary

In The Calm

In The Calm by Sandi Patty

In the calm of Your presence
I am listening, Lord
I am still, I am quiet I am Yours

Let Your Word speak to me 
Let Your Spirit draw near
I will obey
The truth that I hear


In the calm of  Your presence
I am listening, Lord
I am still, I am quiet I am Yours


There's a thirst in my soul
For Your wisdom divine
I long for the peace
And life that I find


In the calm of Your presence
I am listening, Lord
I am still, I am quiet I am Yours


I am still, I am quiet
I am Yours

The words of this song by Sandi Patty inspired the name of my blog. As a stay at home Mom of 2 young children my day is spent in a whirlwind of activity from grocery shopping to cooking meals, picking out clothes for the day to tucking in to bed at night, encouraging my kids to push themselves further to nursing their boo boos. In between those chaotic times I run to God for His peace and wisdom.

Through life God teaches me. When I sit quietly with Him, He reveals His truths. The lessons aren't always easy but through them God shows me His Everlasting Love.


Jeremiah 31:3 - The Lord appeared to us in the past, saying: "I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with loving - kindness."

One of the areas God has taught me the most is in having a Godly Marriage. I would love for you to join me each Monday as I reflect on the Lord's lessons of a Godly Marriage. My hope is that in your crazy, hectic life you find a moment each day to sit in the Calm of God's Presence and listen to Him.

Mary