GPS to a Joyful Marriage

Mary Did You Know?, my favorite Christmas song focuses on the life of Jesus more than just His birth.  Check out this link to a wonderful video of this beautiful song: http://www.uptv.com/blog/uplifting-video-mary-did-you-know-music-video Mary did you know, that your baby boy would one day walk on water Mary did you know, that your baby boy would save our sons and daughters Did you know, that your baby boy has come to make you new This Child that you delivered will soon deliver you Mary did you know, that your baby boy will give sight to a blind man Mary did you know, that your baby boy would calm the storm with His hand Did you know, that your baby boy has walked where angels trod When you kiss your little baby then you kissed the face of God The blind will see, the deaf will hear, the dead will live again The lame will leap, the dumb will speak the praises of the Lamb Mary did you know, that your baby boy is Lord of all creation Mary did you know, that ...

‘Tis the season to be jolly’.   Hmmm.  The older I get, the less jolly I feel at Christmas time.  It seems the real reason for the season, the birth of Jesus, is slowly being pushed aside to make room for all the commercialism that now dominates this holiday.  I don’t like it. There has also been a lot of skepticism over the past few years about the roots of the celebration of Christmas, and so I decided to investigate it myself.  It seems that Christmas, initially called the Saturnalia Festival, started as a pagan holiday.  Romans adopted it with hopes of turning people to Christianity. From “Christmas, the Real Story”           In the 4 th  century CE, Christianity imported the Saturnalia festival hoping to take the pagan masses in with it.  Christian leaders succeeded in converting to Christianity large numbers of pagans by promising them that they could continue to celebrate the Sa...

I am so grateful for my godly husband who epitomizes the qualities in Ephesians 5:25.  “Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her.”   I am greatly blessed to have a partner who treats me like this.  It wasn’t always that way, though. We went through our “marital fire” and stayed together only by the grace of God.  He saved our marriage and transformed it into the biblical marriage that He desires for us.  Of course, we are still human and have our moments, but those rare moments are greatly overshadowed by an amazing relationship that keeps God in the center.  I don’t know how marriages survive without God in this day and age. So what if your spouse is not at the same place you are spiritually, or maybe they are not a believer at all? 1 Peter 3:1-4 tells  wives what to do in that situation.  “Wives, in the same way (the previous verses talked about submission to authority) be submissive to...

Rick and I discovered a show this weekend called “Marriage Test”.  Five couples shared a home, for a few days, with the guidance of two marriage counselors. Some of them came off as headstrong and unchangeable until the facilitating couple starting asking questions about their parents.  The coolest, hardest ones seemed to break the most when discussing mom or dad issues. I’ve always known that we are deeply affected by negative circumstances from the past, especially when initiated by our parents.  This part of the show made me realize, though, just how profoundly that pain can scar us. The one couple was on the verge of divorce; their marriage was a mess.  He had been cheating with various women and showed no interest in his wife.  She had little self-esteem and felt out of control of her life.  She turned to food for comfort.  When asked to describe their mothers, individually, they both ended up in tears when recalling traumatic experiences...