Day 5: Transforming Love

Happy Friday! What does everyone have planned for the weekend? Superbowl parties? Justin and I are going to our Life Group Superbowl party (same thing as Community group, Shauna). And Monday we are leaving for our little pre Valentine's get away to Gatlinburg. WHOO HOO!

What a POWERFUL first paragraph in today's reading. It painted such a real picture of Jesus' road to the cross. The last sentence really spoke to me..." His motivation was you." Wow! That kind of love, unconditional, selfless love does not come naturally to us as humans. Our nature is to always set conditions and terms for love. This type of love is not fueled by emotions, feelings, moods, etc. It is the greatest type of love, yet the hardest type for us a people to give. I haven't quite gotten a handle on how to continuously love Justin unconditionally, 100% of the time. It's hard! It's what the phrase "labor of love" is all about! When I am hurting and he doesn't respond or comfort me in return I have had a habit of showing anger, bitterness, etc to express my hurt. I think that is exactly what Jennifer talks about when she says love your husband regardless of if he's earned it or deserves it. I am starting to learn, in my short 4 months of marriage that a lot of times what I am hurt by, Justin may not have intentionally done. We are still learning from each other. And we still have ALOT to learn.  But we learn something new about each other each day and we continue to grow in our marriage and our walk with Christ each day.

" For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son..." John 3:16

Where can we find the strength and motivation to love your husband especially when he doesn't deserve it?

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

Day 4: Your Spouse is a Gift

 I absolutely loved today's reading and the story about the couple helping others and using their marriage as a ministry. I also really never thought about how God chose Justin just for me to be my gift and my counterpart. Sometimes in the midst of an argument I have had negative thoughts like God why didn't you give me someone that is/does/has _____________. I feel ashamed for those not so great moments in which Satan attacks me and my thoughts about my husband. Justin and I had a great time at our new Life Group last night. The study we are doing there relates a lot to what Jennifer talks about in today's video. It is called "Twisting the Truth" by Andy Stanley. It is all about the schemes of evil and Satan.I think my eyes are really starting to be opened to instances that our marriage is under attack. Does anyone else see that in their marriage at certain times? I wanted to share this verse about safeguarding against Satan's silly tactics.

 Therefore, take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all to stand firm. Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and as shoes for your feet, having put readiness given by the gospel of peace. In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one.
Ephesians 6: 13-16

I am just getting ready to meet Justin for lunch in about 5 minutes. I can't want to see him and view him as this amazing gift God picked out just for me! I am going to do exactly what the challenge for today is! HUG HIM! I am also going to start praying for God to use our marriage as a ministry.  I know God has a purpose and plan for us and God also gives us resources and talents to bless others. Have you guys ever thought about what your spiritual gifts/talents might be to bless others through your marriage?


 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gM-n_GYXmUc



Here's another quote from another wife I really liked: 
 from Rebecca Anton:

"I know at times I have thanked God for my husband. I have even told my husband that I thank God for him. But I have not had the perspective that he was a gift for me, CHOSEN by God. When I choose gifts for people, I choose them because I think "Oh this is perfect! That is soooo "So and so"! Thinking of my husband in this way was such a "lightbulb" moment. I will strive to always view him as the perfect chosen gift from God."

Day 3 The Need for Companionship

Hey Ladies,

Thank you to each of you who prayed for me, Justin and our marriage yesterday. I appreciate all your texts and love. I love that we are on this journey together. Today has been better. We did get our counseling session in. It was very productive. We are also trying out a new lifegroup tonight. I am super excited about joining this lifegroup. Justin has never been a part of a lifegroup before and I think it is going to AWESOME!

On to today's topic: Companionship. I love that she covers companionship with God as well as with our husbands. Today hit home for me because she talks a lot about trust and how it effects companionship. Trust is something I struggle with because Justin has not been honest with me in the past. This is part of the reason we are going through counseling now. He is willing to make the effort to work on us and regain my trust. I am thankful for that.

What do you do to promote companionship? What do you and your husband enjoy doing together?

Are there things you do not trust your husband to do? If so why?

For today's challenge Justin is all excited because he loves when I play PS3 with him so that is what he would like me to do with him. It is an activity that he enjoys. I am terrible at it but will do it because it is promoting companionship. Next week we will be going to Gatlinburg/Smokey Mountains for a mini vacation. That is something I am really looking forward to and I think it will help with companionship.

There are things around the house I don't trust Justin to do as much and feel I need to go behind him and do them again if he does them. The dishes for example. I always find food stuck on utensils, etc. So I would rather wash dishes myself. Sounds silly I know, but I bet each of you have something similar you can relate to. I really enjoyed Jennifer's video today.

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

Have a Wonderful Evening!

Day 2: Marriage By Design

Today was another great devotional about God’s intentions when he designed marriage.  I have to be honest, I was a little lost when I read the scripture.  The part about wives submitting to your husbands made me feel a little inferior to my husband, but the more I read, the more I understood the context.  Today’s devotional about the design of marriage put my marriage into perspective even more.  My husband, Torey, needs my devoted respect while I undoubtedly need his unconditional love.  I guess at times I felt like this equation has been reversed for us in the past and I have been through rough times in our marriage where I felt like respecting him wasn't even on my list!  I now have a greater understanding of what it means for my marriage to be a reflection of God’s love story of Jesus’ love for the Church.  I need to respect my husband always no matter the circumstances and he needs to always love me. 

Torey is really hard worker and is the majority of our financial support right now, so today’s challenge to tell him one reason I respect him was easy.  I plan to tell him how I appreciate and respect his hard working capabilities and usually without a single complaint.  

What did you all think about the scripture today?  And do you find it sometimes difficult to respect your husbands regardless of deserving it?

Day 1: God's Purpose for Your Marriage

Happy Monday! I hope you all had a great weekend. How is everyone surviving the cold weather? Trista, you hanging in there? :-) So how did everyone fair with Day 1?

" So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them." Genesis 1:27

What a powerful verse. I never really thought about our marriage having a purpose. Having just gotten married and finished all the planning and events, my focus was just on the wedding day and reception. Of course we did a little pre marital counseling. But I don't remember the pastor ever specifically saying Ok Trina and Justin the purpose of your marriage is ______________. Does anyone else feel a greater responsibility now after reading today's study? I did. I thought wow... it's not just about me. It's not about my emotions or trying to get Justin to fill my expectations for what my idea of our marriage looks like. I did spend some time talking with Justin last night. I asked him what he thought the purpose of our marriage is. I was pleasantly surprised by his response. He said, " to come together through the commitment we made with God. To use each others strengths to walk in that path. Loving, encouraging, and caring for each other every step of the way." After hearing his response my heart was full of love and thankfulness for him. I am so thankful God gave Justin to me to be my helpmate, partner, and best friend. So did you guys have a chance to talk with your husbands about the purpose of your marriage? How did it go?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=2EpHxQyyCEw

This short video clip is from the author of the book. She made a short video for each day of this study. I will probably post a lot of them for our discussions.

I have also decided to commit the the social media status updates each day. Another cool thing we could do is post our prayer requests. I believe in the power of prayer. There is nothing more powerful than knowing you have a group of ladies committed to praying for you. Feel free to post any requests.

Let's Get Started!

I hope you all are able to post on here okay? If not shoot me a text or email so we can work out the bugs.

Who's excited to start this study?!? I AM! I thought we would start up on Sunday by doing intros and getting to know each other a bit. I know each of you, but you may not all know each other. So post a little blub about yourself, how long you've been married, your goal for this study, etc.  Then Monday we can start up with Day 1 in our books. How does this sound? Ready..... Set... GOOOO!!! :-)

Hey Ladies! I hope everyone is having a wonderful Thursday! It looks like everyone will have their books by the end of the day. So.... Do we want to start our devotional on Sunday, January 26? Or Monday, January 27? We'll take the majority vote :-) I am so excited for this study with you girls! I know we will each have something awesome to bring to the table for discussions and advice from our different experiences and stages in our marriages! Let me know which date you would like to start, please!

Trina

Welcome!

Welcome Ladies! This is my first ever blog and first ever post as a "blogger". Not sure if this even makes me an official blogger or not? I thought creating this would be a great, easy way for us to discuss each day of the devotion. I am so excited to start the 30-day devotional, "Wife after God" with you. My book arrived in the mail today. Yay! I know some of you were able to download the kindle version and are set and ready to go. I am old school and got a hard copy book (I don't own a kindle). Once everyone has their book either in hand or downloaded we can start this thing up! So Excited and hope you are too! I'll be in touch with a start date soon!

Trina