Here it is February already! Marriage so far is a great thing in my life! One thing I learned about myself in the last 2 1/2 years is marriage was a wonderful blessing. When life is so full of love and you enjoy being a wife it is missed so very much when lost. God has filled me with such joy by replacing that gapping hole that being a widow caused. My heart goes out to everyone who is single that desires marriage. Remarriage, or marriage in general, can be a pretty tricky thing if one does not live close to the ways of God. I'm not an expert counselor, but I have learned a lot over the years of how to make a man happy as well as myself by going God's way. I Corinthians 13:4-7 is the best example and our wedding passage!
"Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres."
Do we always act this way perfectly? No, but it is a great reference point! I can say Tom was a very easy man to apply these verses to and his brother is also very easy to live with!! Hurrah!!
John and I have had a very busy first 4 months of marriage beginning with the holidays and after that doing some traveling and also having a sweet young woman, Cristina, making her home with us until she can get on her feet. She works and goes to college and needs a little extra support till she can move out on her own. Today living expenses can be very costly. So John and I joke with her that we still have a child in our home. John and I also have been blessed to experience another aspect of life-becoming great grandparents! Kaylyn was born in December, a baby boy is expected next month, and finally another baby (they don't want to know gender) will arrive in June! WOOHOO!! God is good!
Even though God has been so very good in many ways I can catch myself being fearful. Anyone else like me? Fear I have discovered can undo the good things in life! I can be afraid that I'm just not good enough for God, or is God really waiting to take us to heaven at death, or what if another of my family is taken from me, or my new husband dies!!!! Oh so many things can pop into my mind when least expected! The middle of the night is the worse time! These thoughts can put such a damper on a happy day or a good sleeping night! I don't think I'm the only one who has ridiculous fears. I do think as these fears hit me I've learned to recognize they are lies of the devil! I have discovered over the years the best way to face the fears is with God's Word. My favorite verse from the King James Version is
2 Timothy 1:7 "God has not given us the spirit of fear, but a spirit of power, and of love, and of a sound mind." Look also at how Jesus used scripture to chase away the devils lies and the devil himself in Matthew 4:1-11. When I first realized this several years back I was very excited. All of scripture (the Bible) is God breathed and has great power to rid us of any doubt or fear we may have! This is especially good for fearful people like me! One day I was thinking about this fear thing and in my reading from the Psalms that day in the 34th Psalm verse 4 I read -"I sought the Lord and He answered me; He delivered me from all my fears." I feel sure that this is the absolute truth since I have experienced it so many times! Seek God and He is the one to deliver us from our fears. They may come back (as I know mine will) but I have the answer and I won't stop using the weapon of the Word to overcome!
Know and remember we are one day Expected in Heaven!!! Have NO FEAR!
