Marriage | Turquoise Tomatoes

So, it has been quite a while since my last post. 😦 This has been a very busy season for me. I write MANY posts in my head, and they just haven’t found their way to words on a screen yet. Maybe one day….like December when microbiology is over…( insert happy dance HERE!)… So the real reason we’re here tonight….

Lately, I seem to see marriage encouragement just about everywhere (I love Darlene Schacht who blogs at Time-Warp Wife). Did you see this post on 25 Ways to Communicate Respect (found over at www.lovinglifeathome.com)? Well, tonight, I want to share some encouragement with you from my little corner of the blogger world.

So..before we EVEN get started, lets be honest…sometimes we all have better weeks than others in our marriages. Sometimes, we don’t communicate well for a few days. Or we let the tiniest (and not so tiny) things ruffle our feathers. We had one of those “few days” recently. And thankfully, we are on the other side. I love the words of Exodus 15:13

“With your unfailing love you lead the people you have redeemed. In your might, you guide them to your sacred home.”

Praise God we are redeemed people….and that He leads us. One place He has lead us lately is to pray together each night. Rob started this new tradition just last night (well, restarting something we did before he deployed) – we each mention one (or maybe two) things we would like the other to pray for, and as we stand in each others arms, we pray specifically for each other. People, there is POWER in those sweet moments we spend together in communion with our Creator – the two sinful humans, redeemed by His blood that He brought together for His purpose. I find myself praying for him more throughout the day and excited for his return in the evenings. It seems to be centering my heart in finding joy in our journey (even in the midst of lots of dishes!)

I just want to encourage you to be listening to the Holy Spirit and His leading in your heart, and be asking specifically for Him to strengthen your marriage with His touch– and adjust, if necessary, its reflection of Christ and the church.

**and just a note to any dating/engaged readers….please be careful praying alone together, it creates such an emotional attachment that can lead places it doesn’t need to outside of marriage**

wedding images courtesy of Kerry Brooks Photography

http://www.kerrybrooksphotography.com

Eight years, 3 children, a dog, 3 towns, 1 deployment. Yesterday was my birthday, tomorrow our anniversary. I would say we are in our best year yet, and I’m so thankful that God has brought us to this place! Tonight, as we were spending time together in his workshop, God was teaching me. You ready??

My husband is an amazing craftsman. He has great attention to detail and creates beautiful pieces. Some things he researches what others have done and creates his own plan to meet the projects needs or just dreams up, sketches and builds. Tonight, he called me to come see the table he has built for his Big Green Egg. People, I didn’t know such a functional piece could be so pretty! He asked if I would like to help stain it.

I said yes.

You see, my husband’s hobby is woodworking. He thoroughly enjoys it. He takes our girls to his workshop and lets them build things (and they LOVE it!). Tonight at 9 pm with laundry and dishes to be finished, I could have easily said “No.”, but it was such a blessing to work along side him to finish up something he had made. I was being his help-mate. The role God gave us as wives is so much more than housework, child raising and sex. We are supposed to be our husbands best friend. He is supposed to come second only to the God we serve whole-heartedly (and if you are not in that place in your relationship with God, submitting to and loving your still in the flesh husband as your second priority will be daunting).

Genesis 2:18 says:

“Then the LORD God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone.

I will make a helper who is just right for him.”

You were made “just right” to be your husbands helper, to be his mate. We bond with girl friends over things that we have in common. Our husbands are not women! We are going to have to study our man. To join him in the activities that we may not initially find appealing, but go along because we love him. And we love Jesus. I don’t follow Rob out to his workshop every single time he goes (not by a long shot!) but I do my best to come and see his work when he asks. I don’t get upset with him for working outside for a few days on his project. I embrace it as part of who he is, and I find ways to be a part of his thing. I had a blast staining wood tonight because I was alongside my husband, admiring his work. My feet and legs are a little splotchy. No, I didn’t botch self tanner. But I don’t mind the stains (seriously, they wont come off!).

I want to encourage you to study your man, take time to just be together and talk about things other than the children, schedule and your hectic life. Talk dreams, matters of the heart, etc. And the other biggie is this: find women who you see loving and honoring their husbands. It’s pretty evident who these women are. Spend time in their presence– you will be blessed as you learn from them!

To end today, I want to leave you with a song I heard for the first time at my cousin’s wedding. LOVE it! This is John Waller’s The Marriage prayer.