29 Years Ago Today...

29 Years ago today, I said "I Will" to my high school sweetheart. It is amazing how the LORD can take two separate hearts and knit them together perfectly. Our marriage and our love would not be what it is today if it wasn't for Jesus. A strong marriage is liken to a 3-corded rope. Each strand is strong, but when all three are knotted together the rope is even stronger. Thank you Lord for my husband, and the life you have given us together. I love this man more today than I when I married him and I know that my love for him is going to continue to grow stronger the longer we are together, LORD willing, of course.

Choosing Gratitude - A Challenge

I am in the process of reading a book by Nancy Leigh DeMoss called, "Choosing Gratitude". I just started reading this book a few nights ago and what a challenge it has been to me already as I discover how easy it is for me to gripe and complain instead of being thankful, gracious and grateful.

God's timing is perfect in all things. Let me take you back to Wednesday and give you some history. I have been battling a particular problem for several weeks now. So much so, that I found myself becoming physically ill and angry about my circumstances. I might be going out on a limb here, but I think it would be safe to say that at least one time in your life you may have experienced a situation similar to this.

My pastor's wife could see I was troubled and offered to listen. The thing is, I was so angry about my circumstance I felt like I would have unwound at such a high rate of speed that I would not have made any sense;even worse I feared I would be in the flesh. This is not a side that anybody should ever have to see, trust me.

That afternoon a shipment of books arrived. I opened up the box and what was the very first book on top? Yes, you guessed it! CHOOSING GRATITUDE! I picked up the book, thumbed through a few pages and read an excerpt from the pages that smote my heart. Do you think I can find that paragraph now? No, but isn't that just how the Lord works to get your attention?

Nevertheless, I picked up the book, paid for it and brought it home and began reading it (after I had finished "One Thing You Can't Do In Heaven" by Mark Cahill - by the way, another great book every Christian should read).

So far I am a third of the way through the book and I ran across a challenge the author gives to the reader to cultivate gratitude. The 30-day challenge is two-fold: 1) For the next 30 days purpose to say nothing negative about your husband to him or to anyone else, and 2) Over the course of the next 30 days express at least one thing that you admire or appreciate about your husband to either him or somebody else.

If not your husband than maybe pick someone who you are having a hard time getting along with or may be hard to love in Christ. It is so easy for us (because of our sin nature) to pop off something negative when we are are feeling hurt, distraught, ignored or even put out.

This book has more to offer than this challenge. It helps the reader understand there is a cycle - guilt - grace - gratitude. It helps the reader question their level of thankfulness and if it is not where it ought to be, then what has crept in to steal it? In many cases the lack of thankfulness or GRATITUDE is the root of many other sins that creep into our lives.

Trust me when I say it is a book worth reading, but beware it will challenge your heart.

Food for Thought

Food for thought... How many American's do you think are considered "healthy"? Healthy being defined as one who doesn't smoke, eats a good diet, gets physical activity and controls their weight. There is a poll on the left side of my blog you can participate in if you would like. Just curious to see what people's responses and perceptions are. Thanks for participating.

Playmates

Since our Joey passed away a few years back, every once in awhile Steve and I toy with the idea of getting Levi a buddy to pal around with. We have looked at Shepherd's, Doodle dogs and now the latest and greatest "the Boxer".

This is Luke Agape, no he is not our dog, he belongs to the Majors. Whenever the Majors come over the mountains both Luke and his sidekick, Chipper, get to come along too. They love to play together, but Luke has another playmate when he visits and I bet you can guess who it is or who it is not ....



The Majors have even got us a book on "Dummies for Boxers". I don't know folks. I am not sure if I am ready to train another dog and if you ask Levi, he says, 'no-way', things are good the way they are. Steve wants a playmate and I want to be able to travel without worrying who will take care of the dogs. Oh well, this quandary too shall pass.