Month: February 2016

Happy Valentine’s Day

I wonder if you can understand how much I love you. I watch you when you don’t know I’m looking. I even stand by the bed at night and watch you sleep. I can’t take my eyes off of you!

I love the way you smile and when you laugh, it brings joy to my heart. I listen when you are talking and always enjoy it when you are talking about us.

You have a special way of bringing joy to my heart. I love the time we spend together, and I never feel it is enough for me. I just can’t get enough of you!

Our lives are woven together in such a powerful way. I love you, today, tomorrow, and forever!  Jesus

The Learning Curve

There is a sign in my office that reads, “When was the last time you did something for the very first time?” Doing what we know how to do is much easier than learning how to do something new. And the older we get, the more we enjoy sticking to what we know.

Yet, it is exciting to face new challenges, to learn new things. Sure, at first we can feel totally lost and a bit confused, but if we keep working at it, we soon learn the ins and outs of our new venture.

So it is with this blog. I had become comfortable with the old site. I knew how to navigate it and how to add graphics to each post. It was easy once I learned the basics. And now I am once again learning new basics. Each aspect of this new venture requires searching and finding answers. It is a challenge, but then I love a challenge!

Marriage is like that as well. Over the years we begin to rest in what we are good at. We learn the “dance” of what to do and what to avoid. Sometimes that works as the years go by. Sometimes, though, the dance is interrupted when one spouse decides to leave the marriage or refuses to grow anymore within it. Then we have the opportunity to learn something new.

I have always said that I hated what happened to our marriage years ago, but I have never regretted what I learned as I walked with the Lord through my stand. Yes, it was hard, very hard, at first. I had to learn to trust the Lord as I had never trusted Him before. I had to be honest about my own heart and my own life before Him. I had to learn to forgive things I had never dreamed I would need to forgive and I had to learn to repent for things I never thought were a problem. The learning curve was tough!

Somewhere in there, though, Jesus taught me how to get my eyes off my own pain and hurt and onto Him alone. I learned to cling to Him during the hardest times and to rejoice with Him with each new victory. And initially those victories were not in my husband’s life or in our relationship, but in my own heart as I grew to know Him like never before and walk with Him in peace and joy.

If we are willing, the Holy Spirit never stops teaching us. Our circumstances change, but He is always faithfully leading us in truth. If we allow Him, each experience becomes a step deeper into the wealth of Christ living in us. Everything we encounter gives us opportunity to be Spirit-led in our reaction. It never ends if we surrender our lives to Him.

We need to throw away our clocks and our calendars. Walking with Jesus is a marathon, not a sprint. It isn’t about doing what we need to do to get what we want. It is about an eternal relationship with Him and it’s worth whatever the learning curve requires! Love, Marilyn

“But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you.” John 14:26

Grandparents’ Day

Yesterday was Grandparents’ Day at our grandchildrens’ school. We look forward to it each year as a special time of learning more about their school and what they are doing. It is also a time in which each grandparent or grandchild gets to share something special about our relationship with each other.

Yesterday we suspected we might see our daughter’s husband’s parents. I had not seen them since the divorce that they had heartily supported and I was not sure how I felt about seeing them now. There were so many things I had wanted to say to them over the months and now I might finally have an opportunity to get things off my chest.

As the day passed, though, and we prepared to leave for the event, the Lord made it clear to me that it was to be a day of love, of forgiveness, and of sweet words. I wasn’t sure how I was going to manage that, but I knew He was right!

By God’s grace it was a good meeting and a time of pleasant conversation. We attended a beautiful chapel service together and then went to the classrooms for a visit.

Our grandson proudly showed us around his classroom and brought us cookies and punch. When it came time to share, he introduced the four of us one by one. He was the only student there with all four grandparents present.

At the end of our time together, the school took pictures of each child with his or her grandparent(s). I felt very strongly we were also to get a picture of him with all four of us. The photographer was obliging, we all smiled, and that was the end of our time together. We hugged each other and walked away.

It wasn’t until this morning in my time with the Lord that I realized the significance of yesterday. The enemy has done his best to destroy a family and to destroy the generational lineage that is intact within it. Yesterday, though, a photo was taken of a young man standing between his grandparents, two families together, forever captured in that photo.

As we stand for the healing of our daughter’s marriage, God provided an opportunity to take a generational stand as well. Two patriarchs and two matriarchs stood together, representing generations united around a little boy. God made what could have been an awkward time into a precious time of love and honor to bless that little boy who continues to stand for the healing of his parents’ marriage.

Lord, we thank You that You are greater than anything the enemy brings our way. We honor You and we praise You for Your faithfulness over each one of us. Thank You for the gift of yesterday and that Your love is constant, never changing. We look forward to the day when as grandparents, the four of us can bless a family that is reunited and healed! Love, Marilyn

“The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, The leopard shall lie down with the young goat, The calf and the young lion and the fatling together; And a little child shall lead them.” Isaiah 11:6