In past blogs, we've talked about the purpose of marriage being to primarily glorify God more than to bring us happiness. When we serve the Lord and live in His will, joy and peace are natural fruits of such living. Because dating and courting relationships will potentially be marriage relationships, they should be viewed in a similar light as a marriage relationship. I'm not saying that you should act married when you're not; however, marriage is still a holy institution. God holds people who are married to a high standard with each other. When there is adultery in a marriage, we … [Read more...]
Letters to My Future Spouse
In a recent previous week, my husband blessed me in an amazing way. When I came home from a week in North Carolina, my basement was clean! To some of you, this may not seem like a big deal, but you had to know what it looked like before he cleaned it to fully appreciate all of his hard work. We had broken down boxes, an old mattress, computer parts, etc. everywhere. In many parts of the country, the basement or attic serve the same purpose: if you don't know where to put something, toss it in the basement (or attic) and worry about it later. Well, we had been "worrying about it later" for … [Read more...]
The Fruit of the Spirit: Self-Control
Self-control may be one of the most obvious external aspects of the fruit of the Spirit because when someone doesn't have self control, it's usually no secret. In some cases people keep self-control issues to themselves (e.g. food binging, pornography, etc.) because they are ashamed or uncomfortable sharing their struggle with others. In other cases, the lack of self-control is shown through displays of anger, sexual activity outside of marriage, and careless words – just to name a few. However, when someone is cultivating the fruit of the Spirit, he or she will display self-control in … [Read more...]
The Fruit of the Spirit: Gentleness
As a young girl, I loved Cinderella… and as an adult, I still love Cinderella. I realize that life doesn’t often happen the way it does in a fairy tale, but I am still drawn to her character. She had birds eating out of her hands, she found joy in the simplest of things, and even though her step-mother and sisters were cruel to her, she treated them with respect. If one word describes Cinderella best, it’s gentleness. What made her character so beloved was her kind, gentle way of approaching people and animals. Her voice was soft and inviting and she moved about gracefully. I’ve been told by … [Read more...]
The Fruit of the Spirit: Faithfulness
The other night while I should have been sleeping, I found myself watching a documentary on the life of Pat Nixon. Let me preface the following by saying this: when Eric goes through anything difficult, it weighs heavily on my heart. So, I cannot imagine what it must have been like to be the wife of a President who was so deeply shamed in the eyes of his country and the world. Sometimes I wonder if I could have handled it if I had been in her shoes. Aside from that, President Nixon showed very little regard for her in public and it was rumored that he left her out of many of his political … [Read more...]
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