We want to start reading the whole Bible, with a plan to read it in a year.
Since we got married, we've both wanted to do devotions, and we have read the Bible together a couple of times, but our schedules get in the way. It's not that we're overly busy - although we do seem to be coming and going a lot - we just have such opposite schedules that it's hard to do much on a regular basis.
I think it's important though to do daily devotions with your spouse, especially when you are first married. We need to get into a routine, because if we start now then hopefully it will last us the rest of our lives.
I think it might be good to start the plan in February, when Nate moves to the day shift at work and we will actually have nights together.
In the meantime, if you have any good Bible reading plans, send them our way!
Thursday, January 17, 2013
Tuesday, January 15, 2013
It could be worse!
We can find a lot of stuff to complain about in the U.S. and the political atmosphere we have now.
I'm concerned about the president taking away the second amendment. I'm concerned that we are getting further and further in debt with no plans to cut back. I'm concerned That left and right are separated as far as the east is from the west.
I could go on. However, as I read "In God's Underground" and think about other places in the world that are much worse off than we, I am thankful.
I'm thankful that I live in a country that lets me go to church each Sunday. I'm thankful that I have a Bible at home and that I downloaded one to my phone. I'm thankful that I get to vote. I'm thankful that we have servicemen and women out there willing to fight for all that we have and all they believe in.
We should all pray for what's going wrong in the country, because God is still in charge and can set people in place to turn us around. And while we're talking to him we should all say thank you that we live in comfort and not in fear as Christians.
It could be worse!
I'm concerned about the president taking away the second amendment. I'm concerned that we are getting further and further in debt with no plans to cut back. I'm concerned That left and right are separated as far as the east is from the west.
I could go on. However, as I read "In God's Underground" and think about other places in the world that are much worse off than we, I am thankful.
I'm thankful that I live in a country that lets me go to church each Sunday. I'm thankful that I have a Bible at home and that I downloaded one to my phone. I'm thankful that I get to vote. I'm thankful that we have servicemen and women out there willing to fight for all that we have and all they believe in.
We should all pray for what's going wrong in the country, because God is still in charge and can set people in place to turn us around. And while we're talking to him we should all say thank you that we live in comfort and not in fear as Christians.
It could be worse!
Friday, January 11, 2013
Rearview mirror
While driving, the rearview mirror is an important tool.
Every once in a while you need to glance back and see what is behind you. However, most of the time you are focused on looking out the windshield to prepare for what's ahead. Often, the two intertwine as looking behind you helps prepare you for what will happen up ahead.
It's similar to life, I thought as I was driving the other day. Now, it's not a perfect analogy, but in life we do have to take into consideration what's behind us. We can learn from what has happened in the past and use that as we move into the future.
Our past shouldn't slow us down though. If we look into the rearview mirror too long, taking our eyes off of what is up ahead, we might get into a car crash. The rearview mirror is a helpful tool, but it's not everything. Our pasts also aren't everything. We can't dwell on what's behind us and forget about what is ahead.
The past is important, but whether good or bad, we can do whatever we want in the future. The road is wide open, and it's up to us - and God, if we only trust him - where we go.
Every once in a while you need to glance back and see what is behind you. However, most of the time you are focused on looking out the windshield to prepare for what's ahead. Often, the two intertwine as looking behind you helps prepare you for what will happen up ahead.
It's similar to life, I thought as I was driving the other day. Now, it's not a perfect analogy, but in life we do have to take into consideration what's behind us. We can learn from what has happened in the past and use that as we move into the future.
Our past shouldn't slow us down though. If we look into the rearview mirror too long, taking our eyes off of what is up ahead, we might get into a car crash. The rearview mirror is a helpful tool, but it's not everything. Our pasts also aren't everything. We can't dwell on what's behind us and forget about what is ahead.
The past is important, but whether good or bad, we can do whatever we want in the future. The road is wide open, and it's up to us - and God, if we only trust him - where we go.
Wednesday, January 9, 2013
Babies growing up
Yesterday was the first birthday of our oldest niece, Adalyn - Nate's sister's daughter. Our youngest niece, Ella, will turn one in March.
It's been really interesting to see them grow and has already been a little lesson in how people are so different. Although we don't live by either of them and haven't spend anywhere near as much time with them as we would like, we still have seen plenty of differences.
Adalyn is a definite mama's girl. At our wedding, she was happy as long as Erin was around, but the moment Adalyn didn't see her mom she was upset! She started to walked about a month ago and now can get around quite easily by herself, maybe a little too easily. She likes to babble and smile and she has no teeth yet.
Ella has been Miss Independent for quite some time. She loves to be held, but she also likes to explore by herself. She loves both her parents but is pretty easy going with other people holding her as well, and she is one of the happiest babies I think I've ever seen. She can walk while holding onto something, and she already has two teeth.
They're almost the same age, and they're both our nieces, but they are so very different already. I guess I used to think that most babies were the same. They cried and cuddled and pooped. But they are so much more. They develop personalities so quickly.
God has such amazing creativity. How many people has he created since the start of the Earth? How many different faces, fingers, laughs and personalities has he seen? Yet, he never has made two people exactly alike - at least that we know of!
It's amazing that we have a creator that is so completely in charge that he can put the right baby's personality with the right parents. That even the right puppy goes to the right owners, which is all the experience I have in the "children" category.
God is so great. You can see it in the eye's of babes.
It's been really interesting to see them grow and has already been a little lesson in how people are so different. Although we don't live by either of them and haven't spend anywhere near as much time with them as we would like, we still have seen plenty of differences.
Adalyn is a definite mama's girl. At our wedding, she was happy as long as Erin was around, but the moment Adalyn didn't see her mom she was upset! She started to walked about a month ago and now can get around quite easily by herself, maybe a little too easily. She likes to babble and smile and she has no teeth yet.
Ella has been Miss Independent for quite some time. She loves to be held, but she also likes to explore by herself. She loves both her parents but is pretty easy going with other people holding her as well, and she is one of the happiest babies I think I've ever seen. She can walk while holding onto something, and she already has two teeth.
They're almost the same age, and they're both our nieces, but they are so very different already. I guess I used to think that most babies were the same. They cried and cuddled and pooped. But they are so much more. They develop personalities so quickly.
God has such amazing creativity. How many people has he created since the start of the Earth? How many different faces, fingers, laughs and personalities has he seen? Yet, he never has made two people exactly alike - at least that we know of!
It's amazing that we have a creator that is so completely in charge that he can put the right baby's personality with the right parents. That even the right puppy goes to the right owners, which is all the experience I have in the "children" category.
God is so great. You can see it in the eye's of babes.
Tuesday, January 8, 2013
"In God's Underground" comments
"In God's Underground" by Richard Wurmbrand has so many interesting subjects.
It makes me think that I need to know the Bible more and know more about the faith that I profess. For instance, he was in solitary confinement for three years, and what got him through was thinking about God and remembering Scripture. I'm afraid I would be at a loss if I didn't have a Bible there to read.
Wurmbrand was also able to get through to a lot of people, because he could argue theology. He knew Scripture but he also knew about Karl Marx, Martin Luther and others that he could quote to prove his arguments.
In one passage, he talks about having tuberculosis and being sick enough that doctors told him that he would survive two weeks. He lived 30 months in what was deemed the "death room" before becoming well.
He said, "Scores of men died, and their places were taken by others in the 30 months I lay in this room. But here is a remarkable fact. No one died an atheist."
He approached the topic of atheism different than many people would. He said many people entered the death room as unbelievers, but faced with their end they turned from that "belief."
"I saw their unbelief collapse, always, in the face of death. I have heard it said, 'If a cat crosses a bridge, it doesn't mean the bridge is sound; but if a train crosses, then it surely is.' So if a man calls himself an atheist as he sits with his wife over tea and cakes, that is no proof of atheism. A true conviction must survive enormous pressure, and atheism does not."
Christianity can survive the most oppressive opposition, but, like atheism, when it's not real it doesn't survive. We all need to make sure that our Christianity is like a bridge that will support a train, not just a cat.
It makes me think that I need to know the Bible more and know more about the faith that I profess. For instance, he was in solitary confinement for three years, and what got him through was thinking about God and remembering Scripture. I'm afraid I would be at a loss if I didn't have a Bible there to read.
Wurmbrand was also able to get through to a lot of people, because he could argue theology. He knew Scripture but he also knew about Karl Marx, Martin Luther and others that he could quote to prove his arguments.
In one passage, he talks about having tuberculosis and being sick enough that doctors told him that he would survive two weeks. He lived 30 months in what was deemed the "death room" before becoming well.
He said, "Scores of men died, and their places were taken by others in the 30 months I lay in this room. But here is a remarkable fact. No one died an atheist."
He approached the topic of atheism different than many people would. He said many people entered the death room as unbelievers, but faced with their end they turned from that "belief."
"I saw their unbelief collapse, always, in the face of death. I have heard it said, 'If a cat crosses a bridge, it doesn't mean the bridge is sound; but if a train crosses, then it surely is.' So if a man calls himself an atheist as he sits with his wife over tea and cakes, that is no proof of atheism. A true conviction must survive enormous pressure, and atheism does not."
Christianity can survive the most oppressive opposition, but, like atheism, when it's not real it doesn't survive. We all need to make sure that our Christianity is like a bridge that will support a train, not just a cat.
Friday, January 4, 2013
A room of many years
I said a little prayer of thanks laying bed last night.
Nate and I went back to our hometown so he could go hunting with his dad and I could surprise my mom by coming back.
It was the first time we have shared a bed here since we got married, and we stayed in what used to be my room. As I layed there with his arm wrapped around me, I thanked the Lord that we were where we are.
The room looks quite different today - painted drywall, only a bed, an nightstand and a trunk. For a moment I went back to the time when it had brown, paneled walls, a bookshelf on next to the closet, a desk and dresser filled with my belongings, a brightly-colored comforter spread over the twin bed.
That room saw a lot of ups and downs in our relationship. It saw the day I fell asleep smiling because I finally had a boyfriend. It saw the phone spinning on the floor as I decided if I should text him I loved him. It saw little fights we had on the phone while he was away at college the first year. It saw the night that we broke up and I cried myself silly, and the tears that continued for the next week.
It later saw a woman in love getting ready for her bridal shower, and now it sees a happily married couple.
I laid there and thought of how much I wish I could have brought the 18-year-old me into that room to see that everything would work out. That I would finally get everything I had ever wanted and would be so happy with the man that I have always loved.
I didn't know how things would turn out, but I set my heart a long time ago on Nate, and I didn't let go.
I'm so glad we didn't give up.
Nate and I went back to our hometown so he could go hunting with his dad and I could surprise my mom by coming back.
It was the first time we have shared a bed here since we got married, and we stayed in what used to be my room. As I layed there with his arm wrapped around me, I thanked the Lord that we were where we are.
The room looks quite different today - painted drywall, only a bed, an nightstand and a trunk. For a moment I went back to the time when it had brown, paneled walls, a bookshelf on next to the closet, a desk and dresser filled with my belongings, a brightly-colored comforter spread over the twin bed.
That room saw a lot of ups and downs in our relationship. It saw the day I fell asleep smiling because I finally had a boyfriend. It saw the phone spinning on the floor as I decided if I should text him I loved him. It saw little fights we had on the phone while he was away at college the first year. It saw the night that we broke up and I cried myself silly, and the tears that continued for the next week.
It later saw a woman in love getting ready for her bridal shower, and now it sees a happily married couple.
I laid there and thought of how much I wish I could have brought the 18-year-old me into that room to see that everything would work out. That I would finally get everything I had ever wanted and would be so happy with the man that I have always loved.
I didn't know how things would turn out, but I set my heart a long time ago on Nate, and I didn't let go.
I'm so glad we didn't give up.
Wednesday, January 2, 2013
Make my marriage great
I think I have the best new year's resolution, and I want to resolve to make this my new year's resolution each year.
Make my marriage great.
I was just reading a FoxNews article that talked about how no one ever resolves to make their marriage great, because spouses think it should just automatically be great if they're meant for each other or it's too hard to know what to do.
Nate and I have seen some really awesome marriages, and some really horrible ones. We've seen ones that are too career-oriented, too child-oriented, too selfish. We've seen others that are full of love and compromise and nurturing. I think we both have paid attention to what has worked and what has failed in each, because we don't want to make the same mistakes.
Yes, I bet those of you who have been married a long time are thinking, "That newlywed has no idea."
No, I don't. But at least paying attention to how sucessful my marriage is is a start!
So, I resolve to make my marriage great this year, by telling Nate I love him every single time it pops into my head so I never regret that I didn't tell him; by praising him even for the little, everyday things like working or taking out the trash; by spending time just the two of us; by laughing and enjoying each other in all ways; by giving everything of myself and expecting nothing in return; by having a long fuse; by praying for my marriage and my husband and that I would have what we need to succeed and what Nate needs to succeed.
If you've been married a lot longer than me and have some helpful hints of how to make our marriage even better, feel free to comment and let me know what they are!
Make my marriage great.
I was just reading a FoxNews article that talked about how no one ever resolves to make their marriage great, because spouses think it should just automatically be great if they're meant for each other or it's too hard to know what to do.
Nate and I have seen some really awesome marriages, and some really horrible ones. We've seen ones that are too career-oriented, too child-oriented, too selfish. We've seen others that are full of love and compromise and nurturing. I think we both have paid attention to what has worked and what has failed in each, because we don't want to make the same mistakes.
Yes, I bet those of you who have been married a long time are thinking, "That newlywed has no idea."
No, I don't. But at least paying attention to how sucessful my marriage is is a start!
So, I resolve to make my marriage great this year, by telling Nate I love him every single time it pops into my head so I never regret that I didn't tell him; by praising him even for the little, everyday things like working or taking out the trash; by spending time just the two of us; by laughing and enjoying each other in all ways; by giving everything of myself and expecting nothing in return; by having a long fuse; by praying for my marriage and my husband and that I would have what we need to succeed and what Nate needs to succeed.
If you've been married a lot longer than me and have some helpful hints of how to make our marriage even better, feel free to comment and let me know what they are!
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