I went to see the movie Fireproof last night. It was so good. I am going to take the Love Dare challenge...shhhh don't tell rod. I am all about a challenge. For those of you who know me well you know that we have had our times because marriage is HARD for some of us. For some of you that have completely submissive, gracious, humble spirits...maybe you have never had a problem in the world =). Whew have we been through a roller coaster of sorts. I have even almost left him via text message. For those of you who are single, marriage is hard. For those of you who are married, God did mean for it to be blessed and fulfilling. After our first year of marriage I quit praying for God to change Rod and started praying for the Lord to change me (I still have not been able to change him). To make me whole and focused on Him to meet my needs. When we are going to the Lord to fill our empty cups we are a lot less likely to drain ourselves as we try to force someone to listen, love, validate, or care for us. I had so many expectations and disillusions of how I thought things should be. It was just a hard adjustment especially marrying someone who was a bachelor until he was 35. I asked Rod last night if he was 100% sure about marrying me when we got married and he said yes. I was just as sure as him. Then he said it was after we got married that I wasn't sure. Me to. We have come a long way since then. I just want to share something that I took away from the movie fireproof. It was the idea that we must lead our own hearts (of course by dying to ourselves, relying on the Word and the Holy Spirit). We can not let our hearts lead us. Because for one reason (Jeremiah 17:9)
9 The heart is deceitful above all things
and beyond cure.
Who can understand it?
The heart is the seat of emotions. We can not just fly by the seat of our pants so to speak. We have to lead our hearts to act on not how we feel but what we know to be truth. I am not saying that is easy because our feelings our so real to us. I also know how many times it has been that time of the month for me and I have gone nuts with how I felt and then blamed it on hormones. Hormones are so real but we can't trust our hearts with all of the range of emotions. How many times have you done something rash because of how you felt. When lead by the Holy Spirit the Lord prompts our hearts to love others and to serve Him. So I praise God for emotions and the core He gave us.
Proverbs 3:5-6
5 Trust in the LORD with all your heart
and lean not on your own understanding;
and he will make your paths straight.
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17 comments:
SO TRUE SISTER, SO TRUE!!!
I haven't seen the movie yet, but our church will be showing it on the 30th and I can not wait to see it. The previews alone put a lump in my throat. I am praying that hubby & I take something away from it that will help us not only in our marriage, but our relationships with the Lord.
Take that Love Dare girl!! Do it! (even though I don't know what it is yet) :D
Hey Jenny, you are right on with this post. In our hearts dwelleth no good thing!! But I think it's so cool what God can do when WE get out of His way. I've tried for 20yrs to change things in my hubby...but it never happens until I get out of the way and take it to the Lord and leave it period.
Love your memory vs. for this month.
I haven't seen Fireproof, so you think it is worth watching right!?!
Jenny this is a good word. I will pray for you as you pursue loving your man the way God loves him and YOU!! have a super fabulous time with the girls this weekend. I am just DYING to meet you all! soon, Jesus, soon!
I love when God speaks through blogworld; logical and not emotional...He really wants us to know that this life we live shouldn't be lived by emotion...common sense isn't known by emotion, but logic..I totally see what you mean, and i am a girl who has a family who has always lived by emotion, so logic wasn't something I obtained until I got old enough to learn on my own. I learned that gossip about others isn't always true, even if your momma is the one telling you, and I learned that its much easier to use common sense then we give ourselves credit for. Of course I am the single girl in this, but emotion is a big factor in why so many relationships fail. I think I am still too emotional to be with anyone yet, but God knows that about me, and that is why no oppurtunities have happened, I have to get straight with HIM first, and then the emotional stuff can come later. I took up your comment area, I'm sorry!:) Hope you are having a great day girl, gotta get done school work!:)
Very truy Jenny - I have been married 24 years (to a pastor!) and I can tell you it is still hard. It is something that we can never stop working on. We saw Fireproof and loved it!
Enjoy your blog.
In Him,
Beth (not Moore!)
I have got to see that movie!
I agree... the movie is a must see. Also marriage is hard... thanks so much for sharing and encouraging us all!
I haven't seen the movie. I don't feel the need/want to as I have nothing to fireproof. If there ever comes the time when I should need to watch it, I will but I just don't see the point of a single girl watching this movie. But I digress. I was going to tell you that the verse that you posted in Jeremiah. I was thinkign about that just yesterday...
Someone once told me that the scripture that says "Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart", she explained that it is because God puts those desires in our ♥ so that he can then give them to us. And I don't know,I probably have more deep-rooted issues than I'm even aware of. But the other day I was like "Okay, if the heart is deceitful above all things, and as I've heard Beth say more than once that sometiemes we are so caught up in our emotions that we do not even have the discernment to say"is not this thing in my right hand a lie" (forget where that comes from but I've heard her say it enoguh times to remember it). If all of that is true, and I truly believe it is....then by what grounds did this person tell me 'God will give you the desires of your heart becasue he puts those desires in your heart so that He can then give them to you' " I have never heard anything along those lines. I have heard, more than once that "The heart is deceitful above all things" and I am more inclined to believe that than the other. Got any thoughts on this? (just wondering...)
I think it's cool that you posted this verse like the next day that I was thinking about. And great post as usual. Have a great evening!
Amen Amen Amen! Girl...I can SO agree with this! Marriage is HARD! Dang Hard sometimes!!!! Especially when you are expecting that man to do things for you only Jesus can do!
Love your heart for our Savior!
s.
Thanks for this post. Yesterday on my way to work, as I was praying to Him, I said "Lord help me to guard against my feelings, I want to do what is right and I am tired of giving in to what I feel"
Oh that deceitful heart.
My hubs and I went to see this movie for a date night. We both were blessed by it. It let us remember our struggles and allowed our hearts to be overwhelmed with Gods grace in and upon our lives.
We are two walking miracles of His endless love and His never forsaking spirit.
Much love to you,
Celeste
Good for you, girl! I know the Lord will bless your surrendered heart. When 2 strong-willed people get married, no matter how much you love each other, it is a hard struggle to decide to resist "winning the battle and losing the war".
Let my tell you, once I was UNLOADING on Mark, and when I went to pray about it God might as well have put a physical hand in front of my face - "No, darling, let's talk about you..." It was ROUGH for me to back down, but when I submitted it melted Mark and God blessed it abundantly. Then I realized why the Lord refused to allow me to keep up the fight...it just wasn't happening - He had a work to do in Mark and He was not going to let me ruin it.
Not saying I don't still "pitch a fit" now and again, but just saying, you are really on to something. ;)
I pray God's blessing on you and Rod.
Andreea girl I have some thoughts on what you typed. I am so going to put them down when I get a chance.
Loved this post, and the comments! Marriage is hard, but so worth it. I love being married! Someone gave me the Love Dare book, but I have not seen the movie. Let us know how the dare goes.
We went to see Fireproof when it first came out and really enjoyed it. I agree with you - I have been married not even 2 yrs and it was hard from day 1. We both struggle with wanting our own way, especially since we did not marry til 33/34 yrs old.
Jenny, after 32 years of marriage I can tell you it does get much easier as you realize several important things. 1) Your spouse is also doing the best he can most of the time, but is not perfect either, and it is impossible for anyone to meet all our needs --that's why we have Jesus. 2) You are right to say, that it is more important to work on oneself rather than changing another...it can't be done unless they want the change for themselves. 3) Do not take most of the daily little things seriously...it won't matter in the long run and if you can see the humor that is great! In addition, to the movie, Fireproof, I highly recommend the book, Love and Respect. It is the closest thing I have ever read on making a great marriage,and I wish we had had that resource 30 years ago. It would have saved us a lot of grief. 4) Finally gratitude, prayer, and forgiveness are huge. Gratitude for the gift of a spouse God has blessed one with; Prayer for him daily will help display how awesome God's plan is in both your lives; and Forgiveness when either or both partner lets the other down. Refining each other is what marriage is really all about. As each draws closer to the LORD the couple is drawing closer to each other. May your marriage be a testimony to God's infinite love for us and a rich and full blessing to you and your spouse.
I pop in and read your blog every once in a while. I think I've commented a couple of times. Anyway, I was wondering if you have any tips on helping my 3 year old little girl to memorize scripture? I try to teach her, but I'm still learning how to teach!! timandhaleywilliams@yahoo.com Thanks!
i saw the movie twice. it was good. A friend and I did the love dare (hubby still doesn't know about it!) I finished in Novemeber, but think I may eventually share it with him. It's good, its HARD. Some parts, REALLY hard. Some days when you don't have to "do" anything...for him at least..you'll be relieved b/c some days require much!
Good luck, it's an amazing journey. I'll be praying for you! Let us know how it goes!
Love ya sister..... :)
PS- I think Morgan and Sara are on the same wavelength b/c the stuff you tell us about Morgan could just as well be written about my sassy little princess! THe opinions they have at 3....make me wonder what 13 will hold. Lord help us! LOL!
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