A Happy Marriage

Hebrews 13:4a Marriage should be honored by all and the marriage bed kept pure: It seems that lately our Pastor at Church is very concerned about the State of marriage among the Christians in our Church. I came upon a list that was written by a Christian author about what makes a happy marriage. Here is the list: 1. God has you here to serve one another. Love acted out is serving. 2. Women need respect and nurturing. Love your wife so she knows you'd lay your life down for her. Continue to date her and admire her. Share a hobby-find something you can do to have fun together. 3. Laugh offen. 4. Be patient. Love crumbles quickley under the weight of unmet expectations. 5. Spend more time trying to fix yourself than your spouse. 6. Keep short accounts. "The Bible says, Do not let the sun go down while you are angry." Make it a habit to forgive. 7. Determine up front that divorce is not a option. 8.Learn about love languages. Not all people show love or receive it the same way. You want a back rub and your spouse wants a clean kitchen. The love languages are fairly simple: acts of service, time,physical touch, gifts and words of affirmation. Learn them. Love is better received when its in the language that person speaks. 9. Words of affirmation are a love language for all men. 10. Men are born to be leaders. He cannot lead unless she gives him the confidence to do so. If you love your husband, build him up. Confident men do not seek love outside the home. ( These then are the ten points that make up a good marriage). My husband and I will be married for 49 years in the fall and if you think these 49 years were easy I can tell you they were not. We had our highs and our lows, we had our valleys and our mountain tops and without God as our pilot we most likely would have not survived. Marriage is hard but also wonderful and it needs lots of work. I have to tell you that finding your spouse love language is a must. Mine is I like the physical, the touching and the hugging, my husband loves food (this is not a joke) and all I need to do is make something he really loves to eat and I touch his love language. I hope all of you benifit from this list. God bless all of you and a happy marriage to all

Spring

Oh the joys of Spring time and the thrill of watching the weather begin to show signs of the coming flowers and green grass. It has been such a long winter and the longing for warmer weather effects all of us here in this part of the country. The lake is still very cold with patches of ice so that we still get cold winds and cold temperatures at night. But God tells us that there is a time for everything and right now it is the time for the earth to begin its cycle that He had declared when He formed the earth. It brings to mind the wonders that were created for our pleasure and to how much we take for granted. I pray that all of you would stop and thank our Creator for the wonders that are upon our Earth for us to enjoy.

spring

Although this picture was taken last summer it will not be to long before we in this area of our country will see the beautiful things come into bloom. We had a slight snow last night but not to much and hopefully it will be our last. My daffidills are coming up as I can see the start of the lilly's and it won't be to long before the grass starts to turn green. The only problem we have is the moles every year distroy our yard in certain areas. We have tried everything possible and there is no way we can get rid of them. So we decided that nothing works we will just leave them alone and acept the fact they will be with us every year. Life is busy and it is hard to find the time to do the things we enjoy but then if we had to much time on our hands we would most likely get very bored. My husband and I go to the gym three times a week for a couple hours and this is a good thing since we are both 74 (my birthday will be in a few weeks) so we need the excercise to keep up our strength. The strength is needed as we take care of our four year old grandson for two days and he is a bundle of energy and keeps us on our toes. So life is very good we also are active with our Church friends which is one of Gods blessings. We praise God everyday for family and friends and they are truly a gift from God. My diet because I am on coumadin has changed some what and some of the foods I love I have to limit the amount and days of the week I eat them so it is an adjustment. Today however, I am going to eat saurkraut which is on my list that I can only eat on occasion so I will really enjoy my dinner .

Psalm 19;1

The heavens declare the Glory of God;the skies proclaim the work of His hands. What a wonderful God we have to make our world and all that is around us so beautiful for us to take in. But do we really look at this world through Gods eyes our ours. What do our eyes see or don't see and if we took the time to ponder what is around us I think we would look at things a little bit differantly. As I have been growing older and my body has started to age I am begging to look at myself thru the eyes of the Heavenly Father that has created me. We take so much of our good health for granted and when it starts to faid away we suddenly realize how important it is to take care of this body God gave us when we are young. Right now I am at the age when things are not quite what they used to be and now find myself taking medicine I thought I would never have to take. I started taking Coumadin to thin my blood and find because of this I have to watch what I eat and must maintain a strict diet. I need a certain amount of vitamin K to make sure I get enough so that I do not get my blood to thin. These are changes that who would have thought would be in my life but then God never promised that all would be well and we learn just how much we need Him in our lives to get through these tough times. I often think what would my life have been like if I never would have taken Jesus as my Savior. I praise Him daily for all that He has brought into my life.;the good and the bad.

winter blues

I had to look up one of my sunny summer pictures to remind me of what it looks like to see the sun and the green grass on a beautiful warm day. The winter we have had this year has been extremly cold with lots of snow and right about now everyone is very tired of the winter. But we also must remember that spring will come and then the warm hot summer which is over far to fast. Those of us that live in the north have these kinds of seasons and although we are used to them toward the end of the winter season we get the bla's. God gives us these season's because he puts them there for the earth to have cicles of rest. So if you are feeling a little depressed because of the weather like me I try get out my picture books and find the photos I have taken over the years of the warm weather to remind me that it is not to far off.