Thursday, April 26, 2012

Lyla Rae

Introducing our precious little lady...

Lyla Rae



 Monday, April 23, 2012
10:00 am
7 lbs. 7 oz.
20 inches

What a beautiful gift from God! His bountiful blessings have overwhelmed us! I'll be back to post Lyla's birth story in a few days.

Wednesday, April 11, 2012

Building Up a Marriage: Delight Yourself in the Lord


"Delight yourself in the LORD and He will give you the desires of your heart." -Psalm 37:4
I don't know of a married, Christian woman whose heart doesn't desire to build up a godly marriage. So before we go any further, we must begin with this most crucial aspect of our marriage: Delight yourself in the LORD. In order for us to even have the appropriate desires for our marriage, much less the capability to fulfill those desires, we must first delight in the LORD and His word.
When we truly delight in someone, we don't just keep them in the back of our mind, thinking only occasionally about what may be pleasing to that someone. We don't go about our day, planning whatever may strike our fancy without a thought as to what our "someone" may have in mind. And we don't strike up a conversation only to ask for help in a time of need or shout a quick, gracious comment in a time of joy.
No, when we truly delight in someone, we pursue their time and give them ours. We study that someone and all of their ways, learning what brings them pleasure. We search out new ways for our lives to reflect the love we have for our someone. This is how we should delight in the LORD.
Now, I'll be the first to admit that it can be difficult to "find time" to sit down and read the word of God and "take time" to pray when I'm running low on sleep, I only have 20 minutes until my 17-month-old wakes up (maybe less than 20 minutes before my newborn is ready to nurse), and last night's dishes are still in the sink, toddler-sized portions of yesterday's meal scattered on the kitchen floor, last-weekend's laundry waiting to be washed, and tonight's supper ready to be cooked. But, when we realize that the time we have is graciously given to us by the Lord, it makes it much easier to prioritize Him above the mess, and suddenly we aren't merely finding time to be with Him, we're consciously seeking time.
Delighting in God and His word is the beginning of building up our homes and marriages for Him. Knowing that it is the wise woman who builds her house, and the foolish woman who tears it down with her own hands (Proverbs 14:1), and knowing that the fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction (Proverbs 1:7), we clearly see that it is through His instruction that God makes us wise. When we daily seek Him and read His word, the Lord pours wisdom into the pool of our hearts until it overflows, and bubbles out through the brooks in our lives, giving life and beauty and peace. When we don't seek the Lord and His word however, the pool of our heart becomes little more than a stagnant puddle of good intentions.
As we read through the Bible, the Lord uses His word to convict and sanctify us in various aspects of our lives. And the beauty that results from this sanctification flows through the brooks, and into the larger stream that is marriage, all the while seeking the ultimate destination: the ocean that is glorifying God.
It can be assumed that nearly all who read this desire to build up their house for God, therefore must delight in God, and seek to become wise through the word of God. As we work to build a thriving marriage may we always remember this crucial principal: to delight in the LORD and strive to bring glory to His name.

Building Up My Marriage

Yesterday marked my 37th week of pregnancy and the Man of My Dreams and I realized that I have been pregnant for over half of our marriage and either pregnant or breastfeeding for all but 3 months! This got me thinking about all of the warnings we were given about how children (especially infants and toddlers) add so much stress to a marriage.
"Oh just wait...once this baby comes you won't have any time for intimacy."
"Even if you do have time for intimacy, you won't have the energy!"
"Ha! Forget the home-cooked meals when you're wife's chasing after kids!"
"Once you have kids, your freedom is out the window."
"Why are you having kids so soon? Aren't there things you want to do?"
...and this doesn't even include the You're-crazy looks we get when we mention that our view of marriage includes my husband being the leader of the family and me being under submission to him, raising our children to hold these same views.
But the wonderful thing is, by God's grace, I really feel that our marriage is flourishing. I can honestly say that I see something new to love in my husband almost every day, whether it's something he says, or does, or even something he doesn't say. And I think that many times, the Lord uses our children to draw my attention to these details of my husband. While there are definitely tough days when I seem to forget that self-control is a fruit of the Spirit, and rough nights when in a sleepless fog patience is scarce, we grow in our love for one another constantly. Amazingly, we do still have time (and usually energy) for consistent intimacy. We still have home-cooked meals most days. Nothing can take away the most important freedom we have: freedom that is rooted in Christ, freedom from the punishment for our sin. We have a whole list of things we want to experience and our children can be included in nearly all of these. And having children has given my husband new opportunities to exercise leadership and me new opportunities to submit myself to him, further reflecting the church's relationship to Christ.
As the delivery of our second child nears, I want to keep record of many biblical practices within my marriage that help me to build up my house as the wise woman of Proverbs 14:1. It is not that I am an expert of any sort, but rather I want to keep record of the the principals the Lord is teaching me through His word, so I may look back on them, even on the most difficult of days, and be reminded of the many ways He has blessed my marriage and sanctified me. I pray that these principals may be an encouragement to your marriage, as well.