Lord of All

This week has been a reminder that the God I serve really is Lord of All. I am humbled daily that the King of Kings chooses to bless me...me, an undeserving servant with gifts greater than I could ever imagine.

Wonderful Blessing #1: Three weeks ago, my hubby put our house up for sale by listing it on a website. He is quite the visionary and keeps me ready and waiting for new adventures. Neither one of us thought that it would get much interest, much less an offer. However, yesterday, we officially sold our sweet, red farmhouse. It took a mere three weeks from listing to closing for this process to be completed. What's more, the profit we were blessed to receive will be most helpful in putting a down payment on our home-to-be, wherever that home-to-be may be. We are so excited to see where the Lord takes us from here and what he has in store. I am so abundantly thankful to my amazing husband for following the prompting of the wonderful Counselor, and I pray that we are sensitive to his timing as we search for our next residence.

Wonderful Blessing #2: My parents have graciously opened their home to us for an undetermined amount of time while we house/land hunt. This week we will be moving in, which will be like a trip down memory lane, because we are staying in the room my sister and I used to share. My sister has moved from her room into what used to be the office/homeschool room, and the office moved to what used to be the dining room. Everyone has been so accommodating and hospitable through this transition. We are happy to be together and (Mom and I especially) are excited to be refining our creative homemaking skills together...(sewing projects, experimental bread and cinnamon roll recipes, and the like) We like to think of our soon-to-be full house as an "Incubator for Sanctification." And a full house it will be: My sister, who is commuting to a nearby college, by brothers, who are both homeschooled, my mom (Nana), my dad (Poppy), my loving husband, and our baby boy, who is nine months old...Which brings me to...

Wonderful Blessing #3: Just a few short hours before we closed on our house, I was surprised and overjoyed to find that the Lord is blessing us with another gift, a precious baby, due in late April. The joy that fills my heart is indescribable! I had this wonderful plan to tell my husband in a cute, creative way (which I had to come up with quickly on my own, because the ideas I looked up on the Internet were not so creative.) I left the house and headed for a card store where I bought a Daddy-to-be card. I put it in the envelope and wrote our address on the front, with a made up return address (in handwriting that looked nothing like my own)and headed home to stick it in the mailbox for him to find when he got home. That's when he called me, wondering where I was...Yes, he had beaten me to the house. Shortly after I hung up the phone, I remembered that I had left the pregnancy test in the bathroom! I called back, trying to think of a way to keep him out of the bathroom until I got home. Ring, Ring, "Hi, Honey. Do you have something you want to tell me???" my husband questioned. "Ummmmm, like what?" I replied, trying to hold in the news that was about to burst at the seams. "Honnnneyyyy..." Yep, again I was too late! But all I could do was giggle like a little school girl! Hubby asked, " Are you being serious or are you joking?" I told him I was serious and that there is no way (that I'm aware of)to fake a pregnancy test. I also told him that I had just called to keep him away from the bathroom and away from that pregnancy test. When I arrived at home, I still gave Hubby the card and he gave me a sweet hug and two kisses (one for me and one for the baby) When the surprise of it all had worn off a bit, Hubby told me that it wasn't the pregnancy test that he found. He opened the computer to check an email from the realtor and what popped up but a web page that said "Creative Ways to Tell your Husband You're Pregnant." Oops! I guess this was as creative a way as any...or at least as surprising! Needless to say, I will do a better job of covering my tracks next time! :) But any faint disappointment I may have had from my plan being for naught, was swept away with the elation we are feeling!

So there you have it, three wonderful blessings packed into three wonderful days. A brilliant husband who loves me fully and introduces me to new adventures, a sweet baby boy to love and to train, a gracious family who is a great example of hospitality, and a chance to live out the faith I have in the One who writes my days, not knowing what is written in the next chapter, or even on the next page. I am so grateful to my God for providing, and even going above and beyond what I need. Yes, my God is a magnificent Savior, Redeemer, King of Kings, and Lord of All.

Jessica

The True Wife Part III

"Every true wife makes her husband's interests her own. While he lives for her, carrying her image in his heart and toiling for her all the days, she thinks only of what will do him good. when burdens press upon him she tries to lighten them by sympathy, by cheer, by the inspiration of love. She enters with zest and enthusiasm into all his plans. She is never a weight to drag him down; she is strength in his heart to help him ever to do nobler and better things."

JR Miller

As a new wife, there are many things I am still learning about my husband. As I mentioned in my first post, my continual goal is to write down things that I know my husband appreciates and try my best to always do those things for him. For instance, I discovered that my husband thoroughly enjoys a cold glass of freshly brewed iced tea. And although I haven't the slightest craving for tea, it is my aim to please my husband by preparing and serving it to his delight. I also learned that my husband feels great satisfaction when we work together on projects, namely projects that take place in the garage. It can be a bit tempting to brush off this desire of his when I know that a multitude of my own projects await me within the walls of our house. But then I remind myself that helping my husband is what I was made to do. If brewing him tea helps meet his needs, then I will brew. If postponing a household task helps meet his needs, then I will postpone. After all, I was created to be his help meet, to help meet his needs.

It is an awesome realization to know that I alone am the woman that God created to be my husbands helper, that He created in me attributes that no other woman can offer my dearest. It is my calling and responsibility to apply these God-given traits to my marriage, thus becoming strength in my husband's heart and helping him ever do nobler and better things. And how blessed I am to have a husband who values my opinions, compliments my strengths, forgives my weaknesses, appreciates my seemingly insignificant tasks, and invites my flawed, inexpert help. What a marvelous man is mine! May I never be a weight to drag him down.

The True Wife: Part II

"The true wife needs to be no mere poet's dream, no artist's picture, and no ethereal lady too fine for use, but a woman healthful, strong, practical, industrious, with a hand for life's common duties, yet crowned with that beauty which a high and noble purpose gives to a soul." -JR Miller

This quote from JR Miller embodies the Proverbs 31 Woman. She is healthful and strong, girding herself with strength and strengthening her arms (v. 17). She is practical, rising while it is yet night(v. 15), clothing her family with scarlet(v. 21). She is industrious, buying a field and planting a vineyard from her profits (v. 16), not letting her lamp go out at night (v. 18). She has a hand for life's common duties, stretching out her hands to the distaff and holding the spindle(v. 19), willingly working with her own hands (v. 13). And she is, of course, crowned with beauty. Not only is she clothed in fine linen and purple (v. 22), but, "Her children rise up and call her blessed; Her husband also, and he praises her, 'Many daughters have done well, but you excel them all.'"

In verse 30 of Proverbs 31, King Lemuel writes, "Charm is deceitful and beauty is passing, But a woman who fears the LORD, she shall be praised." While I would be the last woman to say that looking outwardly beautiful for your husband isn't important (for it is very important, indeed), I see clearly that this scripture admonishes women to focus first on those God honoring tasks which supply, protect, and edify her household. It is not merely her beauty that causes a woman to be praised by her children and husband, but her attitude, her spirit, her sacrifice. Every work of a woman should benefit her household and build it up. And even this must not be a self-gradifying act, but one that comes from a pure heart ready and willing to serve the King. It is only when a woman's guiding ambition is to be pleasing to Him, that she is "crowned with that beauty which a high and noble purpose gives to a soul."

The True Wife: Part I

"The true wife clings and leans, but she also helps and inspires. Her husband feels the mighty inspiration of her love in all his life. Toil is easier, burdens are lighter, and battles are less fierce because of the face that waits in the quiet of the home, because of the heart that beats in loving sympathy, because of the voice that speaks its words of cheer and encouragement when the day's work is done." -JR Miller


As a wife it is so important to focus on truly helping and inspiring my husband. Do I truly make his toil easier, his burdens lighter, and his battles less fierce? It is my goal to begin a journal, writing down all the actions I know my husband appreciates. Whether it be getting the mail every day or greeting him at the door with a kiss when he comes home from work, I want to remember all of the seemingly small, but vastly important things for the future and start now habits that will please him forever. By the grace of God, I pray that as the years of my new marriage come to pass, I will become more and more sensitive to my husband's needs and make my home a place of true comfort, peace, joy, and love; a haven of rest for my dearest.

Jessica