Valentines Day All Month ~ Day 1 ~ Blessed

February 1, 2014 · Valentines Day All Month ~ Day 1 ~ Blessed

I have been blessed...I really have been blessed. Even when married life has been hard...okay, really hard...try devastating, actually...my husband has been a blessing to me, especially the last year, when I haven't deserved it. Blessed. Oh, that we could all see blessings from God, even during the times when we can't see through the fog -and every one of you who has been married For awhile knows exactly what I'm talking about- or someday you will. God gives trials (especially in marriage) to refine us, mature us, help us die to sin and self and live for Christ, help us learn to lay our life down for another, help us learn to bless someone who doesn't deserve it, teach us to forgive, help us learn to accept blessings when WE don't deserve them, and to make our marriage a picture of Christ and the church. In marriage we face the hardest challenges. We live with an imperfect person who often times sees life differently, in some areas, than we do. That person lives with an imperfect you, too!


We need these: Refinement....the blood of Christ...a little more refinement...the grace of The Lord Jesus Christ...even more refinement...forgiveness from the Chief Shepherd...so much refinement, until we are like pure gold, with all the impurities skimmed off the top...Until we are a lump of clay, fashioned by the Potter's hands, into a pot that can be put on display for all to see. Marriage is the quickest way for God to do these things. But God can't do it with hard hearts...unwilling and selfish hearts...with clenched fists. He can only refine the lives of people with open hands...with soft, pliable hearts...with broken, cracked, hearts...open hearts. Hearts that find the blessings, even in the fog...the lighthouses in the storms...the candles in the blackout....the gifts tied with scarlet threads, offered in the dark corners of a place called 'I don't understand'...the heart that finds the blessings even when it is grappling with the cold 'whys?'


Blessings like: An affectionate hand brushing stray hair away from your face ~ a whisper of 'I love you' in the dark ~ him pacing the room with your newborn baby, whispering 'shh' at 4:39 am ~ full trash cans rattling to the road on Awana night ~ a knee-kicker grabbing at new carpet, pushing it into corners of an old room ~ red, white, and tan paint and wood made into childs' play things ~ sawdust covering an MCC jacket speaking of tables, and beds, and wood creations made with love ~ little blond and brown and red haired American girls on shelves, paid for with too much money ~ him leaving the last bit of Blue Bell for you and taking none for himself ~ diapers in the trash not changed by you, size one and size four, not paid for by you either ~ not letting you have a natural labor because he can't bear to see you in more pain than he's already caused in the past ~ paying too much money for technology for directionally challenged people whose phones find themselves in liquid such as coffee ~ gazebos that hit dining room windows because he's too busy doing labors of love that are more important ~ fish on 4 hooks and four smiling faces and him knowing how important it is that he make sure 'no one drowns' like they've all tried to do ~ flowers for no reason ~ trips out of the way for essential oils when he was 'just at that store-out of the way- last week' ~ him knowing not to go to walmart and waste gas because I forgot to tell him we needed cat food...they can eat tuna...just don't waste gas --without me having to say anything ~ Oneness. Knowing the other person's mind. Marriage.


See the little blessings, when they are little, when you can't see through the fog; someday you'll see the big blessings....just the little blessings all heaped up into one long life together, because you "chose" to see them.

http://youtu.be/ZACkRe_W4Gg