Marriage

Grace Upon Grace in Marriage

You can listen to this post here on Refresh Her podcast.

The grace of God is appropriated to all who put their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.  So many songs are written about God’s grace.  A newer one is “The Lord is my salvation”. It starts out – 

The grace of God has reached for me

And pulled me from the raging sea,

And I am safe on this solid ground

The Lord is my salvation

We are so thankful for God’s grace to us in our daily lives, aren’t we?  Grace forgives, helps, equips, guides, and restores. It gives to me what I do not deserve.

John 1:14, 16, 17 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. . . . For from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.”

Recently my grandsons were at our home for dinner.  When it was time for dessert, I brought out three different flavors of ice cream and asked the boys what kind they would like.  One of the boys answered with, “I’ll START with the cookies and cream.”  That clearly meant that he was not going to stop with one bowl.  He would have one scoop and then he would have another.  That’s a visual of grace upon grace at Gigi’s house.  

Christians receive grace and then more grace—grace served on top of grace—grace and then, in place of that, more grace. The point is that Christ is full of grace, and those who know Him get showered with grace.

What’s abundantly clear is that, when we come to Christ, He dishes out grace in heaping, huge servings.

Our marriages are to be pictures of the Gospel.  What would grace in marriage look like?

Grace in marriage would mean giving to my spouse out of my unselfish love what they may not deserve. 

Here are ten ways to show grace to your spouse ~

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Marriage · Mentoring

An Unexpected Blessing

Adorned Study #11 – You can listen to this post here on Refresh Her podcast.

We had just left a social gathering and were driving home when my husband said to me, “So many women will not let their husband lead.” He didn’t mention what/who he was referencing, but just the observation he had made while we were at this gathering of people.

I let my mind think back to our recent gathering and
I heard a wife answering for her husband. 
I heard another one talking over top of her man. 
Was it that the men didn’t know what to say, or was it that he wasn’t given the chance to say it?  I’m pretty sure the latter is the answer.

I know how easy it is to do both of those things! I fight these things in my own marriage if I don’t use the brakes of self control! What is required in these situations is a word that causes most women great distress. The word is submission. The definition of this word that I love is, To lean your husband’s direction. But what does God’s Word say about this word?

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Marriage · Mentoring

Need a Little Help Loving Your Man?

This post is a continuation of the Adorned Study #11. You can listen to this post here on the Refresh Her podcast.

A long-distance friend on Facebook is engaged.  She wrote on her fiancé’s wall this week,

“You are so easy to love!”

Anyone who has been married for a month or two, knows that husbands AND wives don’t STAY easy to love; both need grace at times in order to love the other as we should! 

Continue reading “Need a Little Help Loving Your Man?”
Marriage

The Cost of Neglect In Marriage

Weeds!  It’s amazing what just a little time away will do to a summer yard!

Proverbs 10:4 reminds us ~

He becometh poor that dealeth with a slack hand:
but the hand of the diligent maketh rich.

I remember a time when my hand had been idle, while on away on vacation, but when the temperatures had cooled off some and the humidity was in breathing range, I donned my garden gloves and headed out to give this poor Dianthus some badly needed attention.  My hand was diligent to take care of the neglected landscape.

While I was tugging and pulling at the stubborn intruders, the Lord brought to my mind a simple truth: neglect in any area of our lives spells t-r-o-u-b-l-e!  You name it – if you neglect your health, your work, or your spiritual walk, it’s an invitation to disaster.

Let’s think about another area in which neglect is deadly…a marriage.  It’s so easy to “take a little vacation” from really connecting with our spouse.

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Marriage · Speech

Entice Your Husband with Fair Speech

You can this listen to this post – which is last week’s episode on Refresh Her podcast.

When I was in elementary school, I had a fascination with matches and fire. That led me to doing a very foolish act one day. I struck the match that I had been forbidden to touch and lit one strand of a pom pom that I had in my bedroom, thinking it would slowly burn up that strand of crepe paper!

Continue reading “Entice Your Husband with Fair Speech”