Icing on the cake. This is how Elizabeth George describes her DVD presentation to those doing the Bible study, A Woman After God’s Own Heart. We have spent a month digging into God’s Word learning what He wants to teach us in our quiet time with Him. Then when we come together we listen to her pull all the pieces together and wrap it up in her 30-minute group time.

I love icing, and I love this time because she knows how to spur us on and encourage us to apply what we have learned. This month we studied A Heart for Your Husband. Aside from our own study time, let me share with you some of the practical things she shared in her DVD.

There are four specific ways in which we are to have a heart for our husband. They are:

1. Help him. Genesis 2:18 – A help meet is a counterpart and companion. The husband and wife are a team running towards the same goal with the wife running solidly behind her husband. “If he wins, I win.” This requires a commitment to respond to God’s Word. We must focus on our husband – on his goals, his responsibilities. Think, “Him first.” That’s what a helper does. Elizabeth asks her husband two questions every morning: 1. What can I do to help you today? 2. How can I help you make better use of your time? Ask if your decisions, actions and attitudes will help or hinder him.
   

2. Submit to him. Ephesians 5:21-23 Submit means, “to bend in his direction. Fit into his life, his way of doing things. No resistance.” God Word says it, so we must make the commitment and trust God to enable us. It also helps to give a positive response. Find a word to use. Elizabeth uses the word, “sure!” She says it’s also important to say it with music in your voice and an exclamation point afterwards. Start on the small things. Elizabeth used her word on the trial of their marriage – getting donuts on the way to church every Sunday. It had caused much conflict between them – too much sugar for their little girls, chocolate on their Sunday dresses, no money or time for it! But once the Lord worked in her heart about this, her husband suggested they stop for donuts on the way to church and she said, “Sure!” What a difference it made in their attitudes and family life! They sang in the car, “When we all get to heaven…” The difference wasn’t the sugar in the donuts, it was the positive response from a wife to her husband.

Do you have a positive word you use with your husband? If not, ask the Lord to give you one.

continued tomorrow…

Today is a special day at our house because it’s someone’s birthday – my husband’s. Birthdays are big events for our family. The morning always starts with breakfast in bed for the honoree, and they get to choose the menu. This morning it is Mini Sausage and Egg Casseroles, coffee cake and fresh fruit. I bought a bed tray years ago to help minimize disasters of having a bed-full of breakfast! It also has openings on the sides to stick cards and small gifts. We pull out the china, crystal and a pretty cloth napkin so breakfast is served in style! The girls in the family usually have fresh flowers added to the tray as well.

Cards and gifts are opened after breakfast and the day of celebrating has only begun! We have a birthday mug for coffee, and on my last birthday I received a birthday plate for cake.

When the girls were growing up they got to choose what the supper menu was, and of course what kind of cake they wanted. They didn’t have to do chores on their birthday – a special privilege. They were the ones to go out and get the mail on “their” day, so they could retrieve the cards that were waiting on them.

Birthdays are great days to let our family members know how special they are! Having said that, let me say how thankful I am to have celebrated 29 of Dale’s 51 birthdays. God gave me a treasure in my godly husband and I know how blessed I am.

Does your family have any traditions for birthdays? What do you do to make it a special day?

Off to celebrate,

At the end of our mission’s conference my mind goes to a poem I read a few weeks ago while reading the story of John and Betty Stam. Let me start with the background of the poem:

Remarkably, on the same day that news of the Stams’ death reached America, John’s father, the Rev. Peter Stam, received a letter from his son that had been posted from China many weeks before. In his letter he told about the threat of the Communists, but reiterated his faith and commitment to serve God in China regardless of the cost. John Stam repeated a poem written by another China missionary, J.W. Vinson, who had himself been captured by bandits. The bandits asked Vinson if he was afraid to die. Vinson replied, “No! If you shoot straight, I shall go straight to heaven!” His captors did shoot straight, and Vinson entered heaven as one who “loved not his life unto death.” Earlier, Vinson had penned this poem, which Stam now quoted to his father:

I certainly don’t have much wisdom of my own to share and I don’t want the title for today to come across in a proud way. Everything I’m sharing is ideas from others. I heard someone once say, “If you don’t have brains borrow them; just be careful where you get them.” 🙂 With that said, here a some clever ideas…

Have you made this wreath yet? Here’s a picture of mine. I made it in two consecutive nights while listening to a preaching service on the web. Anyone can make this! Cut and poke – that’s the talent it takes to make it! It took just under a yard of fabric to cover the wreath form and make it full and fluffy looking. You could make a round wreath in the spring with pastel colors, or red, white, and blue in July. Cute, cute, cute!

My dad told me about a recent good idea my mom had. She had a nice tablecloth that was a bit worn, but she loved it. It wasn’t good enough to use as a tablecloth anymore, so she cut it into squares and made napkins out of it. I love that idea because I have a beautiful tablecloth that got stained. It’s so pretty I couldn’t make myself get rid of it, but I never use it. Now I have a plan! If you’d like to do that and you’re not sure how to go about it, go here for a good tutorial. Thanks for the great idea, Mom, and Happy Birthday!

Did you know that Crayola makes bathtub crayons? Your kids can write on the bathtub and have all kinds of fun, but I recently read about a husband and wife using the crayons to leave notes for each other in the shower! With Valentine’s Day approaching I think that’s a great way to be creative!

I’m always looking for a good book to read. At our missions conference our preacher, J.B. Godfrey mentioned the book, The Triumph of John and Betty Stam. I will be on the lookout for this in our library. If they don’t have it I see that Amazon has copies as low as $6.

How about you? Come across any good ideas, books or new products?

‘Til next time…