Day 311 Honoring My Husband's Love

This year was a different kind of Valentine's day for me.  It was the funeral of my friend in New Jersey and I continued to be filled with emotions as the decisions were changed about the venue for Whitney's funeral.  The pastor that preached the sermon  at my friends funeral talked about how each one of us have an expiration date.  What I so enjoyed about his sermon was that although he did not personally know my friend he spoke about him as if he did.  He was intentional about trying to comfort the family with his eulogy.

As he spoke I was reminded about how little time we really do have on this place called earth.  He shared how my friend seemed to love life, which he did and he tried to enjoy each moment.  I began to think about how I think I/we need to live each and every day as if it is our last.  I heard on the news that people will spend close to a billion dollars in gifts to celebrate Valentine's Day.  My question is, what about the other 351 days of the year.  What would we do different if every day was Valentine's Day.   I made the decision in the moment that I am going to love my husband and family every day as if it is my last.  That being said, today I am honoring his love.

I am honoring his love because he loves Valentine's Day and has always tried to make it special for me yet he was very understanding of me wanting to show my respects to my friend in New Jersey.  I am honoring his love with my choice to love with my arms wide open as much as possible every day.  I was born in the same year as my friend and as Whitney Houston, so I believe it hit me in a different way because of this commonality.  I decided I do not want to wish I had done things different, loved in a different way, gave more of myself should my husband go on to glory before me.  I want us both to be able to say, we loved as hard as we could, gave all of ourselves in every encounter, focused on the positive, overlooked the small stuff, loved like Jesus, forgave like God and cherished every moment we share.

Wives of the world how can you or do you honor your husband's love.  What would it look like if you treated every day as Valentine's Day?  Would you demonstrate your love in a different way, would you be nicer or easier to get along with?  I intend to try to make every day like Valentine's Day and love with my arms wide open.  Please join me if you can and please share your stories with us; we would love to hear from you.

Blessings,

Rochelle

"...and the greatest of these is love" 1st Cor.

Day 310 Honoring My Husband's Generosity

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It is amazing to me how time really does fly.  I am capturing this as day 310, mainly because it is the  next day in the sequence of my postings.  Yet I am continuing to honor my husband even when I have not posted. 

This past week was a little challenging for me.  It started with me hearing about a dear friend from New Jersey passing away and it ended with me hearing about my favorite singer, Whitney Houston, passing away.  So my week has been filled with sadness while at the same time trying to take in and enjoy the blessings God has been granting.  To say that we walk in duality has been an understatement for me this week. 

I had the opportunity to speak at a Bishops conference this week in Pennsylvania.  I knew about the trip some time ago and had requested that Bryan travel with me.  On the day we were to leave, it was as if the devil was trying to put every obstacle possible in our path.  We had a miscommunication about which car we would drive, Bryan had several issues in his business that took up his morning, we had to get new tires, and we ran into much traffic.  The miscommunication about which car we would drive caused some friction but we continued to forge forward.  We were supposed to leave at noon and did not get on the road until after 3PM.  I decided not to be wary about all the issues and to simply know that we would get there when God wanted us to be there.

In all we experienced, I did not lose sight that Bryan made the decision to still go even though he had several business issues lagging behind.  He was most concerned about me not driving the distance alone and arriving safely.  Because of this, I am honoring the generosity of his time.  He could have easily stated to me to drive alone and stay connected via phone along the way so he knew I arrived safely, but he did not.  He contacted several of his workers to put systems in place to hold things over the two days we were gone.  He remained in contact with them throughout our visit but not once did he state he should not have gone even as things escalated in his absence. 

God made it such that it turned into somewhat of a romantic short trip.  The location was absolutely wonderful, very romantic and we were blessed by the preaching and teaching during the conference.  I also made several business leads.  The lesson in all of this for me was to know that when we make plans God does often laugh and throw us a curve ball.  When this happens we have to go with the flow, remain cool and allow God to do his work.  I am grateful for my husband's generous sharing of his time at the sacrifice of his business.  Something he finds hard to do and because of this I am honoring him.

Wives of the world how do you honor your husband's generosity? Do you recognize when he sacrifices something of great importance to him for you and your interest?  We often take it for granted when our spouse does something we think they should because of the role they have.  When I was young my father used to say to me, when you get married be sure to marry someone that loves you just as much as you love them or someone who loves you more if possible and no matter what they do for you, always be grateful for it because they do not have to do anything except be black or white and die.  I have never forgotten those words, it allows me to try very hard to continually notice and acknowledge the small and large things Bryan does for me and us.  How do you honor your husband's generosity?  Do you take it for granted or acknowledge the blessings as they are?  Please share your stories with us; we would love to hear from you.

Blessings,

Rochelle

"Do all the good you can, by all the means you can, in all the ways you can, in all the places you can, at all the times you can, to all the people you can, as long as ever you can." John Wesley

Day 309 Honoring My Husband With An Extension

 Hello Wives,                                                                                                         

Forging forward in my quest to love like Christ.

I cannot believe it has been almost a month since my last post.  I started this year saying it is my year of   expectations and have been simply blown away at how the Lord has been showing up in our lives and blessing us in small and large ways.  You may recall my struggle about continuing the blog, should I or should I not and the Lord showed up in several ways last month allowing me to know that not only should I but it is very much needed.  That being said, I am back. 

Today I am honoring my husband with an extension, the extension of this blog for however long I feel led by the spirit to continue it.  Last year I learned so much about myself, my husband and our marriage that I am excited about what the Lord will do this year.  I began the year with the Daniel Fast and to my surprise got sick in the middle of it.  I'm still praying about all the messages yet I know one is to take better care of myself.  I was so sick that I passed it along to Bryan. Fortunately it did not hit him as hard as it hit me, but enough to slow him down a bit.  One great lesson, when God tells you to slow down and we don't listen, he will do it for us.  I am honoring my husbad with an extension by leveraging the power of personal growth I gained last year and using it as a bridge of learning for this year as I forge forward with this journey. 

Someone shared with me once that they prefer to operate on automatic because it is easy and they did not like having to be intentional about how they showed up in their marriage.  This peaked my curiosity in terms of what are the consequences of operating on automatic Vs being intentional.  I know for me personally when I am on automatic I operate with my flesh instead of from the spirit.  Depending upon the situation, it could be very damaging because although I know Christ lives in me, I am not Christ and I may react in an un-Christ like manner.  My hope is that my lessons from last year will help me to continue to be intentional about how I show up in my marriage so I am being the wife Christ would have me to be and not the wife my flesh would  have me to be.  Join me on this journey of being intentional about honoring your husband and your marriage while we all learn how to be more like Christ.

I hope you continue to join me in this journey of honoring your husband by extending the learning journey.  Please share your stories with us and pass the word along to others; we would love to learn from all those with experience out there.

Blessings,

Rochelle

"Our hope is that, as your faith continues to grow, our sphere of activity among you will greatly expand..." 2nd Corin 10:15