Tales From The Little White House: Love

2013

And today brings a guest post...

9:44 AM

So things have been insanely busy for me lately and this poor blog has suffered for it! Thank you all for being so patient with me during this new season of my life :)

I am very excited today to share a guest post with you all that Cari from A Writing Maiden wrote. What a sweet spirit she has and I encourage you all to check out here blog for more encouragement.

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The Lord has made us to be creatures with souls and emotions, like Himself. With this comes a desire for friendship and relationship. But, so often, we can easily develop negative feelings towards people: anger, bitterness, envy, jealousy. Even in our own families, it can be easy to find fault and to get in arguments.

I'd challenge you to consider: we live for a very short time. We will soon be dead. It is a simple fact of life, and we do not have long upon this earth to really love each other. Our lives should be focused on preferring others, and serving the Lord, but instead, we easily get caught up in what other people are doing and how they compare to ourselves. Our lives should be taken over with a servant's heart, but in reality our hearts want to serve ourselves.

I believe the Lord has been teaching me recently about how I view and treat those in my own family. If someone does not do something up to the standard I would wish, I sometimes get upset with them. I think I am trying to confront them in a biblical way, pointing out their faults in love, but that is not really the case. In reality, I think I was really just trying to convict them of what I thought were sins in their lives (and they may have been). But, I was not pointing anything out with biblical love. I was irritated with them, and was just trying to get them to change into how I wanted them.

They may have faults, and sins they are struggling with, but you see, God does not call me (or anyone else) to be the Holy Spirit. It is not our jobs to convict people of their wrongdoings. That is not to say we can never point them out. But, for single young ladies like myself, I think we should really be striving to focus wholly on the Lord and OUR relationship with HIM. Instead of focusing on others' shortcomings, we should be focusing on our own, and repenting from them.

I might easily avoid something which another struggles with each day. And that is their struggle, which the Lord will work with them on. He doesn't need my help; He knows fully what He's doing, and what is the best approach for that person. I might not struggle with that thing they're struggling with, but I have many other struggles. And my struggles are not theirs.

I think it's important to have understanding for each other and I believe that is a part of having brotherly love. Romans 12:10 "Be devoted to one another in brotherly love; give preference to one another in honor;" We need to understand that we are each going to have a different walk, and we are each going to have our own unique struggles. I believe this is where forbearance comes in as well.

I know I still do not completely grasp all of this; it is all so profound (not what I'm saying, but what I was trying to explain). The way God's love works, and the way He wants us to live is so complex even in its simpleness. I really think I'm just scratching the surface of the iceberg in what I'm learning now, and when I die, I really think I'll only have made a small dent. Even when I begin to think I know what love is, I'm just catching a small beam of it, and looking at it in awe, when the whole of it is so magnificent and bright in its glory.

"Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant, does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things." 1 Corinthians 13:4-7

May the Lord be praised! He is patient with us, even when He looks down here to earth and sees us messing up our relationships, and blundering around with clouded vision. He loves us anyways, and He is still willing to teach us, over and over again, how to love like He does. He is patient with our feeble efforts to understand Him and His love - He is awesome! His might is really unspeakable, isn't it? "For great is the LORD and greatly to be praised; He is to be feared above all gods." Psalm 96:4

2012

It's the little things

7:52 AM

2012

2 years, 2 weeks and 22 years old

9:11 AM

The last two days were special days!!!! Ok, so we can all say that each day the Lord gives us is special but some are just more special than others! :)

Two days ago marked two years since I had met Jason. In my mind I was finally surrendered to being a very single missionary nurse. And I was content with that!

But then a friend from my girls Bible study told me about this other Bible study she had been going to on Sunday nights. Then she casually mentioned that there was a guy leading it named Jason....who was my age and single. Ahem. Do you know how few and far between guys who are serious enough to be leading a Bible study and are single can be? In my case that had never been. At all. Anywhere close.

Well, that I knew of. I found out later after saying over and over again I would never find a husband in good ole' NY that Jason had lived about 20 minutes away from me almost my entire life. Ahem.

So anyway, I noticed him right away and for some reason was drawn to him. He was such a godly leader, powerful prayer warrior and looked really handsome in that white button down shirt and khakis! :) So I went away crying and telling the Lord I was not even going to think about guys I was devoted and finally content with being single and a missionary nurse...I prayed that for a few months but nothing seemed to happen! In fact, the Lord kept putting Jason in my path more often!!! :)

First picture we ever had taken together :)

First picture we ever had taken JUST us (no cropping required lol)

Very Early on Jason showing me how to do balloon animals ;)

Well, one year and two months TO THE DAY that we met (true to his sister Sarah's prediction) this happened:

I married my prince. The Love of my life. The greatest gift that God had ever given me and oh it was so worth the wait! I smile when I look at the couple in these pictures :) We had no idea what the next few months would bring or what challenges we would face or how much we would grow. We had no idea how God would prove Himself to us over and over again in so many amazing ways!

2 days ago marked 2 years of knowing each other but-it also marked 10 months of marriage. So much has happened in the past 10 months it has absolutely blown my mind. And yet there we were 2 days ago-2 weeks away from another big change in our life story:

We are still waiting on our little man's appearance! I am 38 weeks now and SO READY for him to be here ;) I can hardly wait to meet him! Life is going to change forever in a good way :)

What a special day! Wow! Ok, so then yesterday was a special day as well! My prince turned 22 years old! And yes-I signed the note I put in his lunch today "Your loving 21 year YOUNG wife". Ahem. We didn't celebrate yesterday because he had to work anyway so we celebrated a few days earlier :) It is funny just because he is so funny with his meal choices.

He wanted sausages, broccoli and guacamole. And no desert-just fresh berries. When asked what he wanted for a gift he thought about it and then said: "Car wax". Ok.

We went shopping for his dinner and then came home and opened presents. It was a lot of fun! In our family birthdays have always been a HUGE deal so even if your don't get a lot of stuff you still get to have your special day :)

The only reason I included this picture was so you all could see my almost 38 week belly. This baby is getting bigger and bigger!!!

Getting ready to eat the strawberry shortcake with homemade strawberry sauce and fresh strawberries, kiwis and cool whip on top. Yumminess!!! :) He was annoyed he had to wait to have a pic snapped before digging in lol :)

All in all it was a very good day and week and 2 years! I am so blessed to have this man in my life and I can hardly wait to spend the next 50 years by his side Lord willing :)

Have a blessed day!