love and marriage

Be completely humble and gentle, be patient, bearing with one another in love...Ephesians 4:2 niv

since the move to Colorado I have been missing something. something big, yet small, powerful, yet comforting, comfortable, yet challenging.........it is my women's Bible study. I luv luv luv studying the Word with other women, learning from their experiences and growing alongside them as we strengthen our faith. Sometimes I study at PWOC (protestant women of the chapel) a big blessing to the Christian military wife. Other times I study at my home church wherever that may be at the time. but for now Ill be going it alone. I have been reading the Bible although i must confess I haven't opened an actual Bible in weeks (thanks to Biblegateway.com and my new kindle). I once was privileged to study with an amazing mentor who shared with me the benefits of actual study vs. just opening and reading. Of course it is NEVER wrong to open the Bible looking for answers or just let God lead you through the pages, but it is important to engage often in actual study. Whether it be about a certain book or portion, or simply a certain aspect found throughout the Bible. We can read a novel, but you dont memorize or study it, so starting today I'm taking her words to heart and even though I'm away from my groups I'm gonna hit the books hard. Ill be going it alone so if anyone wants to join me, feel free :)

I have chosen to focus on Marriage. If you arent the Bible type, don't give up on this post yet.....

My marriage is going great and strengthens further with every move! but like everything, anything can be made better.stronger.more and an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure so I have decided to do The Love Dare. Anyone can join me even if you dont want to do the Bible study parts. In my personal studies I'm going to focus on the verses in the Bible that guide us in our marriages but The Love Dare part is for anyone whether your marriage is in trouble, at its best, or simply ho hum. Trust me, it cant hurt!

I was recently facebook chatting with a friend, who I learned, doesn't share her blog with everyone. She is a little more private. It made me stop and think, am I crazy? I put it all out there? but I've decided, while I prob am a little bit crazy, everyone is different. I pondered why I would put it all out there and what the good parts of that are. For me, esp through this study, I hope having it all out there will help keep me accountable. So if you notice im slackin and need a kickstart let me know. This is important to me and I want to finish it!!!




so back to the Love Dare.........If your not sure exactly what it is, its a book featured in the movie Fireproof (great movie starring Kirk Cameron :) in which we are taught about Love and its many facets and given challenges to help improve ours. I'm going to post the challenges and hopefully any results that come from them. Beau never reads my blog but knows i blog about him so no worries there. He also doesnt know I'm doing The Love Dare. I thought about telling him but couldnt decide if i should soo I'm gonna wait for now, if u know us irl don't spill the beans :)

Day 1 is about patience. Patience as a choice that is. For most people patience never comes easy, but like love, sometimes you have to choose to be patient even when it isnt exactly what you want, or the most fun, or even the most obvious choice. "when you choose to be patient, you respond in a positive way to a negative situation" The Love Dare. For most people, anger is the emotional default when you feel wronged or unhappy, but patience can change all that, with practice! To live completely without patience, is to live in a war zone, whether the zone be your marriage, your friendships, and most definitely parenting. Everyone around you benefits from your patience, and hopefully can pick up some of their own. The goal of today's challenge is to foster comfort and trust from your spouse/bfriend/gfriend etc. They can trust that what they say or do wont be met with a nasty response once they see patience coming from their loved one. so today's dare is simple........Resolve to demonstrate patience and say nothing negative to your spouse at all. Hold your tongue if tempted! its only 24hrs, or less really if you count sleeping. I think i can do it :) we shall see, ill let you know..............