Homemaking 4 His Glory

15 years and Counting

We celebrated our fifteenth year wedding anniversary this week.  Fifteen years - imagine me married 15 years.  Seems nearly unbelievable to me.  We started out sure that we weren't going to allow anything to tear us apart  - but with a plan for in case something went wrong.  We knew statistically we were not going to make it. 

But we had something that we trusted more than anything - Jesus.  We trusted that he'd hold our union together.  We knew we couldn't do it in our own strength.  We can be selfish, rude, demanding and worse on our own.  We can be loving, self-sacrificing and completely willing to serve each other and Christ at our best.

What makes the difference?  $000000000.00 in our God accounts - when we know it isn't about what we do - but about what Christ does through us.  200% - when we are willing to give 200% when the other is on empty.  Working to outserve each other - willingness to obey God and trust that His way is the best way.

We are first generation Christians and we are blazing a trail.  Divorce is not an option.  "Together Forever" I jokingly chant over Jason on nights when he may be unappreciative of my presence.  It is my way of reminding him we are in this marriage no matter what.  It isn't about how we feel.  Thankfully we both love each other, our God, our Family and our life.  It has been 15 years and I am amazed that I have been so blessed.  By God's grace we will be counting for a long time - Together Forever.....

My 38th Year

It's my birthday - I turn 38 years old today.  I love my birthday.  A day to celebrate my life - the miracle of my life - that I'd ever have been created.  Then to be born though my father attempted to kick my mother's stomach so that I wouldn't be.  Then left with a woman that abused me while my mother attempted to find a way to take care of me.  Years of poverty, living in a home with alcoholic parents, neglect, abuse and finally a foster home. 

Today I am 38 and those things seem so far behind.  Now I have 4 children of my own.  I hold a precious 9 month old and consider what I might have been like at that age.  What might have made the rest of my life different at 9 months,  What if someone had led Roger Ericson to Christ and he had gathered his family together and lead a Christian Home?

So many families helped to raise me - so many provisions made by God through them.  So many friends who listened, encouraged and loved me when I was unlovable.  A past I often choose to not reflect on - I have sometimes wished I could erase and sometimes wished I could share.  All leading me to my now.

A husband who loves me - four beautiful blessings - a house with plenty of projects  - a church full of fellow believers in Christ - friends who love me for who I am - neighbors who are friendly - a town with a small hometown feel - a Country with freedom and hope.  Thirty-Eight today and looking back - inspecting my now.  A Christian wife, mother, soccer mom, Baptist, American, church member, sister, daughter, daughter-in- law, sister-in-law, aunt, friend, neighbor, Republican, homeschooler all the boxes I am supposed to fit in... and still I feel like me.

I have to look ahead - year 38 - a miracle still to me.  I am alive - I shouldn't be.  I am me and glad to be.  Proberbs 3:5-6 is my life verse.  This my 38th year I hold even dearer the words I know so well - Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.  In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.  I can't wait to see where God leads me as I stay on His path.