FAR MORE THAN RUBIES

That is your worth as a a “virtuous and capable” wife. Your strength comes and capability comes from the Lord your God as you wake up everyday and choose to let the love of Jesus flow through you onto these precious containers on your blessing table, your husband and children.

The first exercise today was to “translate” verses 13-16 into ways you can help your husband in the year 2016.

13She finds wool and flax
and busily spins it.

She sees her man needs some new clothes and goes to Kohl’s to buy them.

14She is like a merchant’s ship,
bringing her food from afar.

She goes to the grocery store and buys the food to prepare home cooked meals.  She may drive 3o minutes away to get organic food from Harris Teeter or Trader Joes.  Or she may go to Aldi and Walmart to get good deals and stretch her dollar.

15She gets up before dawn to prepare breakfast for her household
and plan the day’s work for her servant girls.

She rises early to spend a few quiet moments with the Lord, writing out a to do list an asking Him to help her prioritize and get done what needs to be done.  She doesn’t have servant girls, BUT she has a washer, dyer, dishwasher, indoor stove, and microwave to help her.

16She goes to inspect a field and buys it;
with her earnings she plants a vineyard.

She puts great thought into how she spends her money and thinks about how she can invest not only her money, but her time and skills for earthly and eternal profit.

These are just a few thoughts about how “Provie 31” can be translated into a real woman in 2016.

To further engage with the passage, you were asked to draw yourself as this virtuous woman, complete with all the gifts and talents you use to serve your family everyday.  Here is my very quick sketch, depicting  the most important tasks on my tables:

And last, but not least, I asked your to consider verse 12, to study it in different translations, and write out the one that spoke the most to you.  Here is mine:

 

I pray this day of studying the Proverbs 31 woman has encouraged you.  Let’s stop striving and walk with Jesus to love and serve our families!  Check back tomorrow for a very intense topic!!!

Today our application for the study includes 3 actions:

1. Praying for our husbands to love us with Christ’s love.

2. #Refocus our hearts to Respect our husbands by admiring their good qualities.

3. Let respect come alive in action. You know your husband. Hear what’s important to him. What’s on his mind. What’s important to him should be important to you.

Today I was challenged to start making a list of things my man mentions that need to get done so I don’t forget. Seriously, I need lists in my life!

Pray for God to help you speak your man’s language of what respecting him looks like to him. He will help you! Praying for you all!

 

On Saturday afternoon, I was walking through an infirmary in Jamaica when a sweet soul in a bright orange dress laid in her bed smiling widely and waving at me.  I drew closer, shook her hand and introduced myself to her.  Beside her bed was a wheelchair and a small bedside table.  On her table, a bible was laid open to the book  of John.  I talked to her for a few minutes and then I waved some of my friends over to meet this happy spirit.  We circle around her bed as she shared passages of the bible from memory with us.  We were humbled by her joy and her faith.  Then she started handing out presents to us.

“I want to give you something,”  she said as she looked at me.  She grabbed a triple braided bracelet from her bedside table and tied it around my wrist.

She tied it so tightly I could hardly get it off to sleep that night.  The three pieces of thread, in native colors of the Jamaican flag, were weaved so strongly together, with no gaps so that it looked like one piece of continuous yarn with three colors.  Of course, I KNOW this is an illustration God has given me through this sweet angel of his for this verse:

 

For me, this bracelet represents God in the gold, me in the green, my husband, Nick in the black.  With the Lord holding us together, we will stay connected, strong and steady and without any gaps for others to enter in to this sacred covenant we entered into eleven years ago.  This verse and illustration is now used in wedding ceremonies.  My sister in law included it in hers.  And I can see why.

We can trust God with our marriages.

We can trust him and call out to him when we have anxiety and worry about the current state of our relationship.

We can trust him and call out to him to protect our bond and keep it strong when others around us are unraveling.

We can trust and call out to him when we are at the end of our own rope in our marriage.

When we don’t think we can hold it together anymore, we can trust and call out to him and  know HE CAN.

I don’t know about you, but I find so much freedom knowing God is able to hold this beautiful, but complicated thing called marriage together, making it strong, unified, and better with every twist and turn as long as we trust Him and follow his pattern for it.

The other passage, Philippians 2:1-11,  in the Day 2 study guide is my favorite, because it has been one of the most heart-altering passages in my wifehood.  Studying the attitude  and heart of how our Jesus lived  is powerful. Here is the verse I chose this time to write out:

Praying for you ladies and all the marriages represented in reading these words! Keep digging in and applying his Word to your lives.

 

 

 

 

 

“This explains why a man leaves his father and mother and is joined to his wife and the two are united into ONE.”  Genesis 2:24

 

ONENESS

Being united and staying united as ONE in marriage does not happen passively.  This world pulls us in a million directions, but God’s Word pulls you into a progressively closer  relationship with Him, and into a progressively closer relationship with your husband.

Today in our study guides, we were asked to pray and illustrate the “road to ONENESS” with our husbands this year.  Mine is below.  It is something the Lord has been showing me as we have woken up in beautiful Jamaica the past few days, enjoying our coffee on this patio:

After launching this bible study, I’ve had to wrestle with my morning priorities.  Down there in paradise it was no different.  Actually, it was different because the internet was very, very, slow.  I felt this pressure closing in to post everyday about the study and yet have time with Jesus first AND a special routine with my husband that creates ONENESS:

An undistracted cup of coffee with him in the morning.

UNDISTRACTED= FOCUSED=ONENESS

So here is the road to ONENESS I illustrated in my study guide:

A cup of coffee represents focused time together. Sitting down and leaving the computer and phone behind to converse with the most important person on this earth to me, my husband.

This is my road to oneness. Yours may look different, especially if you don’t drink coffee. But one thing will be the same:

A mindset and heartset of making your husband priority of all your relationships on this earth. 

Our relationship with Jesus is in a league of its own. Way above all our earthly ones!!!

As we walk with Jesus, he will help us leave what needs to be left behind and will walk us down this road to greater oneness in our marriages.

I’d love to see these illustrations and Write It Outs! Praying for all of you as we walk down this beautiful road to greater Oneness!

 

I’ve heard a picture is worth a thousand words, so here’s a short novel in pixels:

Long ago He planned for me to be in Jamaica this week, helping build a house for this young lady:

 

    


And so to be in the moment, in these plans He had for me these few days, I don’t have many words to type here.

 
I wrote down my dreams & goals for this year in my study guide, but I’m just soaking in the present few days with these beautiful people.

**I’ve uploaded the Week 2- MARRIAGE study guide! We start discussing it here and in the FB group so please print it out ASAP! You don’t want to miss it!!!

Catch up this weekend if you are behind. 😊

Please share your God given dreams & goals for the year! Keep your eyes fixed on Jesus, our goal & prize!