How are you doing? Hanging in there? Boy, this gets hard at times..while starting with good intentions is all good..life has a way of making things challenging..lol I have found that lack of time is our enemy! lol But I believe that taking what you do have and making it quality can make all the difference!
Day 22
Day 22 I will betroth you to Me in faithfulness. Then you will know the Lord.-Hosea 2 :20
Love is faithful
Hosea the prophet completely has me in awe! "Against all logic and propriety, God instructed him to marry a prostitute. He wanted Hosea's marriage to show what Heaven's unconditional love looks like toward us"...this part of scripture is truly amazing because he went through so much with this woman and yet God called him to go and reaffirm his love for his wife despite what she was doing. Luke 6:27-28 says"Love your enemies. Do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you." And in Luke 6:32-33 "If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. If you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners do the same."
Today's dare
Love is a choice, not a feeling. It is an initiated action, not a knee jerk reaction. Choose today to be committed to love even if your spouse has lost most of their interest in receiving it.. Say to them today in words similar to these, "I love you. Period. I choose to love you even if you don't love me in return.
Questions for you:
- Why is this kind of love impossible without the love of Christ beating in your heart?
- How does His presence within you enable you to love, even when it's primarily one-sided?
A big one this time..be encouraged! Thanks for stopping by! love ya mean it! Stephanie
image unknown book excerpts from the "love dare" by Alex and Stephen Kendrick
4 comments:
Thank you for this challenge. Without the love of Jesus my love for my husband would probably be very "conditional"...I will love you IF you do this or act a certain way.
But because of the love of Jesus residing in my heart I have the power within (NOT MY OWN) to love my husband unconditionally.
This one is excellent, Stephanie. Even if we mistakenly "think" that our husbands must not love us as much as we love them, *simply because of their unique maleness, their inability to be more sensing and relational,( and that ONLY because God created them that way, thus it is an unnatural thing for them)....it does NOT make it true.
It is simply a difference between male and female. not wrong, different.
We should love them well anyway...showing the way, by example,~ not pouting it out of them... It is so EASY for us, such relationship-thriving creatures, their wives, to expect TOO much from them. Then we judge. I have been learning and am continuing to learn, to have "my buttons pushed by God's finger" (a term Dianna and I share.)... much about loving all the time no matter what my feelings say or sense...during this time of career separation as Kurt is living in Iowa and I in NC...God is shaping us...:-) thanks for doing this Stephaine... keeps me AWARE! Also makes me keenly enlightened that husband and wife need the presence of each other...After years of being together and walking through all the experiences of LIFE, the absence of one is sorely felt....MISSED! Hugs today.
I love the comments as much as the dares. Thanks, ladies, for sharing your stories. My husband is out of town this week, but I won't complain after reading Julie's situation! :-)
So thankful for the love of Jesus and the forgiveness of Jesus. I need both as I try to love my husband unconditionally.
oh me too lisa! the insight you ladies have all shared inpsires me well! THANK YOU!!
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