A Husband's Love

Every once in awhile I get a little glimpse of the encompassing love of God, I would like to say my recent glimpse came in one day but I am a slow learner.  Over the past year, I have often had the thought that the way my husband shows me love is the same way Christ has shown humanity love.  Whenever I realize how blessed I am to have a husband who loves me in this way a feeling of completeness fills my very soul.  Yet I haven’t really taken the time to dive into the chapter in the Bible that references the love of husbands and of Christ.  Today, after attending the wedding of a friend, I was sitting with my husband and once again thinking of how much he has shown me love, and I began to think about the love of Christ.  So I pulled my Bible out, as well as a concordance and began to do some research.  What exactly did the Bible say about husbands that not only filled me with love for my husband but also for my Jesus?  I found my answer in Ephesians.

Ephesians 5:25-27

(25) Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her (26) to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, (27) and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless.

 Christ gave himself up for me, for us, to make us holy, he did this because we were not holy, we needed to be made holy.  The only way for us to be made holy was for Christ to die on the cross for our sins.  In verse 27 we find out why he did this for us.  It says “to present her to himself” we are not presenting ourselves to Christ and saying please accept me, no, he has made us holy so that he may present us to himself.  There is NOTHING we can do.  He has made us holy so that we may be with him.  When he looks at us he does not see our wrongs, our past, or our selfish choices, as it is written in Ephesians, he does not see our stains, wrinkles, or blemishes.  He sees us as holy and blameless.  So what does this have to do with husbands?  As you read my account below remember that  I am no theologian, I am only sharing with you the parallels I see with my life and this verse. 

In my past I made some choices that I believed would someday either prevent me from marrying or cause pain for myself and my husband to be.  With the prompting of the spirit, I made the decision that if I were to meet a man whom I believed I would marry, I needed to share with him my past before the end of our first month dating.  I met my husband in February, we became good friends, and soon I became comfortable sharing hints about my past with him, but never details.  In July I asked him to attend my brothers’ wedding with me and we both confessed having feelings for each other.  The next night I shared with him my past.  As a friend, he often reminded me that my sins were as far as the east is from the west.  As the man that I had just began dating and was sure I would someday marry, he held my hand, looked me in the eye and said Sheri, if Christ can throw your sins as far as the east is from the west, then so can I.  Just as Christ sees me without blemish, my husband chose to see me without blemish.  His ability to choose forgiveness was the start of an amazing relationship.  We were married after dating for one year.  We have now been married one year, in this short time my husband has again and again shown me forgiveness.  In showing me the love of Christ, my husband has shown me Christ.  This command that God gave husbands, was another way for him to show us his love.  This glimpse of God’s encompassing love was slow in coming, but hopefully it will stay with me forever. 

Praying that my readers will be Christ to those they come in contact with today.

Tripping Up the Stairs

I didn't sleep well last night.  I tossed and turned, I dozed in and out of rest.  Not sure if my body ever reached that elusive state of REM that medical professionals claim we need in order to wake feeling well rested.  So, when I woke up this morning feeling slightly fuzzy it didn't take much for me to go from fuzzy to frazzled.  While picking up I struggled focusing on one task, I found that I forgot to wash my paint clothes, I decided to wear them dirty.  While starting a load of laundry, I realized I forgot to pick up a check that needs to be deposited today.  I then remembered I was supposed to take the Nisu out of the freezer for a retirement party.  When I went downstairs to take the Nisu out of the freezer I decided I needed a cup of coffee to smooth my already frazzled nerves, it was then I realized I forgot to descale(clean) my coffee maker.  My vinegar(used to descale my coffee maker) is kept in the basement, so I headed downstairs.  I flipped on the lightswitch, the light bulb had burnt out.  I found the biggest flashlight, hit the button, the beam of light came on and slowly began to fade, great, the batteries are dying (note to self: buy batteries before Hurricane Irene hits).  I finally got the light bulb changed and headed up the stairs.  Apparently New Hampshire's state safety codes for stairs don't account for short people, I didn't left my foot quite high enough and I tripped going up the stairs.  I managed to keep my language appropriate and simply exclaimed, "What the flip?!"

Needless to say by the time I sat down to breakfast with My Upmost for His Highest by Oswald Chambers, I was feeling like my upmost was not up but rather low.  But God had a nugget of truth for me.

Today's scripture reference was from John 14:27.  "Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you."  My morning wasn't terrible, I didn't have a lifechanging incident happen.  I experienced some day to day frustrations.  Yet even on these days where nothing seems to go right, Jesus says, He has peace for me!  What a gift, the sense that despite (or in spite of) our daily trials and ups and downs, we have peace at our finger trips, an opportunity for an untroubled heart, a smile instead of a frown.  Praying all my readers will pray for that peace that Jesus says He will give to you!  For he also says, as Mr. Chambers so kindly reminded me, "Let not your heart be troubled."

As for me, next time I trip up the stairs I can do it peacefully, may be I won't even say, "What the flip!?"

Bad Choice?

I love writing!  It is not unusual for my students to hear me say, "Some day I will write a book, but until then, I am going to teach you to write."  That being said, I am not quite sure how I feel about this "blogging thing".  After being a secret follower of some of my cousins, sisters, and friends' blogs, I decided maybe this could be a place to practice my writing.  I hope to use this as a source to share my faith, inspirations, dreams, heartaches, and whatever else happens upon my heart.  I am secretly okay with not having any followers, in fact I will candidly admit that this blog of mine is more for me than for you, of course, if you find yourself interested or intrigued by my random blogging, I am happy to invite you into my little piece of the world.