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Thank you!
Wednesday, November 26, 2014
Monday, February 24, 2014
6 Month Anniversary!
It's our 6 month anniversary today!!! (Yay!) I love and admire that man more today than I did the day I married him. I'm so thankful that God made Derek Doehrmann exactly the way he is. I'm even more thankful for Jesus in the middle of us. Jesus holds us together even when we're not able to hold ourselves. Thank You, God, so much for every day!!!!!
"And one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him. “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. 38 This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.” (Matthew 22:35-40)
"And one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him. “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. 38 This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.” (Matthew 22:35-40)
Thursday, December 5, 2013
Dirty Dishes and the Glory of God
One challenging transition in marriage for me has been housework. I work 28 hours a week, and as a single I was never skilled at keeping up after myself. Now that there's two to keep up with, it's no wonder I've been feeling overwhelmed.
I've been asking a few older women for advice on how to keep a better house and manage my time. A lot of good nuggets came out of those conversations, but the one that really hit me has to do with the glory of God.
I've been feeling lost in what to focus on in the house and was feeling like I ought to be accomplishing EVERYTHING. So many of the teachings I've heard talked about how cleanliness, orderliness, and diligence in the home give glory to God.
This is where Kathy W. came in and shared lots of good thoughts with me about prioritizing. She encouraged me to consider my roles: daughter of God, wife, housekeeper, employee, etc. Then to consider what roles have priority, and what tasks within those roles were most important. For example, the most important of my roles is as a God's daughter and as a wife. The most important tasks as a wife is to love, care for and help my husband.
3. Housekeeper
___________|___________
Cook Dishwasher Laundry Folder
Spending time with Derek falls under my role as a wife. Doing dishes, on the other hand, falls under being a housekeeper. If I only have time for one of those and both are being asked of me at the same time, which do I choose do?
This is where Kathy W. blew my mind; God prioritizes.
"Jesus answered, “The most important is, ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”" - Mark 12:29-31
To mirror God's priorities -- to make the things important to Him important to us -- is to give God glory. So when a choice comes between Derek and dirty dishes, God's priority is Derek. That means my priority is Derek.
So in some roundabout way, the dirty dishes I have to leave in the sink can give God glory. Not because they are dirty, but because they are the consequence of a decision that reflects God. This has relieved the burden and sadness I feel, because I know I'm using what I do have the way God wants me too.
"So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God."
Have you ever realized an unexpected way God can be glorified in your life? What was it and how did it come to light?
I've been asking a few older women for advice on how to keep a better house and manage my time. A lot of good nuggets came out of those conversations, but the one that really hit me has to do with the glory of God.
I've been feeling lost in what to focus on in the house and was feeling like I ought to be accomplishing EVERYTHING. So many of the teachings I've heard talked about how cleanliness, orderliness, and diligence in the home give glory to God.
1 Corinthians 14:33 | 1 Thessalonians 4:11-12 | Proverbs 31:27
Since being married, I've realized I simply do not have the ability to accomplish everything. At the limits of my strength and time, there was still more to do. Housework became a burden. It was discouraging and exhausting, desiring to give God glory in my home, but not having the ability. This is where Kathy W. came in and shared lots of good thoughts with me about prioritizing. She encouraged me to consider my roles: daughter of God, wife, housekeeper, employee, etc. Then to consider what roles have priority, and what tasks within those roles were most important. For example, the most important of my roles is as a God's daughter and as a wife. The most important tasks as a wife is to love, care for and help my husband.
Roles
1. God's Daughter
2. Wife
______|______
Friend Lover Helper
3. Housekeeper
___________|___________
Cook Dishwasher Laundry Folder
This is where Kathy W. blew my mind; God prioritizes.
"Jesus answered, “The most important is, ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”" - Mark 12:29-31
To mirror God's priorities -- to make the things important to Him important to us -- is to give God glory. So when a choice comes between Derek and dirty dishes, God's priority is Derek. That means my priority is Derek.
So in some roundabout way, the dirty dishes I have to leave in the sink can give God glory. Not because they are dirty, but because they are the consequence of a decision that reflects God. This has relieved the burden and sadness I feel, because I know I'm using what I do have the way God wants me too.
"So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God."
- 1 Corinthians 10:31
________________________________________________
Have you ever realized an unexpected way God can be glorified in your life? What was it and how did it come to light?
Thursday, November 21, 2013
Christ and the Church
I don't know if the Cues are Christians, but their love reminds me of the love that Christ has for the church. It's a love that's hard for me to wrap my mind around.
"Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish. In the same way husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church, because we are members of his body. “Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church. However, let each one of you love his wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband." - Ephesian 5:25-33
Lord, please teach me to love as You love. I don't know how and I am not able apart from You.
"Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish. In the same way husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church, because we are members of his body. “Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church. However, let each one of you love his wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband." - Ephesian 5:25-33
Lord, please teach me to love as You love. I don't know how and I am not able apart from You.
***
What has been the greatest example of God's love in your life?Thursday, November 7, 2013
Christ-like
For our boast is this, the testimony of our conscience, that we behaved in the world with simplicity and godly sincerity, not by earthly wisdom but by the grace of God, and supremely so toward you. - 2 Corinthians 1:12
I couldn't have chosen better words to describe Derek, my husband. This verse has long made me think of him, since even when we were only friends.
He quotes Proverbs 18:22 to me many times.
"He who finds a wife finds a good thing and obtains favor from the Lord."
I tell him I think it applies to husbands too. My life has become considerably better since Derek became a permanent fixture in it. Only two and a half months have passed since we were married. Already God has blessed me through Derek in more ways than I can number here.
Marriage has not been an easy transition for me. Many of my faults have become magnified, two of the worst being my inability to balance a schedule and prioritize. I work and serve myself into exhaustion and do not know or respect my own limits as I should. Even today, I was crying and talking to Derek about this struggle. He told me he wanted me to let him know what I commit to from now on. That way he could serve as an objective perspective and keep me accountable. He said he wanted to make sure I was taking care of myself.
Thinking about this conversation later, I nearly started crying. God wants me to take care of myself because He cares more about me than about what I can do for Him. It really sunk in for the first time. That Derek that he would step up, protect me (even from myself), and help me grow into a healthier woman -- it was a little picture of Christ's love for me and it opened up my mind. God did not save me because of what I could do for Him. He saved me because of His love and grace. That same love and grace (not my productivity) is what should dominate my life.
Who's a person in your life that helped you see something about God? What did you learn from them?
He quotes Proverbs 18:22 to me many times.
"He who finds a wife finds a good thing and obtains favor from the Lord."
I tell him I think it applies to husbands too. My life has become considerably better since Derek became a permanent fixture in it. Only two and a half months have passed since we were married. Already God has blessed me through Derek in more ways than I can number here.
Marriage has not been an easy transition for me. Many of my faults have become magnified, two of the worst being my inability to balance a schedule and prioritize. I work and serve myself into exhaustion and do not know or respect my own limits as I should. Even today, I was crying and talking to Derek about this struggle. He told me he wanted me to let him know what I commit to from now on. That way he could serve as an objective perspective and keep me accountable. He said he wanted to make sure I was taking care of myself.
Thinking about this conversation later, I nearly started crying. God wants me to take care of myself because He cares more about me than about what I can do for Him. It really sunk in for the first time. That Derek that he would step up, protect me (even from myself), and help me grow into a healthier woman -- it was a little picture of Christ's love for me and it opened up my mind. God did not save me because of what I could do for Him. He saved me because of His love and grace. That same love and grace (not my productivity) is what should dominate my life.
John 15:9 | Galatians 2:20 | 1 Corinthians 6: 13, 19-20 | Psalm 139:13-16
Thank you, God, for saving my husband, for making him like Christ, and for using him to teach me about You.Who's a person in your life that helped you see something about God? What did you learn from them?
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