The Source by Anna Robinson

Despite coming from the same church in the UK, and crossing paths for many years now, I probably know more about Anna from her blog than from sharing life together and she would probably say the same! I invited Anna to share this month not only because she is a great writer, but because I also have a lot of respect for her and her husband, Rich, and their desire to live lives that others can imitate. AND I knew you would all love to hear what she has to say too! 

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I remember the precise moment when it clicked. The penny dropped. The scales fell from my eyes.

We’d argued. Not one of those slightly- raised- voice type of disagreements.  But one of those red-raw, swollen eyed, puffy cheeked, soul-wrenching arguments.

Me, Myself and I by Naomi Bhadreshwar

Naomi is one of my most gracious friends here in Lima, Peru. I love her beautiful generous heart and her stark honesty with her humanness and need for God.  It is refreshing. This article is no exception.  She shows us a reality all married people find, and dares to look at the reasons and the remedy in this very raw piece.     

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Me, myself and I

Ok, so I have just sat down to write this article on marriage.  The purpose?

To encourage you and myself this month as we consider and celebrate marriage and perhaps to share the odd pearl of wisdom gained in nearly 8 years of marriage.  However, I have to tell you I have just had an argument with my husband! 

Two Ticks and No Dog - by Ben and Deb Sternke

I have yet to meet Ben and Deb, but my husband Mark tells me they are amazing, so I am honoured and thrilled to have them contribute to this month's blog series.  You are not going to want to miss this piece, it's one of those simple but powerful truths that we all need to catch hold of:  

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Many years ago, Deb and I were sitting in a conference on marriage and family, and the speaker said one of the funniest and most helpful things we'd ever heard on marriage:

"Most marriages are two ticks and no dog."

What does respect mean anyway?

“You are a terrible mother, and a terrible wife.  Totally disrespectful.”

Those might not have been the exact words, but that’s how I heard them.  They then went on to list all the reasons why.

Mark sat there with me and said nothing.

The arrows sunk in deeper.

Join me for marriage month - I am so excited!

It was the day before my 19th birthday.  The bridesmaids had gone ahead and I stood waiting for the car to return.  My Dad and I.  He asked me if I was certain I wanted to do this.  Not because he didn’t believe in our relationship, or because he disapproved of Mark, but because he understood the nature of covenant and he was reminding me that from now on, divorce was not an option.  My commitment, in my mind, must be until death.  Did I understand that?

Dear suffering one

Dear suffering one,

Oh, the privilege that God has lavished upon you to enter into His heart.
  

To feel deeply of His pain, to share more wholly in His distress – the breakdown of His creation – to understand part of the depth of God – to know a side of Him that many do not wish or allow themselves to experience.

Remember those times you called out to God that you would know Him more, know Him deeper? 
Will you recognize Him in this storm – His heart that breaks too and His heart that loves so much that is it bleeding more than yours? 
Will you allow yourself to dwell with Him in this and to be, to be patiently with Him? 
Will you allow His earth-shattering grief and pain to linger in your heart, until it mingles with yours? Until a union occurs and you know another side of Him? 

Not that God needs your comfort, nor your pity, but that He trusts you, His son, His daughter, to see that His love is vulnerable too – there are no guarantees that it will be returned to Him. (And nor does He demand it.)

And in His pain, He does not cease to love, because He is love and He will continue to offer out His hand, vulnerable, and ask you to take it. 

Yourself.
 

And then to others.

 Vulnerable love.  Love that costs. 


'I want to know Christ – yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings' 
- Philippians 3:10

Eating Humble Pie

This is how the children of God are meant to be: called to greatness, called to be powerful in the kingdom of God, to awe the world with our ability to love; to shine for Him. 

This is how the children of God are meant to be: always recognizing and acknowledging our Maker – that all our strength and ability comes only because of Him.  We are simply the created works of the Creator, created in His hands.

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Oh, Lord, keep me humble, make me humble – let it be about You, not about me. 

I think that has been one of my regular prayers ever since that Matt Redman song It’s all about you…..got stuck in my head as a teenager.

Humility.   It is one of those words I have struggled to understand what it actually means in practice.  How can we be proud of our achievements and celebrate them, yet also be humble? It always seemed fake to me if someone congratulated me on some achievement to say ‘well, really, it was all God/my teacher/a coincidence!’ just so it sounded humble.  And how can it be a good thing for a parent to say “I’m proud of you” but yet not be something we are trying to seek?

I always thought that it would be a prayer that God would maybe answer one day – just change my heart as I slept so I woke up all humble, or at least a little bit more humble each day. 

I now understand that in part, humility is based in thankfulness and a recognition that whatever we achieve, it is only because of Him.  We give Him recognition as the source of that.  Sometimes it can be more humble to recognize Him in my heart than as a false humility to others.  And sometimes I need to make sure that He is outwardly mentioned to be the reason why anything worthy of recognition is in my life.

The Bible tells us in James 4:10 to humble ourselves before the Lord and to clothe ourselves in humility in 1 Peter 5:5-7.  So that tells me that there is something I can do to make myself more humble – I don’t have to just wait for God to answer my prayer!

But what exactly can we do to humble ourselves? There is a great list here that I recommend you take some time to look at and pray through, but I think that overall it comes down to trust.  Because, when we can trust that it is our Daddy’s responsibility to open doors, to defend us in our relationships, to make things happen, to protect our hearts, to fill us up where we give out, we enter into the freedom of humility: letting go and letting God and truly recognizing: It’s all about Him.