WILMM: love conquers

Why I love my man reason #22

 

My boyfriend and I started dating about a year after my previous relationship had ended. I came with a lot of baggage. My previous relationship had ended suddenly and without much, if any, closure. I struggled, and sometimes still do, with the idea that at any moment this sweet man that I was dating could potentially disappear. My boyfriend knew the hurt that I had been through because we had started to become friends as things ended between myself and the other guy. In fact, my boyfriend was one of my confidants...someone who seemed to genuinely care how I was doing, who wasn't really connected to anyone else I knew and who I hardly ever saw...making him a very safe person to share my hurts with. Little did I know that a year later I would be dating him. 

My boyfriend has helped me to heal. He took my bruised and tender heart and handled it with care. He knows when I am feelings anxious or worried and will wrap his arms around me and whisper, "I'm not going to leave you." He became involved in my life, with my family, and my friends and has shown me his love through action, not just words.

There's an old saying that says, "time heals all wounds." Time helps of course...but I don't think I would where I am today if I hadn't of had someone who allowed me to learn what it's like to trust again. I think of how many times in the past I have felt the anxiety rising inside of me as I thought of all the horrible outcomes that could happen. It was only when he held me tight and whispered in my ear that the anxiety began to cease. My boyfriend's love has helped to cast out those fears...and that is just one more reason why I love him. 

WILMM: self control

Why I love my man reason #21

I recently got home from a trip where I was visiting my sweet friend. While I was there she gave me this book to read by Shaunti Feldhahn. 

The book describes the way men think and process. It describes how men are visual and are able to keep a "mental Rolodex" in their minds of what they have seen. And, because men are visual, it is a conscious effort and choice that they make to not let their eyes linger too long where they shouldn't.
 
As I was reading this book I realized something about my wonderful boyfriend. I have never seen him look at another woman. Really. Never. Not even in an appreciative and very innocent, "she's very pretty" kind of way. Knowing what I know from reading that book it also made me realize that the fact that I have never seen my boyfriend look at another woman isn't an accident. It's a testament to him honoring and respecting me. 

In the past I have never understood when girls talked about their boyfriend's commenting or looking at other women. My boyfriend has never uttered a word about any girl he has ever seen. I have never seen him linger, or take a double loo.

The safety and security that I have because of how he handles himself is irreplaceable. The longer I date this man and the more I learn about him the more I love him.

when the most wonderful time of the year...isn't

Last Friday night I sat in a normal living room on a normal Friday night during Bible study. We went around the room for prayer requests. Pray for this family who just experienced the death of the mother after their daughter was burned over 40% of her body just a few weeks ago. Pray for our friends, cancer has returned. Pray for my co-worker, her son might have autism. Pray for a friend who continues to battle addictions. Peace for the family, it's their first Christmas with their son in jail. Pray for their marriage. For his job. For her illness. 


In a season of joy, Christmas, this season where we are supposed to be reminding ourselves that our Lord has come to save and rescue and heal us we focus on wrapping paper, pretty lights, music. I sat there and it hit me like a ton of bricks; during the happiest season of the year, a time that I have fully been partaking in,  people are hurting and suffering and feeling so alone. 

We prayed. I wept. 

I drove and saw Christmas lights with my boyfriend last night. I could have been sitting next to his hospital bed. I wrote Christmas cards and passed them out at to co-workers. I could have been writing a bereavement card for a family member. I baked cookies and took them to work. I could have been wondering if I will be able to get a job to support myself.

This is where I struggle. In a time where we, I,  should be celebrating Christ and His love for us I do the exact opposite of what Christ would do in my place. I overlook those who are hurting and grieving and are lost. I sit in my happy little world and never stop to think about those whose pain is being magnified because of the season that it is. As I sat in my Bible study listening to the burdens of so many people being spilled before the Throne of Grace I prayed that God would heal my heart, not from a broken marriage or the loss of a loved one or a serious illness, but from indifference. 

My prayer this Christmas is that I will have His heart. That I will see people as He sees them and that I will be able to offer just a little bit of His joy and peace to others, not just during Christmas, but all year 'round. 

pintrest

Ok, have ya'll heard of the pinterest? I'm late jumping onto this bandwagon but let me tell you, I have jumped with reckless abandon. It all started when Kristin posted what she did with her kids on their last day of summer.She got her inspiration for this awesome piece of art from pinterest!

 I've spent the past two hours searching the DIY section alone. There is still a whole 'nother world of pinterest that I have left untouched!

Seriously, I am AMAZED at how creative people are. Blown away. I love, love, love making my gifts and I think that this website will come in super handy around Christmas time!

Just LOOK at some of these CUTE ideas!

How about making a memory jar of your vacations?

 Can you believe that this wreath is made from TISSUE PAPER!?

I LOVE this frame that depicts what the best things in life are! Even better- make your own with their tutorial! 

 

Wanna see what's on my pinterest boards? Have you found any awesome crafts from pinterest? Do share! :)

1,000 gifts list #1027-1043

I just got home from a week long stay at Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park. John Muir writes, "Everybody needs beauty as well as bread, places to play in and pray in, where nature may heal and give strength to body and soul alike." That is what this trip was. A time to get away from the business of every day life, to breathe in clean fresh air, to laugh and fellowship with friends, to marvel at the beauty God has created.

The gifts continue, at home or away on vacation. In the jungle of a city that I live in or the rawness of wild land hundreds of miles away. It is beautiful, the way my Father coordinates things. :) One of the most memorable moments of my trip was a night in which I had just finished doing dishes and felt such a longing to worship. All of a sudden I heard music from a couple of campsites away and it was worship music! I gathered up my courage to go ask complete strangers if I could join them and they kindly said yes. It was a beautiful night singing praises to my Jesus under a blanket of stars and in the shadows of magnificent Redwoods. J

1027) mist on tree tops

1028) warm camping breakfast

1029) his little "I love you" touches

1030) shafts of light through giant Redwoods 

  

1031) late night campfire chats

1032) study Bibles

1033) boys and their walking sticks/staffs

1034) feathery ferns

 

  

1035) banana slugs in jars

1038) bundling up close to him during campfire chat

1039) mug of hot tea

1040) spider webs across trails

 

 

1041) worship songs around campfires

1042) universal believers, the binding tie of Jesus

1043) trees that take your breath away and the blood that was shed on the Tree that took my sins away