Pray It Forward

I was deeply touched recently by a friend who offered, no - suggested, getting together with me some night to pray specifically about a burden on my heart. So often we promise to pray FOR others but how often do we pray WITH others? Immediately I thought of several other women I wished would do the same - reach out to me in prayer. Just as quickly, I felt the tug of the Holy Spirit on my heart. Is there someone in my circle of friends, family and acquaintances who needs me to reach out and pray with them? That's something I tend to be uncomfortable doing - I never know whether or not I'll offend them or make them feel uncomfortable! But I can't ignore the Holy Spirit, so I'm going to attempt to "pray it forward."

More Ways to Ruin a Marriage

Debra over at As I See It Now had a great tongue-in-cheek post on how to ruin a marriage. I've thought of a few more ways . . .

1. Never express any gratitude towards your spouse, especially not for the little things. And if you do, be sure to follow it with a sarcastic comment such as "it's about time."
2. Be sure to complain loudly about your spouse to anyone willing to listen. After all, you might just find a kindred spirit that way and then you can spend more time spouse-bashing than seeking ways to improve your marriage.
3. Never compliment your spouse in the presence of others. They might get a big head and forget about all the faults they need to work on.
4. Don't pray for them. Better yet, don't pray that God will show you where you need to improve in this partnership.
5. When your spouse goes out of his/her way to please or surprise you, be sure to let them know how they could have done it better.

Thankfully, these are not lessons I've learned from ruining my marriage. But they are lessons in progress and I have lots of studying to do!

I went away for the weekend with a few girlfriends. We all talked frequently with our spouses over the weekend (hurray for cell phones with lots of free minutes!). Mike told me Sunday night he drove through the local park for awhile, and tonight I was delighted when he suggested we take the same drive. What tickled me most was not so much the drive, but the fact that he was thinking about me! We drove around for an hour, stopping every so often in hopes of being serenaded by cicadas (they were quiet tonight). We watched the trees twinkling with a zillion lightening bugs and held hands like silly teenagers. I don't want to ruin this thing we have - not in a million years!

Morning

"D, come on. Wake up. It's a beautiful morning. Let's head outside for a bit and you and I spend some time together."

Ugh. I checked the alarm clock. Five-thirty in the morning. I was wide awake but it was way too early to wake up.

"Give me fifteen minutes," I begged sleepily. But fifteen minutes turned into twenty, then thirty, and before I knew it, Toby Keith was serenading me from my clock radio. I checked the time. Six-oh-two. Time for one more snooze before I rushed into the day's routine.

"Help, Lord. You gotta help me through this day." It was barely nine o'clock and already a heap of problems threatened to ruin my day.

"I'm here," I heard His voice answer. "This is why I wanted to meet with you this morning. I thought we could talk about your day. I had some beautiful promises I wanted to share with you, and I wanted to remind you of my love for you. I just wanted to be with you for a while."