Lee and I joined hands and hearts ten years ago today. We have quite a testimony. I hope to share it some day but today I just want to celebrate this beautiful milestone in our lives, praise God from Whom all blessings flow!!! Neither Lee nor I would have ever dreamed that day ten years ago where we would end up at this point in our lives. Homeschooling, not likely. Voluntarily climbing "down" the "ladder of success"?! Ummm, no. Family UNplanning?! We would have called ourselves crazy :)! We are where we are today because I am married to a very good man, I always knew I was, even in those really dark days. We are where we are today because I stopped trying to tell Lee who he was supposed to be, I stepped back and let God tell him. I stopped nagging at my dear husband when the going got tough and let God whisper to his heart. I stopped trying to force my vision on him and God gave him his own. In honor of these things that God has taught me I'm hosting a give-away of Vision Forum's excellent 2 CD set entitled "The Wise Women's Guide to Blessing Her Husband's Vision". This CD has over 100 minutes of exhortation to wives to be a help meet to their husbands, to love, honor and, yes, to obey them. Whether you have a beautiful marriage and simply could use some encouragement in your noble calling as your husband's wife or if your husband isn't quite the leader or visionary that you need, you will get something from hearing this message.
And here is something fun...if you don't win first prize you still have a chance for coming in second or third!
Now, here are the rules of the game. Leave me a comment with a blog link or some other way to get a hold of you or you can send me an email (using the "Email Me" link in the sidebar under "Links"). Wow, that's easy ;). If you leave me a mini bio or your favorite piece of marriage advice in a comment or email, I'll enter your name twice. If you leave me a mini bio and your favorite piece of marriage advice in the comment or email I'll enter you three times. Shipping will be on us as well, of course. Comments made after 7:00 A.M. on February 14th, 2007 may not make it into the running so make sure you comment before then! Winners will be announced later that morning of the 14th.
1st place: "The Wise Women's Guide to Blessing Her Husband's Vision" ~2 CD set
2nd place: "The Role of Women in the Local Church" CD by Vision Forum
3rd place: "Christian Modesty And The Public Undressing of America" CD by Vision Forum
Let me know if you have any questions!
My favorite marriage advice?
"Except the LORD build the house, they labour in vain that build it: except the LORD keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain." ~Psalm 127:1 And:
"Every wise woman buildeth her house: but the foolish plucketh it down with her hands." ~Proverbs 14:1
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First, a mini bio: I've been married almost exactly half as long as you have, and we have half as many children as you guys do! :) I'm a homeschool graduate and my husband is a public school graduate. (We're both the oldest of 6 children.) :)
ReplyDeleteNow, my best advice? I want to say something like, "Obey God" or "put your life (including marriage) into His hands". On a simpler thought-line, I like to try to remember goodness and forget faults. :) We have 1 Cor. 13 framed on our wall, and I have spent many hours nursing a baby while reading those verses and pondering them. :)
Hi Shelby!
ReplyDeleteCongratulations on 10 years with your sweetheart! Isn't it amazing how far God can bring you? It is not very popular in our culture, to be submissive to one's husband. Being a "liberated woman" is often praised to the rooftops. Isn't it amazing how truly liberated we are when we simply abide in Him and listen to our spouse? I still fail , sometimes, by trying to tell hubby what I think we should do, but God is molding me more and more into His Image. I have found that when I find it hard to submit to hubby about a particular issue, praying really helps me. God even changed my hubby's heart about letting me go to a ladies bible study because I submitted when I told Hubby that I would not go, if that is what he wanted. (at first I had protested) I just asked God, "If you want me to go, work in Hubby's heart". When my Sweetheart came home from work that day, he told me that I could go to the Bible Study. That really showed to me that no matter how imperfect I am, once I submit to God and Hubby, God can do great things through both of us. I have the first cd you mentioned. It is wonderful. We went to Scott Brown's house (leader of National Center for Family Integrated Churches) on Memorial day, along with about a couple hundred people,and they were giving that cd (many copies of it) away for free! What a blessing! I am so grateful for the ministry of Vision Forum, which has truly honed my vision as a wife and mother. I hope you both have a delightful day as you delight yourselves in Him! Thank you for your friendship. I so enjoy reading your blog. I had the best time the other day reading your archives. We really do have so much in common. Thank you again for your recommendation to read higher level books to my children. It really encouraged me not to give up! Blessings!
In Him,
Christine
www.christine-mary.blogspot.com
Happy 10th Anniversary! May the Lord bless you and your husband as you both continue to honor Him in your marriage! By the way, all your kids are beautiful.
ReplyDeleteMy mini bio: I've been happily married to a wonderful, Godly man for over 15 years. We've been blessed with 3 precious children. We've been homeschooling for 8 years.
My favorite marriage advice: "Jesus replied, 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.'" (Matthew 22:37) Always put God first in your life and in your marriage! It's more important to do what is right (in God's eyes) than "to be right." Ephesians 5:22-32 is the best guideline for wives and husbands.
Ok alittle about me, My dh and I have been married 9 1/2 yrs and we have been blessed with 4 children so far. :) The past 9 1/2 years have been a blessing and full of joy and happiness. God is good!!
ReplyDelete~Some advice~ :)
A verse we had for our wedding was "Commit thy way unto the Lord, trust also in Him. Ps 37:5 Also 1Cor. 13 is so full of advice that can be very helpful for a Godly marriage. Make the Lord the center of your marriage and home. Love him lots!! :)
mini-bio: married for 21 years to Mr. Right with nine beautiful children ages 2 - 18.
ReplyDeleteadvice: Pray daily FOR (not about) your husband. Read "Created to be His Help Meet" by Debi Pearl -- an absolutely amazing book.
As an aside, I found this great blog by typing 'family unplanning' into Google-- the name of my husband's new book is "Family UNplanning" and I wanted to see where it might show up!
Happy Anniversary, Shelby! I'm Becky from Illinois. My wonderful godly husband and I will celebrate our 10th anniversary in April. We have three precious daughters from China and one on the way. I, too, have found great wisdom in Debi Pearl's book "Created to be His Helpmeet".
ReplyDelete<br>I just found your blog tonight, and I look forward to learning more about your lovely family!
<br>Becky (Chinamama4)
<br>http://allmysisters.blogspot.com
<br>
My Bio: I was raised by great Christian parents, traveling here & there with the military and schooling in various ways -homeschool, two private schools in two states, homeschool again, and public high school. (my mom homeschooled me for kindergarten at a time when home schooling was pretty much unheard of). I've been married for five years this summer, and we have two fun little ones. My husband was raised in a sometimes-church-attending family but never heard of personally knowing God until he was in college. Marriage advice? Well, I just heard some yesterday from a lady at church that I greatly respect - stop just "learning" about truth and actually put into practice what I know. I know the fruits of the Spirit, how do I practice them in regards to my relationship with my husband? Here's my little blog www.thefamilyandmore.blogspot.com
ReplyDeleteI've enjoyed reading your blog today, can't remember now how I found it!!!
Congratulations on your 10 year anniversary! I found your blog link on Tanya's blog. It is a pleasure to meet you, I'm Amanda. My dh and I will be married 10 years on Aug 9. We have two sweet blessings, 6yo Seth & 2yo Elizabeth. We are fairly new in our walk with the Lord and as is the case in many relationships, I am much more focused on a biblical life than my dh. So, (not that this is really great advice or anything) my advice is when we wives begin to get really irritated at our husbands about something, we should try and step back...remove the "I" from the situation and look at our husbands with the same love that the Lord so graciously looks upon us with. Remember all of the really crummy things you have done in life (maybe even to your dh ;>) and think of how the Lord has forgiven you and forgotten it all. Then, purpose to do the same for your dh. Hard as it may be at times, if we focus on the Lord, we can do all things (including this :>)! Anyhow, I pray that you all have a wonderful 10th anniversary.
ReplyDeleteLove & Blessings,
(: Amanda :)
www.homeschoolblogger.com/amandasangels
Hello. I really enjoyed visiting your blog, mine is www.homeschoolblogger.com/OhioSarah my mini bio is that I am a 28 year old homemaker who has been married 6 years with three beautiful children, so far, two DD's and one DS and one sweet one with the Lord. We live in Ohio where it is literally freezing right now. I plan on begining homeschooling my 2yo and almost 5 yo in September, my 2yo will be 3 by then :) Also a great piece of marital advice, at least for our house is, my husband likes it when I change the cat litter and take the trash out-if I do this he can overlook if I haven't caught up on laundry :) Keeping God in mind at all times is of utmost importance so that one can watch their tongues when their spouse does something that may annoy the other.
ReplyDeleteGod bless,
Sarah
My dh and I have been married 7 1/2 years, no children. I am still learning how to be the wife God has called me to be.
ReplyDeletehttp://stonesofremembrance.blogspot.com
pottersclay110.blogspot.com
ReplyDeleteI'm Mary Jo. I just finished high school in December. I was public schooled from Kindergarden through 9th grade, and finished highschool at home. I'm 17, trying to serve the Lord in every way I can, and I'm in a courtship with the most wonderful man in the world, and we are just waiting until he has the money, and then we're going to get married. He's the second of 9 children in a homeschooling family, and I'm an only child. When I can, I witness at the abortion clinic that is closest to my house, as well as door-to-door with friends from church. I'm planning to start correspondance Bible college pretty soon. As I wait to get married, I'm just striving to grow closer to the Lord, learn His Word better, and be conformed to the image of His Son, my Savior!
Marriage Advice: Well, I'm not married yet, but I think one thing is that you need to always be thankful for your husband, even if he's not perfect (none of them are!), and try to honor God by joyfully submitting to him, even when it seems rough. Having a long courtship I think has made me appreciate Ben more, as I see him working hard to earn enough money to support both of us, and any little ones the LORD decides to bless us with, and I think also having a longer courtship will make me all the more appreciative when we're finally married! Probably marriage advice from someone who's already married would be better...but hey, :o)
We've been married 5 years as of last month and have 2 kids so far.
ReplyDeleteMarriage advice: My dad told me when we got engaged that in their premarital counseling, the pastor told them that marriage is not 50-50. Each person needs to give 100% for it to work well.
My husband and I have been married 23 years and it has been uphill and down. I too had the problem of trying to convince myhusband of who he ought to be instead of letting God whisper to his heart. We've come along way since I gave up and let God and my husband is awesome ~ being who God made him to be, not who I thought he should be.
ReplyDeleteMy favorite piece of marriage advice would be to "Let Go and Let God..." simple yet very important ~ I Peter 3:1 2 ~ Wives, likewise, be submissive to your own husbands, that even if some do not obey the word, they, without a word, may be won by the conduct of their wives, when they observe your chaste conduct accompanied by fear.
You can contact me through my blog or at patandcj@netscape.com. Thanks so much...
1st place~Becky
ReplyDelete2nd place~Tammy
3rd place~Michelle
Congratulations ladies! And thank you all for participating! I had a lot of fun meeting you all and you had some wonderful words to share with us. Thank you also for all of the well-wishes. I am so blessed to be married to such a wonderful man.
Congratulations on your engagement, Mary Jo. Marriage is very sweet :).