As 2023 ends, what I simply want to convey to this “Living Your Best Life” Sixty Plus audience, is that I am going to continue to look for, abide in, cling to, bring as much as possible to others, but mainly, choose JOY in all circumstances as I am barreling through my sixth decade—and, I pray, for several more beyond.
Month: December 2023
Do You Want a Loving, Thriving, Passionate Marriage?
We can love our imperfect husbands! God can show us how! God has given you this gift of marriage to show you who you are, and He’s given you a person to love and to love you; to teach you and train you to love—even when you don’t feel like it. Marriage teaches you to stop building a self-protective exterior. The world teaches you to build barriers, create boundaries, love yourself, build your self-esteem—which is the opposite of God’s design for marriage. Our goal is to get you back to that loving, thriving relationship with the man you married.
When Happy isn’t in Your Holidays
You won’t have the energy of previous holidays because loss depletes us emotionally, mentally, and physically. Stop and ask yourself what is most important? What can you do this year? Maybe instead of baking dozens of cookies for friends and relatives, you focus on meeting the basic needs of your family.
It’s Not Head Knowledge, It’s Heart Knowledge
I’ve read the marriage books, gone to the seminars, gotten all the tactical things to try to make a better marriage. And you know what? They work temporally. They are Band-Aid fixes. But they will not work long term. Why do I know? Because it’s not about getting more head knowledge. I can give you all the scriptures to back up the foundation of why marriages are difficult; that Satan is prowling around ready to devour marriages. All of that is true. As a Christian, you know some of the verses. You may be a better Bible scholar than I am. Your problem is not that you don’t have enough information. The problem is you don’t believe it is you!
Illuminate Your Christmas with Faith and Joy
At the juncture of the Christmas season and family celebrations lies a potential treasure of tradition. Old handwritten recipes carefully written by a long-gone grandmother are resurrected as you prepare her memorable dish. The holidays are a season of fondly recalling prior Christmas memories while building new ones to cherish. Nothing remains static or stays the same. Life moves forward like a living mural, transporting memories and traditions and creating something new. Traditions are fluid—they only seem static from a distance.
Is Your Marriage Worth Saving?
Why didn’t God give me unconditional love for my spouse. It is not the same. I can remember some of our first arguments. I can remember when I felt injustice, unfairness, his anger, words I said that I still regret in a fight we had 20 years ago. I have a pretty good recall of the ugliness we went through in our marriage. I’ve wondered why didn’t God give me that same unconditional love for my husband that he gave me for my kids. Have you ever thought about this?
About Being Grateful
Shifting to an attitude of gratitude keeps us focused on what we have. I think it also helps us believe in the abundance all around us and pull more of those good things into our lives. I know I need a reminder every once in a while, so as we rock our way into the holidays, it seems like a good time to share some of my favorite gratitude tips.
Is this Lie Destroying Your Marriage?
I find that unworthiness is the root cause of many of our issues in marriage. I briefly talked about it in the previous installment and want to go deeper on the topic now. Do You Feel Unworthy? Do you ever feel unworthy? Can you remember when you first felt these feelings? I think it can…