Conflict and Challenges
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Moments of Truth
Sometimes I forget how far apart my husband and I are on the issue of faith. We are pretty much on the same page for most things except this one area. Every so often a subject will come up (usually political) and I'm reminded that we sit on very opposite sides. Those are the moments…
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Choosing to Love
(Last Fall I wrote this post about making the choice to love our spouse. With a little revision, I'm sharing this again since it's a topic that can be a great challenge yet is so crucial to any marriage.) How do we love our spouses unconditionally? How do we keep going? How do we keep…
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Extenuating Circumstances
We've talked about all kinds of issues here at S.U.M. but today I'd like to delicately touch upon extenuating circumstances that can exist in our mismatched marriages. You know that Lynn and I will always be on the side of believing that God can save any marriage, but we want to also be clear that…
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Keeping Eternity in Our Sites
Yesterday marked the one-year anniversary of my father’s death. I will admit I am affected by this more than I thought I would be. Sunday I was down right cranky (my daughter will confirm that) and yesterday I was sad. I kept I reminding myself that death didn’t win. I know where Dad is and…
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Blessing or Burden?
One of the features of Kindle is it allows you to see what other people are highlighting in the same books you are reading. I hit upon this feature when I was preparing the speech for a MOPS group and was using our book to develop a speaking point. In chapter 5 (Believe Your Marriage…
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The Intentional Marriage – Confrontation
Welcome to our video broadcast of The Intentional Marriage. Have your Bible handy because we’ll be looking at Luke 12:11-12 as we explore how to speak the truth in love using prayer and preparation.
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Who Do You Trust?
A terrific storm came up suddenly on the lake. Water poured in, and they were about to capsize. They woke Jesus: "Master, Master, we're going to drown!" Getting to his feet, he told the wind, "Silence!" and the waves, "Quiet down!" They did it. The lake became smooth as glass. Then he said to his…
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In Community
The significance of community has truly become more and more apparent to me as I walk this journey in a mismatched marriage and have the pleasure of interacting with you, our readers, here, on our Facebook page and on our 1Peter3Living Yahoo group. The very first group I ever joined was in Europe at my…
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Message in a Wrapper
You know, God really does have a sense of humor. The last couple weeks have been fraught with issues in the Miller home. Nothing life threatening. Just financially exhausting. First our cat winds up needing some costly vet visits thanks to some unknown creature that bit his tail. As I started to write this our…
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The Funny Thing About Losing Your Life
During my quiet time the other morning, I sat there reflecting on the direction God has taken my life. What sparked my examination was another reference to the movie Chariots of Fire about Olympic runner Eric Liddell. I know…this movie and story gets referenced a lot but this time it wasn't his choice not to…
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Our Greatest Weapon-Prayer
At church Sunday, a friend of mine stood up with her husband and shared their testimony of how God saved their marriage ten years ago. I’ve only been at this church for about nine years so I had no idea this was the case. This couple has been an inspiration to me, especially my friend.…
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Television and our Kids
So I’m bugged. And I’m going to have to chat about it. I’m opening up a bucket of worms in controversy. But if we as believers don’t talk about some of this stuff how are we going to help one another? So I’m bugged about television. On several levels. I may not have all of…
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Surviving to Thriving
I’m sure by now you’re tired of hearing about Valentines Day. I hope the day was special for you, even if you and God were the only two celebrating it. A dear lady I’ve come to know on Facebook called God her “sweetie.” I thought that was so precious. And I will share that two…
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Santa Claus, Jesus and Kids
When my girls were little, one of my biggest challenges this time of year was not letting Santa Claus overshadow Jesus. Add to that the conflicting expectations a mismatched couple can bring to Christmas and sparks fly! Those early years were really tough sometimes. You see, my sweet hubby turns into a big kid at…
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The Purpose of Trials
Recently I’ve been writing about the trials of life. Specifically those that don’t seem to end. I thought the subject closed but God has put upon my heart the need to share the next level or stage of trials in our lives. Namely, their purpose. To review, in “The Unending Trials” I shared the calling…
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The Unending Trials
One of the heaviest burdens we carry for ourselves and others are those that don’t seem to end. These days we all have some area that continues to challenge us. We pray for healing, release, whatever seems needed, in the hopes that God will rush in and save the day. Sometimes things get better, then…
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Milk or Solid Food?
On Friday, Lynn will host the next edition of The Intentional Marriage over at CWATV.com. (I hope you’ll tune in and participate in the meme.) As you know by the title of our program, we talk a lot about being intentional in our marriages. And last week, I wrote about thinking of our marriages as…
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Marriage for Training?
I read an excellent post by Kevin Adams over at Wake Up My Faith, entitled “Marriage-God’s Seat of the Pants Training Ground.” If you have some time, read his post. It’s a little long but worth the read. I love how God spoke to Kevin and flat out said marriage was preparation for intimacy with…
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When God’s Not There
I read an interesting devotional yesterday that talked about 2 Chronicles 32:31: "God withdrew from Hezekiah in order to test him and to see what was really in his heart." (NLT) I remember one time God did this with me. I’d recommitted my life to Christ a couple years earlier and suddenly one day my…
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Not Disappointed
Then you will know that I am the LORD; those who hope in me will not be disappointed. – Isaiah 49:23 (NIV) I came across this verse over the weekend and found myself unable to leave it. God's own words tell us right there that those who hope in Him won't be disappointed. That's some…
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Who Do I See?
This past weekend I took a trip with my husband. We had several hours in the car to chat and just be together, one of our favorite parts of our road trips. We did wind up talking about the subject of missionaries at one point, a subject that doesn’t sit well with my guy. I…