Encouragement
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Saving Michael by Debra Brand
(Debra's story is amazing and so encouraging! Read to the end and be inspired!) I met Mike in 10th grade, he was a senior. Our relationship had its ups and downs. But before he left for the Navy we decided to spend the rest of our lives together. Two days after graduating high school, I…
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Answered Prayers Can Be Painful
I’m grieving. But in a good way. I know that sounds a bit crazy so I’ll explain. Two prayers that I’ve been praying for my family seem to be coming to fruition, but it’s not at all what I was expecting. I will share with you the one about my daughter because so many of…
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A Divine Parallel by Guest Writer: Janet
Heavenly Father, I’m emotionally exhausted and taxed beyond measure. Don’t you see my tears? Do they mean anything to You? I too have felt great passion, loss and sadness causing me to weep. {Hebrews 5:7, Luke 19:41, John 11:35, Mark 15:37} God how much longer? I mean really, can’t my spouse see I’m not trying…
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What I Do See
Sometimes we get so caught up in looking for how God is working in our unbelieving spouses that we miss seeing the places that they are struggling. I’m becoming more and more aware of this in my husband’s life. He’s a pretty even keeled guy with a very strong moral base. I’ve found that most…
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Stuck on the Edge
Perhaps you are curious. After last Monday’s post about my husband and our church experience (read it here), I will let you know that over the weekend my husband’s family was visiting, thus he didn’t attend church. However, earlier in the week we had a discussion about church and our conversation that ensued that morning…
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Weekend Devo – REACH OUT!
Earlier this month I shared how God had answers our prayers for one of our kitties, who had gone missing. (Read “The Smallest of Prayers” here) I’m sad to say that Suzy passed away yesterday. It was clear yesterday morning when we woke up that the old girl wouldn’t live more than a day. At…
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Chronicles of the Donovan Clan –
A Setback or a Step Forward?????Yesterday I had a breakthrough. And it happened in church. During the summer months, translate – not football season- my husband will attend church with me on occasion. Yesterday my man and daughter went to church with me. Woo Hoo. But, why is it I’m still not happy? Sheesh. I mean really. More than anything,…
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Weekend Devo – Praying Scripture
For God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him. ~ Philippians 2:13, NLT Sometimes God calls upon us to do some pretty difficult stuff, especially in our mismatched marriages. More importantly, we face a daily battle within ourselves to do what pleases God and what pleases…
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Weekend Devo – The Smallest of Prayers
My family and I took nearly a month to drive from San Jose, California to Sarasota, Florida to spend time with our families and then drive home again. A bit crazy, I know, but we love road trips. We have games we play, like finding all the license tags, (did you know they make a…
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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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Weekend Devo – God Makes Us Competent
And you show that you are a letter from Christ delivered by us, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts. Such is the confidence that we have through Christ toward God. Not that we are sufficient in ourselves to…
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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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Weekend Devo – Gideon a Mighty Warrior?
When the angel of the LORD appeared to Gideon, he said, “The LORD is with you, mighty warrior.” – Judges 6:12 The story of Gideon is a tale of man who sees himself and his tribe as being weak and most incapable of defeating their enemy. He’s baffled that God would even consider him suitable…
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Bittersweet
Dear Dineen and Lynn: I just have to share with the two of you my “bittersweet moment” this morning. To back track, I just got home yesterday from having been with my youngest daughter the past three weeks as she gave birth to her first child-a precious 9 lbs. 1 oz. baby girl, name Hadley. …
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Pointing Out the Positive
I’m in Florida at the moment visiting with our extended families. When I fell in love with my husband, I also fell in love with his family. He has a big one too! I love being around them and hearing all their stories of growing up. Lots of chuckles and memories. On Father’s Day I…
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Weekend Devo – Do Whatever Brings You Back to Your Heart and the Heart of God
(In honor of Father's Day, we'd like to share this excerpt from Wild at Heart: Discovering the Secret of a Man's Soul by John Eldredge.) Against the flesh, the traitor within, a warrior uses discipline. We have a two-dimensional version of this now, which we call a "quiet time." But most men have a hard…
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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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Weekend Devo – Our Faithful Travel Companion
The other day I took our dog for a walk. Shasta is a strong dog, so much so that we have to use a lead leash in order to keep her from pulling us down the street when we walk her. On our usual route we approached a house under construction. A yellow caution tape…
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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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The Heart of the Matter
Over the last two weeks I’ve shared the importance of having a quiet time. My fear is that we haven’t covered the heart of this discipline and see it more as a duty, so I want to make that clear today. Not having a quiet time each day isn’t a sin. You haven’t broken a…
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Creating a Quiet Time
Last week we talked about keeping a divine appointment with God on a daily basis. Again, I know this isn’t easy to do, especially if you have small kids, but I promise you it will be the most important and beneficial decision you will ever make in your life. Do you want a transformed life?…