Everything Happens for a Season . . .

My husband and I were driving down the road the other day and passed a church that had this message on their marquis: “Everything Happens For A Reason.” I repeated that several times and thought that was a little clichéd for a church sign. Obviously “everything happens for a reason!” I know that God has a reason for everything that goes on in this world and they are not always reasons we understand or are supposed to understand.

But, then it occurred to me, as I investigate my own current season that “everything happens for a season.” Just as we experience fall before turning into winter, and see the many environmental changes that take place, we know that it is all temporary. After winter, we will see the emergence of spring with beautiful, vivid colors and lots of flowers blooming. Then comes the heat of summer, then the crispness of fall once again. It’s all temporary and ever-changing.

There is a comforting hope in knowing that we have seasons of our lives. Periods of time that are temporary. Of course we want the good times of life to last forever and the bad times to go quickly. That is human nature.

When Jerry and I got married, I wanted our honeymoon to last forever. When I gave birth to each of our girls, I wanted the awesomeness of those moments to last forever. The first time we had to visit the emergency room with our child, I wanted it over as quickly as possible.

When our girls were babies, I thought that I may never have a life of my own again. Then, before I knew it, they were off to college and I had more time to myself than I could bear. I missed them terribly. I had to re-invent myself. Now I see those times as some of my seasons of life.

We are told in Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 of the New International Version:

¹To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under heaven:

²A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted;

³A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up;

⁴A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance;

⁵A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;

⁶A time to search, and a time to give up as lost; a time to keep, and a time to cast away;

⁷A time to tear apart, and a time to sew; a time to keep silent, and a time to speak;

⁸A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace.

I have come to the point in my life that I have learned to embrace the seasons of my life. I am very blessed to be in a season where I get to wake up every day to a wonderful husband, spend quality time with my grandchildren, still have a trick or two to teach my daughters and wait in anticipation to see where I can serve the Lord.

Everything does happen for a reason…. and a season!

By Pat Schwieder

How Satan Used Burned Chicken

 

 

Tonight was another game night.  We've had games every night this week between our two girls, so suppers have been quick so we could get out the door.  Tonight was no exception.  I had bought 10 lbs. of chicken leg quarters on a really good sale at our local grocery store and had thawed them during the day.  When my husband got home early from work, he offered to grill the chicken for me.  Great.  I had had a really long day with our 3-year-old, and I welcomed the chance to sit for a minute in blessed silence while he started supper.   He asked for help getting the chicken ready to put on the grill.  Again, no problem.  He took the chicken out to the grill, and we were good to go....or so we thought.  I just mention that we just got a new grill a couple of weeks ago and are still getting used to how to set the temperature, etc.  About 10 minutes after he had placed the chicken on the grill, my husband comes in the house and tells me that all of the chicken is ruined.  He turned all 3 burners on high, like he used to do with our old grill, and the temperature got up to 700 degrees inside the oven and totally burned all of the chicken.  I mean, total charcoal, no saving it, no nothing. 

And here's where Satan comes in.  We immediately start fighting about the chicken.  I mean fighting.  Screaming, yelling, blaming, you name it.  It wasn't pretty.  I'm not proud of it, just trying to be real people.  And we didn't let up.  Satan really got to me too.  I was thinking extremely negative thoughts about my husband.  Totally ludicrously stupid thoughts.  THAT'S how you know it's Satan!  When something like that pops into your head that you think later "Why would THAT even be there?"  It's probably Satan!  Satan had my husband and I really fighting this awful fight over BURNED CHICKEN!  We had let this happen.  Only much later could I look back and realize what had happened.  Did I really care about the dang chicken?  No way.  Was I frustrated that we had very little time to make anything else before the game sure, but it was not something we should have fought about.  But Satan knew that he could use burned chicken to get us to fight, to think thoughts about each other that no married couple should ever think.  OVER BURNED CHICKEN!

John 10:10 says "The thief (Satan) comes ONLY to steal and kill and destroy." 

John 8:44 says "When he (Satan) lies, it is consistent with his character; for he is a liar and the father of lies."

Don't let Satan use petty things like BURNED CHICKEN to cause problems in your marriage.  I am going to try to be more aware of this the next time something like this pops up in our marriage because I'm sure it will.  But next time, I'm going to try to be ready to recognize what the cause of our problem is and refuse to let Satan get his way with our marriage. 

Lisa Powell

Love Him like I Love You

It was January 24, 2008. It was a cold Sunday afternoon. I remember where we were. I remember what I was wearing. I remember the look on his face. I remember walking out of the house and seeing the looks on my girls' faces. Would this be the last time they would see their Mommy and Daddy together?? It was the day I thought our marriage was over. It was the most gutwrenchingly worst day of my life. And yet, however, it was also the most lifechanging.

I remember driving around on the snow covered country roads, crying out to God and asking "What do I do? I don't know what to do now!" And as clearly as if He was sitting right there in the empty passenger's seat next to me, I heard God say, "Love him like I love you." But how can I do that?? There's been so much hurt. So much said and so much done. How do I do that?? What does that look like? Love, forgive, show mercy, give grace....that's how God loves us. He sees us at our worst and loves us still. That's what I had to do.

It wasn't easy in the beginning. In fact, it was one of the hardest things I've ever done. It's hard to break old negative habits. It's hard to forgive deep emotional hurts. It's hard to work on your marriage when even some of your closest family and friends are telling you that it's over. And yet, day by day, we loved each other more and more like how God loves us. And day by day, it got easier and easier. We've done more talking in the past year than we've done in the almost 18 years we've been together. We are open and honest about everything now...how we're feeling, what we're thinking, what our plans are, what are hopes are, what we love about each other and what we don't like so much. I'm not going to lie and say that everything is perfect now. It's not. We've learned that to have a great marriage, which is what we want, it takes a lot of work. It takes love, mercy, forgiveness, grace, respect, humility, compassion, humor and passion for each other.

We have gone through a lot these past few years. God has transformed our marriage from the worst to the best it has ever been. I love my husband more today than I ever have. I see him now for who he really is. He is a loving father. He is a giving son. He is a caring grandson. He is a talented musician. He is a genius mechanic. He is a terrific friend. He is smart. He is funny. He is giving. He is compassionate to those in need. He is goofy. He is humble. He is the man that I have been with now for nearly 18 years, and the man I want to be with until I am old and gray.

Today we can say without a shadow of a doubt that God has saved us from divorce. He has transformed us and transformed our marriage and our family. We love being together now. We love to spend time together as a family now. We miss each other when we are apart. I can truly say that our marriage would not be as strong as it is today if we had not gone through this really hard time in our marriage.  What Satan intended for evil, God has used for our good.  We knew that as we were walking through this dark time in our lives that God would use us to save other marriages and to change people's lives. Our hope is that we can share our story so that other people's marriages can be saved. Since that time, we have had several opportunities to talk with other couples who are going through the same thing we did.  Our message is one of hope.  It is NEVER too late.  God can and will REDEEM your marriage, if you ask Him to.  Nothing is impossible to God!! He is mighty to save!!!

by Lisa Powell

You Can Never . . .

Marriage on my mind today.  
Also the lyrics to the song Who You Are by Unspoken.
"I know that look you're givin' like you got something to prove
'Cause I have walked for miles and miles in that same pair of shoes
You refuse forgiveness like it's something to be earned
But sometimes pain's the only way that we can learn

You can never fall too hard, so fast, so far
That you can't get back when you lost where you are
It's never too late so bad
So much that you can't change who you are

You believe in freedom, but you don't know how to choose
You gotta step out of your feelings that you're so afraid to lose
Everyday, yeah, you put your feet on the floor
You gotta walk through the door, it's never gonna be easy
But it's all worth fighting for

You can never fall too hard, so fast, so far
That you can't get back when you lost where you are
It's never too late so bad
So much that you can't change who you are

So let the ashes fall wherever they land
Come back from wherever you've been
To the foot of the cross to the feet of Jesus
The feet of Jesus"

 
Tonight as I lay here talking to my husband about friends of ours that are having a really bad time in their marriage, I am thankful for the times that almost destroyed our marriage. NEVER thought I'd see myself typing THOSE words!

SO much has changed since then. It's so humbling to look back and think of what our marriage would be like if we hadn't committed to fighting through those hard times and fighting for our marriage and our girls. In fact, our 2-year-old would not even exist if we had decided to give up and get out! And she is such a sweet blessing! Our girls needed their Mommy and Daddy to work on our marriage. It wasn't easy. It still isn't easy. But we love and understand each other more now than ever before. We have walked through some deep dark valleys, but God has given us the victory and we have come out on the other side! I know there are a lot of people struggling in their marriages right now. It's never too late for God to work a miracle in your marriage!  If you are in a deep dark valley, DON'T GIVE UP AND GET OUT!!! GOD WILL GIVE YOU THE VICTORY AND YOU WILL COME OUT ON THE OTHER SIDE!!


Lisa Powell

I Choose to Have a Great Marriage

I'll be honest. This past week has been a rough marriage week. We've been bickering about every little thing; there have been a lot of outside stresses that we haven't handled as well as we could have; we haven't spent much time alone, etc. What occurred to me in a brief moment of clarity this week was that the difference between me now and me a few years ago is that I care about our marriage now. I know that sounds harsh, but a few years ago, I completely took my marriage for granted. I subconsciously thought that no matter how I treated my husband, he would never leave me. Ha!  I have since realized the ignorance of my subconscious mind!  A person can only tolerate so much, and about 5 years ago, we both had reached our limit. We have worked so hard on our marriage the past few years. We have talked more, prayed more, shared more, laughed more, and cried more than we ever have together! We have learned the hard way that it's better to get our feelings out in the open no matter what the consequences, than to keep them inside and make each other miserable.  We work daily on making the other person happy.  We have changed more as individuals and as a couple than we ever have!
So, Sunday as I was driving into church, I put my ipod on the itrip and was flipping through songs. The song The Blessing by John Waller came on. The words to the song stopped me in my tracks.

"This day You set life,
You set death right before us.
This day.
Every blessing and curse is a choice now,
And we will choose to be a blessing for life."

All of a sudden this light bulb went on. Not that I haven't heard stuff like this before, but in an instant it struck me. I can choose to do and say things that destroy my marriage, or I can choose to say and do things that build up my marriage and make it GREAT. This past week, I have been doing and saying things that have been destructive to my marriage. I was CHOOSING to be that way! Maybe not consciously, but I was still doing it nevertheless. When I got to church I told my husband that I was going to choose to do and say things to make our marriage GREAT. I wasn't going to be negative about things that have come up this past week. I was going to do what I could to live in peace with him this week and make our lives happier! I CHOOSE TO HAVE A GREAT MARRIAGE! Will you?


Lisa Powell