Thankful in Trials

Dineen wrote an amazing post today over at Laced with Grace called "Thankful for Trials?".  Please take a moment to visit the site and read what she wrote.  I can personally attest to the truth behind what she wrote.  The Lord has proven Himself so very faithful in these things in the past weeks for me and I pray everyone I know will one day learn what He has revealed to me recently - how to be thankful, to praise Him and to trust Him in the midst of whatever I am walking through. 

Psalm 57:1-2

(Complete Jewish Bible Translation)

Show me favor, God, show me favor;

for in you I have taken refuge.

Yes, I will find refuge in the shadow of your wings

until the storms have passed.

I call to God, the Most High,

to God, who is accomplishing his purpose for me.

Intentional Marriage & Advice to Younger Self

Lynn and Dineen over at SUM have just started a new project called Intentional Marriage.  I highly recommend checking out the post on SUM introducing this and watching the video that Lynn did for the first month.  I had the opportunity to watch it live, and it was wonderful. 

Each month Lynn & Dineen will tape a new video which can be watched live or as an archived video.  In addition, they will have a meme each month that viewers can participate in. 

This month the meme is to give advice to our younger selves - specifically on our wedding day.  Advice regarding what we've learned over the years of being married that we wish we had known on our wedding day.

I will be participating each month in the meme on my Thankful Heart blog, which is my blog dedicated to marriage.  Check out this month's post here - Advice to My Younger Self.

Love Dare

A group that I'm part of just finished going through the Love Dare. Part way through I decided to go out and buy the book for myself. I think this book can be an amazing tool for marriage and even daily living and your relationship with God. It can be applied to more than just your marriage. I've decided I want to make this more than just a 40 Day Dare though. I want to spend more than one day on each dare, so I think this is going to be more like a 120 day dare for me. In addition, I think it is something that would be a great reminder once or twice a year.

So, I'm going to start this book again on my own giving each dare a few days to sink in and become a normal part of my daily life. In addition, I'm going to start two other things:

1. A journal to my beloved husband. Ideally, I pray one day I can give this to him and he can read it (and I hope cherish it). For now, it will be a way for me to record the next 120 or so days as I do this dare. To really express to him how I'm feeling about the dares, how much I love him and anything else that I believe should be shared.

2. Blog - I'm going to blog some of my thoughts for each dare on my Thankful Heart blog. So if you are interested in how these dares can change a marriage, a life - please visit me. I'll be as transparent as I can without sharing things that I believe should be just between my beloved and I.