Tag: marriage

Love & Respect

Posted on by Frances

Are you married? Engaged? Dating? Or someone looking to improve your relationships? I know there are a lot of great reads out there on how to do so, but here is one both my husband and I have recently read.

 

Love & Respect: The Love She Most Desires; The Respect He Desperately Needs

By: Emerson Eggerichs 

 

 

Here is the short blurb from Amazon’s website regarding this book: Reveals the secret to couples meeting each other’s deepest needs–without love she reacts without respect, and without respect he reacts without love, and a painful, negative cycle begins.

My husband and I actually got this book a long time ago, I think as a wedding gift. When we started reading it, we stopped after the first section because, quite frankly, we both felt that too much pressure was put on the woman in the relationship. It seemed like Emerson was saying that the woman needs to be more respectful, and because she isn’t, the man was unloving and it was okay to be so. We also saw at least one example that he clearly put the woman in the wrong, and we just felt it clearly wasn’t so. Needless to say, we donated the book without finishing.

Moving forward to 2018. Our church was offering a class called Love & Respect. We like finding ways to improve our marriage so we thought we’d take it. It never dawned on us that this might be related to the book that we once tried. The first day of class was slightly shocking because we got our book, and it was this one. We were not thrilled to even read it, but of course we would seeing as it was part of the class.

This time we finished it! Again, years later, we still didn’t like that first section of the book. However, it got so much better. I think that Emerson gave great examples later on, on how to energize your relationships and even gain rewarding relationships. And even though the book ended up being far better than we realized, the video series we did in the class was so much better! We found Emerson to be quite funny!

I decided to rate this book four stars. It’s one shy of perfect because of the first part we don’t care for so much. But if you get passed that, it’s actually really good. 

Love & Respect is geared toward married couples. However, do not hesitate to try it if you’re engaged or dating. It never hurts to start the relationship or soon-to-be married journey off on the right foot! There’s a lot of great things in here. And for those that are single and not looking to be a part of any relationship, it can still work. This can be beneficial for the relationship between co-workers, parents and children, any man-woman relationship really.

Bottom line, it helps you recognize why the opposite gender may act one way. It gives you tools to reverse it. And it gives hope that regardless of how the other responds, you can be rewarded for doing the right thing. See, good for anyone! 

Like I said, the video series is way better so I’d recommend that over the book, but this is easier to get a hold of probably so this works, too. To get your copy, please go to:

 

https://www.amazon.com/dp/1591451876/

 

Wind Chimes

Posted on by Frances

For Christmas last year I asked for wind chimes. We had just recently moved into a new house, one we consider to be our permanent (forever) home. I’ve always liked wind chimes, especially the ones that are bigger and deeper sounding. So when it came time to make a Christmas list for my in laws (the only people I have to make a list for), I knew this is what I’d put on it. Which I finally had to breathe a sigh of relief because I never know what to have on my Christmas list!

As Christmas came last year, it was my turn to open one of my gifts. It was a box. But it wasn’t a heavy box so I was a little clueless as to what was inside. When it was opened, there was a note. The note talked about how my in laws wanted to get me a wind chime, but instead of picking out something they thought I’d like, they wanted me to pick out my own. Now, as if that wasn’t cool enough, what made it sweeter was that they wanted to make a trip out of getting a wind chime. They wanted to treat me and the family to Shipshewana (a heavily Amish town) for the day. Shipshewana and the Amish are well known for great, handmade products so I knew that a wind chime from there would be perfect!

I share all of this because we finally got our trip to Shipshewana done! Actually we got it done back in June, but since then I’ve been super busy that I didn’t have time to create a post.

The day was fun! It started out a little crazy because my husband decided to follow his GPS from his iPhone. Most of the time GPS’ work well. This time, we made it to our destination, but we were taken way out in the boonies first! It made for quite the interesting experience!

While there we visited some unique shops, got some Amish goodies, did a buggy ride, and ate a healthy lunch. What is so cool about the place is that I feel like I’m back in time, although cars are still heavily present. I also find it fascinating how many flowers there are. It’s so beautiful. The place is truly magical, and if you ever get the chance to visit, I’d recommend it.

This is the wind chime that I came home with!

It is called Song of Solomon. I never knew wind chimes had their names, but apparently they do. And this name holds a special place in my heart. At our wedding, the passage read was from Song of Solomon.  So I just think that’s cool that the one I ended up liking the most had that name.

It’s deep reds and blacks, colors that match our new home perfectly. And the sound is so beautiful. I wish that pictures had sound with them so that I could share with you all the melodic noise they make. One bonus is that this beauty comes with a lifetime guarantee! Can’t get better than that.

Every time I look out my window and see my wind chimes dangling in the breeze or each time I hear the chimes ringing, I don’t just see/hear wind chimes. My in laws gave me something more than that. They gave me memories of the day that we went to get the wind chimes. I won’t forget about petting the huge Clydesdale, or meandering through specialty stores, or feeling like I’m in the middle of nowhere as we traveled south, or the many other things I got to experience that day like riding in an Amish buggy for the first time!!!! In fact, here’s a pic of our horse and driver!

It’ll also serve as a reminder of my marriage ceremony! It’s neat how God orchestrates certain events and things to bring up pleasant memories of things long ago. I can actually see it being sort of like a wedding ring…a visual to symbolize a vow that was made.

Have you ever had an experience like this? Has something ever reiterated something from your past? Or how has God done something really cool in your life?

 

Sacred Marriage

Posted on by Frances

Sacred Marriage happens to be one of the titles of a book by Gary Thomas. For those who do not know who Gary Thomas is, he is a bestselling author and international speaker whose ministry focuses on bringing people closer to Christ and closer to one another. In this book, Sacred Marriage, the general idea is to get closer to your spouse by becoming more like Christ.

I have to admit that I would not have read something like this on my own. I am not a huge fan of self-help or non-fiction in general. Yes, this coming from someone who is working on her first non-fiction piece, lol. It’s not like I don’t get much out of them or don’t like them, it’s just that I’d rather be reading a fictional piece that transports me to someone else’s world.

Anyway, back to why I said all of that. Though I wouldn’t have chosen to read something like this on my own, I did end up reading it because of a men’s group my husband is a part of. One of the homework assignments was for him to read Sacred Marriage, as well as for me, too. Then a little while ago we had a meeting where all of us, husbands and wives, discussed it.

The first thing I want to say is Continue reading “Sacred Marriage” →

A Marriage Exercise

Posted on by Frances

I can’t tell you how many times I misspell the word “exercise” – even when typing in this title, I tend to put a “C” after the “X”. It’s horrible!

 

Anyway, this is not what the article is about so let’s just move on.

 

My husband, Jeremy, is part of this men’s group at our church where they get together at least once a month, discuss a book they were required to read, share their memory work, and encourage one another to grow spiritually. This past month Jeremy had to read “See Yourself As God Sees You” by Josh McDowell. He really enjoyed it, and highly recommends it by the way. I know I’ll be reading that in the near future.

 

Part of the “homework” that went along with this book was he had to make a list of 10 ways he sees himself and 10 ways he feels God sees him. Then came my part. I had to review the lists and see where I agree or disagree, as well as help him figure out ways in which he can always see himself as God sees him. I thought that was a pretty cool exercise! I even went on to make my own list of 10 ways I see Jeremy.

 

This got me curious. What would my list look like? How did I think Jeremy viewed me? So I asked him if he would be willing to do the same for me as I just did for him. He was totally for it! So without further ado…here is my list of 10 ways I see myself and 10 ways I feel God sees me: Continue reading “A Marriage Exercise” →