Married in a year

You know when you hear those stories of a couple who meet each other and just knew that God has called them to be together. 12 months ago they didn’t even know each other, or know each other that well and now they are getting married. How does it make you feel?

For me, I find it so amazing how God works. A chance meeting, a brief encounter, divine appointment. It’s not until you reflect back do you realise that God had it planned out all along. One of these days I will share how Mr E and I met and how I knew that he was the man God had destined for me. We had many chance encounters, some would call it fate, I would call it God’s timing.

In the meantime meet Suzanne Hadley Gosselin.

Suzanne is a writer for Boundless. A writer who I admire and respect and who last September got married to her husband Kevin. Incidentally she got married on the same day we were supposed to get married, but get this, 12 months prior she was single.

 

In her article One Year From Now…You could be Married, she talks about how in the space of a year she and Kevin went from close friends to engaged to married and how God orchestrated it all.

I’ve read Boundless for many years and Suzanne’s story is such a huge encouragement because I read her articles as a single woman, sharing her frustrations and pains, when things didn’t necessarily work out or one felt that God had forgotten about my life. But as I’ve always said, God is faithful and Suzanne’s story is a great testimony to all single and married people. It’s amazing what God can do if you trust Him.

During her period of singleness she said there were three things that helped her to hang onto hope:

• Actively getting to know God's character
• Having the right kind of friends
• Investing in things that matter

I would definitely agree.

You can read more about Suzanne’s 'Year to Love' story, engagement and marriage posts by clicking the links.

Looking for more? Check out: Biblical dating: From 'Hi to I do' in 12 months

{Image by Heather Bauers}

10 Things

1. I have been a Christian {properly} for 10 years and I’m learning more and more about God each day. I say properly because before then I never really took it seriously. Sometimes I wonder where my life would be at without God and I am grateful to Him for his mercy, grace and many blessings over my life. Bible in 90 days update: Leviticus was never the most exciting book of the bible!
2. I am big foot. I wear a UK size 10 shoe {11.5 US}, which has always been a nightmare as shoe retailers seem to think that shoe sizes stop at 8 and if you’re any bigger than that you have no fashion taste and want to wear big rocks for shoes. Wedding shoes are even worse. Nowadays this is getting better and in some stores I can even get into an 8. Yay! Now I don’t think my foot is shrinking, their shoes must be getting bigger, right?
3. When I was a little girl I wanted to be a hairdresser. One day I would love to have my own hairdressing beauty salon. A place where women can come and fellowship as well as look good. 
4. When I was 16 I wrote a letter into a woman’s weekly about the lack of cosmetics for black people on the high street and it got published! They sent me £20 for the trouble. I was well impressed!
5. I love reading and at school I won an award for taking the most books out of the library. I am a nerd and proud of it! Today I love to read and write. Today I blog.
6. I write loads of lists and carry notebooks around with me all the time. I find it a calming way to organise my thoughts and actions for the day. If I can’t find my notebook, the back of an envelope will do just fine.
7. I am the eldest of six. I have 3 brothers and two sisters, who I love to pieces and am immensely proud of.
8. Up until a year ago, I never used to cook. My idea of dinner consisted of cereal and milk. Today… well you can check out how I roll now. I am also a non-drinker of both fizzy drinks and alcohol.
9. I have sung on the same stage as John Legend. Not at the same time of course, but our church held a concert at the same venue where he had just recently performed. I did get to see him in concert one time {great show} and afterwards meet him. Very small guy in real life!
10. I work better under pressure {read: procrastinator}, which explains why I am still trying to figure out my tax return and the deadline is Sunday!

Love rush

How cute are these love dishes! Perfect for entertaining or for a romantic evening for two?

Can be ordered from Angelic Weddings.

Me Husband. You Wife.

Haddassah blogged about the role of a husband on 'Before I did' and thought it would be great to share.

The role of a husband can be summed up in the 4 P's, Provider, Protector, Priest and Prophet.

Provider: Financially, physically.

Protector: Being the authority in home, emotionally and physically, protect your wife from your family members by covering her weaknesses and emphasising her strengths (and vice versa for wives)

Priest: Spiritual head, should set guidance and leadership for praise, worship and prayer. No staying at home while wife and kids go to church.

Prophet: Setting the vision for the home, a clear sense of direction. {It is important to have a general idea of where a man is going before you agree to marry him just in case you're not interested in his destination}.

I asked Mr E whether he agreed with this and say if a guy was 3 out of the 4, would he be failing as a husband? His response was yes.

That's deep! But I guess the role of a husband is not an easy one and not one to be entered into lightly.

I really like the list and it made me consider what my role as a wife should be. Surely if my husband is doing all these things then there is requirement on my side to do my part. Even if he isn't, that shouldn't stop me being a good wife and honouring God with my ministry.

So what does that look like? I believe there are three things which epitomises the role of a wife.

- To be submissive, essentially being respectful to him and honouring his role as the head of the home {Eph 5:22}
- To be his supporter and helper: You are his biggest cheerleader, inside and outside of the home
- To be a home-maker with or without children on the scene {Prov 14:1}

All of this done through unconditional love.

Now different people will view this list differently, so I ask the following questions:

- If you have a man who is all those four things: provider, protector, priest and prophet, do you agree that our role should be as described? If not what would you add/change?
- Should our side of the 'deal' be too hard to keep?
- What do you do when he isn't those things?

Happy Monday! Girl in the Mirror.

{source}

I've been thinking a lot lately about self image and self esteem and how sometimes as women we can struggle with both. Magazines and television bombard us with images of how we should look, what we should wear, what kind of wedding we should have and it can be all to easy to start to draw comparisons and feel inferior. However when you think that 95% of the images are not even real, it does make you wonder, why do we waste our time feeling this way.

Verses like 1 Peter 3:3-4 are great, because they remind us of the kind of beauty we should be striving for and help put things into perspective.

'Don't depend on things like fancy hairdos or gold jewelry or expensive clothes to make you look beautiful. Be beautiful in your heart by being gentle and quiet. This kind of beauty will last, and God considers it very special.'

This is the kind of beauty I want to have.

I've started to collect verses from the Bible which provide encouragement for those times when I forgot.

Verses like:

"For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb." Psalm 139:13

"Indeed, the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Don't be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows." Luke 12:7

"I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well." Psalm 139:14

Is it wonderful to know we are held in such high regard!

Ladies, share your favourite verses and lets remind each other of who we are in Christ.