Loving on my Knees

Do these words ring a bell to you? I, (name), take you (name), to be my (wife/husband), to have and to hold from this day forward, for better or for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish; from this day forward until death do us part. 

I remember the days when preparing for the big day. When my husband and I got married. The day we promised each other to be together for life no matter what.

I don't have a perfect marriage. So I  pray for my marriage and my home on a daily basis, so that we can be together for life. So that the enemy which are sin and satan don't destroy our marriage.

Lately the theme I've been hearing among believers, which has become popular is: we are separated. My husband left me. My wife left me. I can't live with him/her anymore. He/She is driving me crazy. He walked out on me. I can't take it anymore!


We want to bail out on the 1st year of marriage because the person we married doesn't meet our expectations. We begin to pray, Lord change him, and we pray with wrong motives, instead of praying Lord change me. And when things don't go our way and we don't see the change we asked for, we want out.

The word vow means: to give, consecrate, or dedicate to God.
As wives, we are constantly giving of ourselves to take care of our husband and children. But our husbands are also giving of themselves by going out of the home to provide for the family. Our marriages have been set a part and we have made a commitment not only with our spouse but with God as well.

I've heard of many broken marriages and seen many broken marriages. I've witnessed marriages or homes that were so close to come to an end and eventually they did. Why is that?  I was a part of that kind of home. I grew up in a home with a believing mom and an unbelieving-alcoholic father. But one thing that I vividly remember to this day is my mom being on her knees every single day praying for her home, for her children, for her husband, without ceasing. She loved her husband. And the best way she could love him when he was unlovable was to pray for him.

The Bible says in 1 Thessalonians 5:17  to pray without ceasing, this means without giving it up.
1 Corinthians 7:16 says, For how do you know, O wife, whether you will save your husband? Or how do you know, O husband, whether you will save your wife? This refers to the witness we can be for our spouses. Galatians 6:9 says : let us not lose heart in doing good, for in due time we will reap if we do not grow weary.
I was able to see this kind of faith lived out by my mom. She prayed without giving up, without losing hope that one day my father would come to the saving grace of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. I can testify that many times, she wanted to give up, but she didn't because she loved her family.

Our marriages can be changed and transformed if we allow the Lord to work in our lives. Let's not allow satan get a foothold on our marriages. I can say that the Lord gave me a new father 11 years ago and blessed my mom with a renewed marriage! If we want our marriages to be changed and transformed, lets put into them what they really need, Prayer!

♥ Karla

Do Everything in Love

Have you heard of MOPS? Well, I am a part of a MOPS group were I live and I am a discussion group leader. So our main leader for MOPS asked all of us that are leaders in MOPS to choose a verse to share at our next meeting. So this is what I shared about last week, and it is also something that the Lord has been working on me. I pray it encourages you as you read it, because as I was meditating on the verse below, He kept putting different verses in front of me that spoke volumes to me. It's a bit long, but please stick with me. :)

I Corinthians 16:14 has been one of my favorite verses. I learned this verse as I was listening to Seeds Family Worship CD with my boys in the van. This CD is super cool and your children will love it, because it is scripture sung with upbeat music, and BOY is it Catchy! It repeats: Do everything in Love as part of the chorus. So it has been a verse that I carry closely and dear to my heart.

I Corinthians 16:14 says: ‘Let all you do be done in love’

Love = to take pleasure and delight in what you are doing

All = everything else being considered.

As moms we are stretched from left to right, up and down, just all over the place. We can become easily frustrated, running low on patience, tired of doing things around the house, changing diapers 5 to 6 or more times daily, correcting and disciplining constantly throughout the day. Preparing meals throughout the week, taking the kids to sports activities and practice, piano, guitar lessons, paying bills, taking care of sick little one and wiping runny noses, playing with cars with your little boys or dolls with your little girls, grocery shopping, laundry, etc, etc, etc the list is far to long.

As I began to think about this verse, and as I listen to it on my CD player, and it repeats do everything in love, I can’t help but to stop and thank the Lord for reminding me to do all these things that are part of me, of whom he made me be (a mom) are my responsibility and I have to do them in love. He commands us to them in love.

Ephesians 5:2 says: Walk in love ( what love? – the love of Jesus) it  says Walk in love, just as Christ Jesus also loves you and gave himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma.

Ladies, it is not easy being a mom, our love is a sacrificial kind of love because we are giving up self to serve and love our families (our husband and children). When all we might want sometimes is peace and some quiet and to be alone for a little while.

Philippians 2:3 says: Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important then yourselves.

To be honest with you, sometimes I want to be selfish. And because I want to be selfish and have my own agenda, which doesn’t include my family, the things that I do become a chore and not something I want to do!! I begin to whine and complain in my mind about not ever being able to do what I WANT! Because I am always doing things for others.

Paul Trip says it good so I am going to borrow some of his words here: When my children begin to misbehave and are in the way of my agenda of what I WANT, I begin to bark orders (this for me is yelling to my kids), and instill guilt, I threaten a punishment and walk away and my children are utterly unchanged by the encounter.

My Children and my family are important and all I do for them should be done in love, just as Jesus gave himself up for us in love.

The first portion of I Cor. 16:13-14 says be on the alert stand firm in the faith, act like men and be strong. – life isn’t easy but  all the things we do in love will be a fragrant aroma to our family, because they will see Jesus in us.

Colossians 3:14 says Beyond all these things put on love, which is the perfect bond of unity. Lastly I Timothy 1:5 says, but the goal of our instruction is love from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith.

So as we do all these things in love, lets also remember that the goal of our instruction is love, to genuinely teach our children from a pure heart, sincere faith and a desire to do what is right. When we do these things in love we are displaying the Faith we have in Jesus and our children will be changed.

A Lasting Impression

Do you ever think about how you can demonstrate love to others? To your family, your friends, your neighbors, your co-worker, etc? You can demonstrate love to your family by doing something special for them, something they will remember and leave a lasting impression. To your friends, by making them a homemade meal when they are ill. Mowing the lawn for your neighbor who is a single mom. To your co-worker, by buying them their favorite coffee. To demonstrate love just because.

The word demonstrate means to extend, to reach, to come.

Romans 5:8 says: But God demonstrates, His own love toward us,in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. 

I love this verse for so many reasons. But one of the reasons I really like it so much and have it after my signature when closing in an e-mail is because it reminds me of what  I was before Christ was in my life. It reminds me that it was Him who loved me first, not because of what I have done, but because of what He did. While I was a sinner, ungodly, a debtor, unjust,  He put his love on the line for us by offering His Son in sacrificial death so that we would be made just and right through Him.

A few days ago, I was searching on craigslist for a t.v armoire, I found one I was interested in. So, I sent an e-mail inquiring about it, to see if it was still available. To my surprise I received an e-mail a few hours later saying:  "It's still available( Bible verse kinda of creepy) if you are still interested". As I mentioned before after my signature this verse follows.  I was sadden about this persons response, because I know for sure he is not a believer. 

 John MacArthur in his commentary on Romans says:

God loves the sinners who think sinful thoughts, who do sinful deeds, even while they are still hopelessly enmeshed in their sin. Even when men openly hate God and do not have the least desire to give up their sin, they are still the objects of God's redeeming love as long as they live.

God demonstrated His love by sending His only Son to die for us, this is something I want my children to know and for it to leave a lasting impression on them. I pray that the work Christ did on the cross is not creepy to you, but an act of the best love ever demonstrated.

This post was in contribution to a Christian Group Writing project on Romans Road, 

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