Table for Two

Today is a Spiritual Boot Camp topic. Whenever I write on these matters, please know that it is not something I myself have perfected. I am just passing along something that God has taught me, or is working on me.......so please know I don't have it all together.....

Okay, I am gonna be painfully honest here: My marriage aint a cakewalk sometimes. Sometimes its a roller coaster....for what ever reasons......It ain't always so easy. Sometimes, to get me through a day, I am telling the Lord, "I trust you, I trust you.....help me walk in each moment. Help me Lord with my attitude. Help me Lord to not fear in anything...and to just trust you now"

Yesterday in my Bible Study in Whole Woman Revolution, my teacher, Denise inspired us all with much teaching from God....but one of the things she said was that she addressed was our sense of entitlement. Entitlement comes in many forms. We deserve this in our marriage, or we deserve this much money, or we deserve this job...we deserve happiness.....you get the picture.....

Trust me, I know entitlement......Most of us, if we are honest, have some of it in some way in the secret places in our heart. God totally showed me some stuff.

" Centered in the Heart of entitlement, there is no gratitude......entitlement, strips gratitude..."

When we have no gratitude....we lose that supernatural ability to allow God to work. Thankfulness is supernatural. It is at times unexplainable to me that when I choose gratitude, God can step in and work mighty miracles. Are you listening? I mean this is big people...it is a lesson that as I type, I know I NEED to embrace myself. Don't get me wrong, being thankful doesn't release people of their responsibility to grow and become a better spouse....but that is really not my responsibility to change my spouse...it is God's and I don't want that responsibility anyway. God can do a much better job than me.

So, in the meantime, I choose gratitude.....I choose to thank the Lord for the things I see in my husband: He is talented, creative, passionate, loves his family, loves the Lord, loves people, he has a heart for men, He is a GREAT coach, He is a great physician, and he LOVES me. He loves animals, and did I mention how smart he is. One of the things about him that I love, is that he wants to be better. He desires to do what it takes to make himself a better husband and father.

So, in my thankfulness towards my marriage, God can now come in and move and do whatever it is he wants to do in both of our hearts. All that to say, make a list of all the things you are thankful for in your spouse, then see what God does in that. I hope you are pleasantly surprised.

My dear friend Angel sent this out today....I loved it so much, I had to copy it and post it. I pray it will inspire you as it did me.

Ta​ble for Two ( Matthew 19:5,6)

Marr​iage is having someone to curl up against when the world seems cold and life uncertain. It is having someone who is as concerned as you are when the children are sick. It is having a hand that keeps checking your forehead for fever when you're not well. To be married is to have someone's shoulder to cry on as they lower your parent's body into the ground. It is wrapping wrinkled knees in warm blankets and giggling without teeth!
To the person you marry, you are saying, "When my time comes to leave this world, and the chilly wind of eternity blows away my birthdays, and my future stands cold and dark in the night, it's your face I want to kiss good-bye. It is your hand I want to squeeze as I slip from time into eternity. As the curtain closes on all I have attempted to do and be, I want to look into your eyes and see that I mattered. Not what I looked like. Not what I did or how much money I made. Not how talented I was. I want to look into the teary eyes of someone who loves me and see- I mattered!"
I​f you are looking for someone to be your everything, don't look around, look up! God is the only One who can be everything. By expecting perfection from the flesh, you ask more out of someone else than you are able to provide yourself. To be married is to have a partner- someone who can look up with you.
Like a suede jacket, the imperfectio​n of your marriage adds to its uniqueness. It is a mixing of good days, sad days, and all the challenges of life. A truly good relationshi​p is a spicy meal served on a shaky table, filled with dreams and pain and tender moments. Moments that, in those splitsecond flashbacks, make you smile secret smiles in the middle of the day. Moments so strong they never die, yet so fragile they vanich like bubbles in a glass.
Cheri​sh the moments. Lift the glass and drink deeply of life. If you can look back and catch a few of these moments, or trace a smile back to a memory, you are blessed, You could have been anywhere doing anything, but instead the Maitre d' seated you at a table for two!

written by T.D.Jakes

If anyone needs help with gratitude, get the devotional Jesus Calling by Sarah Young. It is full of thankfulness and gratitude. I read it almost daily. It is a good one.