What I've Learned Being Sombody's Wife!

On our anniversary we had a great night doing on of our favorite things - $2.00 movies! Pacific Rim was so funny - one of the best "bad" movies I've seen in a while. We've been quoting the movie all morning. Although my anniversary is over I still have two more lessons I wanted to share about marriage:

Lesson Three: Submission is not always an easy thing. But a godly man makes it easier to submit. A great godly man will take into account what you have to say, allow you to make decisions as a team and then pray about it if you two can just not come into agreement. And a smart wife understands that her husband will have to give an account to the Lord over the stewardship of the home so sometimes he has to have the last say. There is no fear in this if he truly is a man after God's own heart. You won’t always agree and sometimes you’ll know your husband’s dead wrong. Submit anyway and then pray, and if you are right get out of the way and let the Lord do the work.

“Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord.” Ephesians 5:2


The last lesson and what I think it's the most important marriage lesson I learned:

Lesson Four:  Being married is a choice, a choice to live up to the commitment I made before God and before man.  In our lives, divorce is not an option that is the expectation we’ve set for ourselves and before the Lord.  I’ve learned that sometimes love is super “hot and passionate” and sometimes it is “quiet and gentle”.  But as Christ chose to die on the cross for me, I choose daily to love the husband that I have been blessed with.  And thankfully it is not a hard choice to make.

Hanging out with my husband, having date night, long talks, clarifying our communication and planning meetings are of the utmost importance.  When I’m hurt, confused, upset, joyful, I talk to my husband, I make sure he knows that he is my priority. I’ve learned to make my husband my best friend.  We don’t share our business or our tiffs with the world.  Because what I’ve learned is that true intimacy must occur physically, emotionally and spiritually.  In order for my marriage to work I have to be a reflection of Christ’s love for Jon Bush on the earth and he has been the same for me. We put Jesus first and each other second - always.   

Ecclesiastes 4 verse 12
A person standing alone can be attacked and defeated, but two can stand back-to-back and conquer. Three are even better, for a triple-braided cord is not easily broken.

3 Years and Counting - Lesson Two on Marriage

It's my 3 year Anniversary!  And I think it's no secret that I prefer Jon Bush above all others.  I love him, but most importantly I pray daily for him and for our marriage.  So here is the 2nd thing I've learned since I've gotten married:

Lesson Two: Although you can’t change anyone, you should always pray that your spouse becomes the man or woman of God they are destined to be.  Cover their weaknesses, fears, hopes and dreams in prayer with the Lord.  Show your love through your actions and try to do the things that bring joy to your spouse’s life. If you are faithful and build up your spouse with your words, your actions and with your prayers, the Lord will do a great work in your spouse’s life.  Speak life, speak truth in love, confirm and affirm your desire for your mate, forgive quickly and let go of the past.

Romans 12 Verse 10
Love each other with genuine affection, and take delight in honoring each other.

Random Life Lessons On Marriage - Lesson One

Tomorrow Jon Bush and I celebrate 3 years of marriage! I can hardly believe it. In honor of our 3 years I have compiled a list of 4 life lessons I've learned about marriage. I'll be sharing them over the next four days.

Lesson One: You can’t change anyone. Don’t ever marry someone thinking you can. And don’t spend too much time asking the Lord to change them into what you think or want them to be. (I thank the Lord I knew that coming in!) Ask the Lord to change you instead, so you can be the wife or husband you’ve been called to be. Praying together daily as a couple makes all the difference in the world. Making Christ the head of your marriage is the most important thing you can do.

Matthew 19:4-6
"Haven't you read," he replied, "that at the beginning the Creator 'made them male and female,' and said, 'For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh' ? So they are no longer two, but one. Therefore what God has joined together, let man not separate."

6th Annual Spirit of Deborah Conference on Women, Ministry and Leadership.

It's that time of year again! If you are in the greater Miami Valley area of Ohio we'd love to see you at the 6th Annual Spirit of Deborah Conference on Saturday, April 20, 2013 at 9am!  We'll be gathering at this free conference at The Bridge Worship Community Worship Center at 302 State Street in Fairborn, Ohio.  If you are not in the area, do not despair! You'll be able to order copies of the entire conference.  Also we're launching out so look for a Spirit of Deborah Conference coming your way sometime in 2013/2014! New York, Nashville, Orlando, Texas, we're coming to see you!

Please keep us in prayer and we grow and develop, Broken Box Ministries is on the move for the Lord!

I Think I Shot Somebody or Have I Been Shot?

In response to all of the clamor about Gun Control I have to say I have once again been appalled by what is coming out of people's mouths.  I have a whole thought on the issue, but that's another blog...  Imagine my disgust when I heard that one of the parents of the Sandy Hook Newtown victims was heckled while giving testimony because it didn't line up with the heckler's beliefs.  Are you serious!? When did it become ok to heckle parents whose children were murdered? Or what about the several law enforcement officers seeon on TV saying they won't enforce the law if we have stricter gun control... or my favorite, the one dude who said he was going to start killing people if Obama tried to take away his guns... he found himself under investigation real quick. Point of clarification, this is not about gun control, this is about MOUTH CONTROL.

Our nation is on a rampage, we personally may not slay with a gun, but we sure will slay folks with the words of our mouths.  Recently I was reviewing some old blogs I had written on Myspace in 2008 and came across this one.  It was written in relation to the 2008 elections, but I think it bears repeating here and now it was entitled, I Think I Shot Someone or Have I Been Shot?

From Oct. 2008 Myspace Blog...

I've been amazed at the things that are coming out of people's mouths over the last few months.  Between the election, personal attacks on friends and a few not so nice words directed towards me because some don't agree with several choices I've made lately, I now know why the Lord had me study the book of James so intensely!   I've spoken out of turn more times then I can count, but I'm thankful for the grace of God and the word of God, which is constantly correcting me and training me.

Some of you know I keep a list of what I like to call; Dr. Nay's Random Life Lessons and I love to share them with the world.  Now please don't respond if your temper gets tweaked, the Lord teaches me these life lessons usually because I've been guilty of them at one time or another in my own life.  So I'm pointing the finger at me first – hey, then I have three more pointing back at me again cause you can't count your thumb – LOL!

So here is Random Life Lesson 438…

Words can be used as weapons.  Be careful how you use them.  You might shoot yourself in the foot.  Ha, you might even kill yourself or someone you care about by playing around with a loaded "word."  So the next time you go to speak remember, "Words don't kill people, people who use them incorrectly kill people."   

 

James 3:2
Indeed, we all make many mistakes. For if we could control our tongues, we would be perfect and could also control ourselves in every other way.

The New Living Translation

There's always a time or place to speak, to stand up boldly for the Lord.  But that is not what I'm talking about, I'm talking about gossip masked as prayer requests, attacks hidden under personal opinion, statements that simply don't need to be stated and fact finding that is grounded in falsehood.

Let's not make our brother and sisters victims of "friendly fire." We're in a war – we're in the army of the Most High God.  Let's aim our weapons in the spirit realm and take the enemy out.  As Christians let's pray more and talk less.  I'm praying daily that the Lord would cover my emotions and help me guard my own tongue. Heck, I don't want the guilt of shooting anybody; I've got enough stuff to repent of already. And I don't want to be shot, seems to me that being shot could be pretty be painful…

So, that's His word, and I'm sticking to it.  Until Next Time!  Blessings!

God and Dog

It’s the simple things that bless my heart so tremendously.  I’ve been in a season of life where the Lord is refining, not only me, but my husband.  We’ve found ourselves facing choices we’ve faced before and we know it’s because we need to make a better choice this time around.  I understand it’s all for my maturity, for my personal growth into the woman of God He’s called me to be.  Somehow it seems that the grace that covered me several years ago doesn’t cover me today.  Not that the grace  has lost it's power. I guess because I know better now, and when you know better you have to do better.

In knowing better, the simple things have become more important.  Ministry has become more important then music career.  Family has become more important then touring the country and seeing the world.  Daily things have become more precious and I’m much more aware of God’s blessings.  I use to think blessings equaled miracles and miracles were always big, jaw dropping events.  I understand now as I get older miracles can be big supernatural things, but they can also be little things that warm your heart and make you smile.

Like my dogs.  Despite the fact that Bucho likes to “date the living room pillows” and Bianca sometimes seems to think that the bathroom rug is grass, I love them tremendously and I am thankful for their presence in my life.  My puppies remind me of the love of God.  I think it has something to do with a dog’s willingness to take you just as you are, their ability to love you despite all your failures, their faithfulness even when you don’t pay them as much attention as you should.  And I found myself thankful and I wanted to tell the Lord I was thankful to Him for giving them to me. So I did what many do when they want the world to know something that seems so urgent and important.  I posted on Facebook, “Thank you Lord for creating dogs.”

It is amazing how when you pray a simple prayer of thank you, the Lord often goes an extra step to reaffirm His love to you.  He seems to say thank you back, because you thanked Him for His amazing awesomeness!  In a matter of minutes my dear friend Lani posted a video for me to enjoy based on a children’s book called, God and Dog.  I was in tears halfway through the 90 second video.  I’ll leave it to you to watch and see for yourself the gentle reminder of God’s love for us through His own creation – the dog!  For God to have her post this to my page was reaffirmation of His hearing my prayer.  And then, the funniest picture of a dachshund came across my Facebook feed.  This little blessing looked like he could be our Bucho’s cousin.  In the picture the dog is looking sheepish and he has a sign around his neck saying, “I steal food from unattended plates.”  It was the funniest thing I had seen all day and in a matter of 20 minutes I went from tears of gratitude to laughing hysterically! 

 And I thought isn’t that just like the Lord to give me these simple pleasures, joyful dogs, a great friend, a beautiful video and a hilarious picture – all because He loves me and wants to hear me laugh.  His love is a miracle and His attention to the details of my life are amazing.  The Lord’s creation reflects His heart towards us.  Think about that the next time a simple thing makes you laugh or a gentle thing brings you to tears.  These are the evidence of God’s amazing love.  These are the evidence of true miracles.

*Photo From Facebook Page: I Love Dachshunds Fan Page

Ascribe To Yahweh

So I started this new video blog on my thoughts on worship. I love to write so I won't be abandoning the written word anytime soon. But I thought I would share with you my first effort. It's based on one of the first songs I ever "wrote", well I didn't really write it, it's directly from scripture. Take a listen to the video about the song ASCRIBE! But before you do, go down to the bottom of the page and turn off the music player so you can actually hear what I'm saying... and singing. Hit the underlined text below entitled, Ascribe To Yahweh and take a listen! Blessings!

Ascribe To Yahweh