Happy Anniversary :)

I had subscribed to my husband's YouTube account, and today, when I went on it, I got an update from his account. I think this was supposed to be a surprise for our anniversary tomorrow. ;) I am not going to watch it. But it's hilarious it popped up. I love you baby. 8.5 years ago when we met in front of Diary Queen to start our courtship, you told me the most romantic thing a guy could tell a gal. You said "I pray I will show you more of who God is each day in our relationship as we move on toward marriage." God has been so faithful to honor that because you have a heart of gold. No, you are not perfect, but your children and I have seen God refining you into the man He wants you to be because of your willingness, your diligence, and your humility. You are so dedicated, so devoted, so hard working, so selfless, and so inspiring. You have got self discipline like nobody else. My man is full of integrity and is not afraid to tell the honest truth. I have learned so much from you, honey, and I have learned to listen intently to your words. You are full of wisdom and full of goodwill. You have shown me more of who our God is through the transformation that you continually allow the LORD to have in you, and through your persisting love. You are an amazing man. I am out of words for you because you take my breath away with the man you have become. I can't even imagine who you are becoming and I cannot wait to watch the LORD's work in you in the next decades to come. He has great plans for you and for your family, generations to come. I am honored to be your help mate, wife, and best friend. You are like my Abraham as I am your Sarah. <3

LORD Jesus, You are magnificent. Mold us, convict us, transform us, and speak to us till the end of our time. Purify our motives and cleanse our hearts as we continue to serve You alone. Help us not to please any other but You oh Lord. My God, You are an Adventure. Let us hold onto You so we can enjoy our journey even through happiness and suffering. It is You who have brought us through and brought us here. Thank You for celebrating our sacred union and affirming our marriage. Allow Your gifts in us to bring people closer to You. I thank You for opening Phill's ears towards You that I can confidently submit and trust him in making decisions for this family. God, You are mighty. Continue Your work in us so we may continue to bring more souls to You. We pray You fill this family with the Holy Spirit and rain down Your blessings. You know our hearts. You know who we are. You are the God of this house. Do as You please LORD. There is no other God but our God. In Your holy name I pray, AMEN.

Phill's video for me:



Here's my gift to you, baby.......... :-) It's a song for you. Description: 8th year anniversary song for my husband. I wrote this in humor. Try to imagine this sappy song sung in the middle of a musical. :P
There is no one like you babe - jojo


There is no one like you, babe (first draft) | Muziboo



There is no one like you, babe (second draft) | Muziboo


There is nothing I can say
No new words
To tell how I feel
There is no one like you
There is no one like you, babe

There is nothing I can write
No new rhymes
To show how I know
There is no one like you
There is no one like you, babe

You are more than just amazing
More than just willing
More than just faithful
What's that word?
I don't know
There is no one like you

I can use some statements
to describe him
To display my love
There is no one like you
There is no one like you, babe

"You are my hero"
"Your body is so ripped"
"You are my desire"
"You're more than I dream of"
"There is no one like you, babe"


You are more than just amazing
More than just willing
More than just faithful
What's that word?
I don't know
There is no one like you

God's romance

This morning during worship, as the orchestra played and held onto the F# to Bach's Air on G String, my face was filled to tears and joy. You see, this was the second time we heard this piece played in a church. The first time, this piece was playing as I was walking down the aisle towards my husband exactly 8 years ago. This was His anniversary gift. My God is an intimate God. He has reminded us of His faithfulness and goodness. He made me feel so special and affirmed this morning. No it was no a coincidence, the LORD our God is celebrating our union and covenant with us, smiling down upon us. Thank You Jesus. Thank You for my life. Thank You for my marriage. Thank You for Your mindfulness and Your intimacy and Your romance. :-)

Psalm 139

New International Version (NIV)

You have searched me, Lord,
    and you know me.
You know when I sit and when I rise;
    you perceive my thoughts from afar.
You discern my going out and my lying down;
    you are familiar with all my ways.
Before a word is on my tongue
    you, Lord, know it completely.
You hem me in behind and before,
    and you lay your hand upon me.
Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,
    too lofty for me to attain.

Where can I go from your Spirit?
    Where can I flee from your presence?
If I go up to the heavens, you are there;
    if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.
If I rise on the wings of the dawn,
    if I settle on the far side of the sea,
even there your hand will guide me,
    your right hand will hold me fast.
If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me
    and the light become night around me,”
even the darkness will not be dark to you;
    the night will shine like the day,
    for darkness is as light to you.

For you created my inmost being;
    you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
    your works are wonderful,
    I know that full well.
My frame was not hidden from you
    when I was made in the secret place,
    when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.
Your eyes saw my unformed body;
    all the days ordained for me were written in your book
    before one of them came to be.
How precious to me are your thoughts, God!
    How vast is the sum of them!
Were I to count them,
    they would outnumber the grains of sand—
    when I awake, I am still with you.

If only you, God, would slay the wicked!
    Away from me, you who are bloodthirsty!
They speak of you with evil intent;
    your adversaries misuse your name.
Do I not hate those who hate you, Lord,
    and abhor those who are in rebellion against you?
I have nothing but hatred for them;
    I count them my enemies.
Search me, God, and know my heart;
    test me and know my anxious thoughts.
See if there is any offensive way in me,
    and lead me in the way everlasting.

Grace will be my song

No matter my past, no matter my present, no matter my future, grace will be my song. As believers, we shall refuse to be slaves to time, earthly possession, and bad experience. May the LORD rain His blessings on us as we sing His song.

Classic

Blessed Assurance, Jesus is Mine.

This is my 7th month of learning about boundaries, what kinds of friends the Lord wants me to have, how to set and respect healthy boundaries, how to engage in deep intimate friendship with those who indeed are like minded, and how to embrace these friendships in times of trouble.

I have to say, after Thursday at the seminary wives meeting, I came home so emotional! I told my husband that blessings showered upon me. I was overwhelmed with love and caring ladies. The Lord sent me blessed assurance that He is pleased with me! My heart was so full and the Lord, through my trials and suffering, has sent me deep and intimate friendships to cover me with prayers, words of affirmation, hugs, and their partnership. 

The speaker spoke on purity. When I think of purity, I think of a supernatural spiritual purity that cannot be achieved by human efforts. The English word, purity, is defined as a state of being pure, the absence of impurity in a substance or the absence of vice in a human. Purity for a human is the state of being without any vice. When Jesus said in Matthew 5:8, "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God." He was saying, "Do you see, my child, how pure my heart is? Do you see I am doing nothing out of my own ambition? Are you able to see how impure you are as you observe how pure I am? Do you see how my pure heart does not have even the tiniest speck of ungodliness in it? Copy my purity. That is the quality of purity I desire for you, my beloved."

One thing, I believe, stops us from being pure even before our thoughts reach our minds, is motive. The purity of our desires comes from the purity of our motives, but the purity of our motive is something that stems right from the purity of our hearts. Proverbs 16:2 says "All a person’s ways seem pure to them, but motives are weighed by the Lord." As we all struggle with this, my prayer for us, followers of Christ, is that we keep our motives, desires, and thoughts as pure as Christ's, so our actions, behaviors, and speech, become shining examples for our children, our legacy in the Lord. Read with me one of my favorite passages, Ephesians 4, right now to refresh on this legacy of purity our Lord Jesus Christ has instructed us to live. 

Ephesians 4

English Standard Version (ESV)

I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call—one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. But grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ's gift.Therefore it says,

“When he ascended on high he led a host of captives,
    and he gave gifts to men.”

(In saying, “He ascended,” what does it mean but that he had also descended into the lower regions, the earth? He who descended is the one who also ascended far above all the heavens, that he might fill all things.) And he gave the apostles, the prophets, theevangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, forbuilding up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who isthe head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.

Now this I say and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds. They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart. They have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity. But that is not the way you learned Christ!— assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus, to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.

Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another. Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, and give no opportunity to the devil. Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest work with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with anyone in need. Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.

LORD JESUS, I praise You. I praise Your name and I bless Your name. Shower Your sweet blessings upon me. When my enemies slander me, LORD, remind me of Your faithfulness. Remind me that You are my shield. Oh LORD my GOD! I am in constant, awesome, wonder of Your love, grace, and creation. I feel an outpouring of joy as I suffer and I feel assurance in my heart that You love me, care for me, defend me, and is pleased with me. One thing I ask, let my heart imitate Your purity! I thank You for everything I have learned in the past months, and true friends You have given me, and an awesome, godly husband that I need to learn to listen to more quickly and more often. Sweet Savior, I will serve You all the days of my life. AMEN.

1. Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine!
   Oh, what a foretaste of glory divine!
   Heir of salvation, purchase of God,
   Born of His Spirit, washed in His blood.
2. Perfect submission, perfect delight,
   Visions of rapture now burst on my sight;
   Angels, descending, bring from above
   Echoes of mercy, whispers of love.
3. Perfect submission, all is at rest,
   I in my Savior am happy and blest,
   Watching and waiting, looking above,
   Filled with His goodness, lost in His love.
4. Refrain:
5. This is my story, this is my song,
   Praising my Savior all the day long;
   This is my story, this is my song,
   Praising my Savior all the day long.