{A big stone of remembrance for my children}
Beloved son and daughter of my vow,
Give thanks to the Lord for He is good for His lovingkindness is everlasting! Today your Daddy and I praise God for the grace and mercy He has bestowed upon our marriage of 13 years for His Namesake. Even beyond our newlywed years there were many things I didn’t understand about love and marriage and it wasn’t until the summer of 2009 when your Daddy and I became ‘one flesh’ that I began to understand.
That summer God led us to a marriage retreat at Scott River Lodge in Northern California where we went up a mountain as two and came down as one in Jesus Christ. One of the most memorable moments is when we were baptized as a couple! When we came up from being immersed, your Daddy whispered in my ear:
“God has been talking to me this whole week, and everything we have is not ours; we are just stewards. It is not our house, it’s not our car, and they are not even our children. God entrusted everything to us! I am tired of this family investing in the things of the world, we are going to invest in God’s kingdom and it begins now….I want you to stay home full time with the kids so we can disciple them. I don’t know how it’s going to happen, I don’t know how we will do it financially but the Word God gave me is in Habakkuk 2:4 ‘But the righteous will live by his faith’ and that is what we will do.”
Five months later God moved us to Alabama.
We can see now God was performing His Word in Habakkuk these past three years because we have been given many opportunities to live by our faith and trust in God: an overwhelming amount of debt, a drastic reduction in income, a call to home school, two car wrecks (one nearly fatal), pending foreclosure of a house and unemployment.
Through these trials, testing and discipline your Daddy has led us in praying:
‘Lord may we seek first Your kingdom and Your righteousness, may we trust in You and live by faith.’
In these fiery ordeals we continued to lift our hands praising and blessing God and God responded as He said He would! In just three years God has paid our financial debt, is teaching us to be content in all circumstances, is empowering us to disciple you, rescued Daddy and a friend from physical death, helped avoid foreclosure and sell the home, and provided a full time ministry for Daddy!! Today Daddy has a ministry not a ‘career’–as Daddy follows Jesus he has the privilege to ‘feed the homeless’ not just food that perishes but the imperishable food–God’s Word. Daddy is making disciples and is entrusting God’s word to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.
We are overwhelmed by God’s grace and mercy. God paid the debt of sin for sending His only Son Jesus Christ to die on the cross in our place and now He has paid our financial debt. And just as God rescued Daddy and his friend from physical death from the car wreck, by God’s grace and peace we have been rescued from spiritual death by the Lord Jesus Christ who gave Himself for our sins.
I am in awe of God! Not just for what He has done, but for Who He is. God is faithful, truthful, compassionate, abounding in lovingkindness, and righteous.
Sweet children, it is so important for you to know your Daddy and I are able to rejoice in 13 years of marriage not because we are perfect and good people—in fact God’s Word, the Bible tells us all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God and there is no one good not even one.
We are able to celebrate this day because of the grace of God. It is God who drew us to Himself and we did not harden our hearts when we heard His voice but fell in love with Him realizing He first loved us. God’s love and Holy Spirit empowers us to love one another the way He has commanded us to love. Daddy is my closest neighbor and I love Him as myself, and He loves me as Himself.
Our hope is not having a perfect marriage, or a life without trials and pain, but our hope in Christ alone, we know from experience we cannot do this without Him. We had 10 years of marriage without consulting or seeking God’s kingdom and it was very difficult to love apart from God…we even separated at one time. But God is the wonderful counselor and healer of all. Just as we are made alive to God in Christ Jesus, so our marriage is alive in Christ Jesus for His purposes. God has made us righteous through faith in Jesus Christ, and that is how we are able to live by faith—to God be the glory!
My spirit can testify how I love Jesus Christ and I have a passion for Him that burns like fire within me, His purposes are my heart’s desire.
I love your Daddy too. I love your Daddy more this moment then ever in my entire life. What I’m realizing is the more God continues to conform Daddy and I into the image of Jesus Christ my love for your Daddy grows because it is Jesus Christ in Him that unites us as One just as Jesus prayed, enabling me to love ‘my neighbor as myself.’ God’s banner of love abides over us and our lips shout for joy singing praises to God!
I must sow what I know in the hearts He’s entrusted me–yours…these are just a few things about love and marriage He continues to teach me:
- Marriage exists to glorify God
- God is Love
- Love fulfills the law
- Love is the greatest
- I can NOT love anyone apart from Jesus Christ the Spirit must come before the fruit
Children of my vow, I pray for the day God will claim you as His own and you will enter into a covenant with Him–the the One True God. I pray this not so you can have a wife or husband, or a ‘good life’ but so You will know Him for yourselves and You will serve Him and seek first His kingdom and righteousness all the days He ordains for you. I love you both.
Love your mama
**Psalm 103 is our 2012 anniversary song**
July 31st, 2012 at 9:34 pm
Oh what a joy it truly has been my precious friends in Christ Jesus to watch God unfold His plan in your lives !
It has been a privilege to witness His grace in your marriage and your precious family !
Happy Anniversary dear Billy and dear Arcelia !
I am grateful for your witness to me and your willingness to share HIS amazing GRACE in CHRIST JESUS !
Oh what a glorious GOD we love and follow in Christ our Lord and Master.
I love you both !
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August 4th, 2012 at 1:03 am
Yes, what a glorious God we love and follow in Christ our Lord and Master. I can’t think about His grace and love without a knot in my throat…I am so thankful! I am thankful you are a witness of HIs grace in our marriage and family life. I am thankful for your prayers, and love, and mentoring. I adore you and Happy Anniversary to you and Bill today (8-3-12)!!!
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August 1st, 2012 at 12:01 am
How nice… very touching… Thx for sharing! Many blessings!
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August 4th, 2012 at 1:04 am
Thank you! I can’t help but share the goodness of God. Thank you for sharing how He has gifted you, I love the photos and Scriptures…I don’t always get to comment but I am blessed by them! Thank you!
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August 5th, 2012 at 2:02 am
Hi dear! Thank you for your support! I’m always so blessed by your posts! Keep them coming! I love your writing style! I think you should write a book! A friend of mine (she is not a writer) she wrote a Christian romance just for fun! I think you should give it a try!!! God bless!
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August 7th, 2012 at 3:01 am
Thank you for the encouragement Camila! I will prayerfully consider that…I feel like God has used this blog to refine me in so many ways. Writing for His glory is one of them 😉
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August 1st, 2012 at 12:38 am
What a beautiful story!
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August 4th, 2012 at 1:29 am
Thank you Jessica! God has so many beautiful stories of transformation I love sharing them and listening/reading others {like the e-book you are working on} 😉
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August 1st, 2012 at 7:19 pm
What a powerful story! Don’t settle down yet haha, the race is over when it’s over. May Jesus Christ lead you boldly on.
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August 4th, 2012 at 1:33 am
Thank you Stan! You are absolutely right and I am glad you said, “don’t settle down yet..” that is so true! Our prayer is that we “hold fast our confidence and the boast of {Jesus Christ} our hope firm until the end.”
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August 2nd, 2012 at 2:35 pm
That is just the most beautiful tribute to marriage, I loved reading it. You are truly blessed!
Joy
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August 4th, 2012 at 1:33 am
Thank you my sweet Joy!
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August 7th, 2012 at 4:29 am
Praise God! What an awesome testimony! I loved it!!
And we took the leap to homeschool ourselves about 6 years ago… and still going strong. 🙂
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August 10th, 2012 at 9:16 pm
Thank you for reading! I enjoyed the testimony of salvation you shared on your blog and the love for His Word!
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August 11th, 2012 at 11:13 pm
Thanks!!
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September 2nd, 2012 at 6:21 am
[…] Instead, I would pray Deuteronmy 6:5 over my husband’s head while he was sleeping. I would pray with my spiritual mentor that my husband would love God with all his heart, mind, soul and strength. Then it happened!!!! […]
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September 14th, 2012 at 11:03 pm
[…] It is not OK. You learn some hard lessons at an early age. You are trapped by lies and insecurities and allow the first boy that showed attention to you take sacredness from you. He berates and hits you eliminating any confidence you have. My heart hurts to remember this. He has hurt you real bad and you are like a worn timid puppy thinking there is nothing better than this—he tells you that but don’t believe his lies. It will hurt to leave but you must, and you do. You will see God helps you, though you don’t see it that way…at first. You do end up marrying a wonderful man and learn the true purpose of marriage. […]
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May 11th, 2013 at 9:14 pm
[…] and I was no longer afraid to be a Mother. She listened as I recounted how in just 12 months God transformed my husband and I from the inside out and we began to closely follow Jesus wherever He would lead us…the first […]
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