blessings – Ramblings of a Christian Father

Married Mondays – Dig a little deeper

Welcome to another Married Monday everybody. I apologize now to anyone reading this with kids, as you now have a song from The Princess and The Frog stuck in your head. If not you do now. Or maybe I brought up a bad memory of 2 days ago when you had to dig a little deeper just to find your car.

Where I’m going this week, is that we need to take our communications to another level. Many times we know that something is bothering our spouse. Over time we learn their tells, we know when something is off. Too many times we get caught up in our lives, we get caught up in doing things to take our minds off of things, we work to get away from things, we leave work to get away from things. But it is when we get home, when we try to veg out, when we don’t really want to get into what is going on outside.

If you or your spouse are they type that tends to shut down and veg out, when you’ve had a rough few days, don’t shut them out. When you see this start happening in your marriage, go ahead and give the other person a little time to relax open up on their own. But don’t let too much time pass. Knowing the other person, you can tell when things are just off. It’s at this point, if they aren’t opening up, you have to start digging. Use your words wisely, and dig carefully. Not because of what you will uncover, but to continue to be thoughtful, because no matter how long you have been together, sometime things are just hard to explain. Sometimes we will shut down and not really know that we are doing it.

Dig deeper whenever things feel off. It is your responsibility to dig. It is your responsibility to call the other person on their BS, when they aren’t fully saying what is going on. When you dig, and explain what you are seeing, the release will be better for both of you. You are a team, you are there to help each other through whatever is going on.

So I challenge you this week, to watch, to dig, and to keep each other accountable. Keep each other lifted up. Keep each other communicating. Be there for each other and listen to each other

January 26, 2016 by corymcglone

But I’m not a very good person

So in contrast to my other post,But I’m a Good Person, I want to flip things around for you a little bit. Again along the lines of Grace being for ALL not SOME. Many people feel that they have too much baggage for God. Too much wrong in their past for God to love or to use them.

So I wanted to give you a list of jacked up people in Bible:

Let’s start here:

Matthew 1:1-2, 6

1The [a]record of the genealogy of [b]Jesus [c]the Messiah, the son of David, the son of Abraham:

2 Abraham [d]was the father of Isaac, [e]Isaac the father of Jacob, and Jacob the father of[f]Judah and his brothers

6 Jesse was the father of David the king. David was the father of Solomon by [h]Bathsheba who had been the wife of Uriah.

Abraham — Yes, Father Abraham, didn’t believe God could make good on His promise of having a son, because his wife was barren. Had a son with a hand maiden. After his wife got pregnant, he sent off the hand maiden and her son. So here we have an adulterous dead-beat dad…

Jacob — Ever heard the story of Jacob and his brother Esau. Twin boys, Jacob was momma’s boy. Manipulated his brother into giving up his birthright. He also with the help of his mom, tricked his dad Isaac who was dying and going blind, taking his brothers family rights, and making his brother his slave. To the point that his brother Esau wanted to kill him.

David — David was a great man of God. He was a loved ruler of Israel. But verse 6 above says a lot. David had Bathsheba’s husband killed so that he could be with her, after he got her pregnant while her husband was away at war.

Genesis 9:20-21

20 Then Noah began [j]farming and planted a vineyard. 21 He drank of the wine and became drunk, and uncovered himself inside his tent.

Noah — Builder of the Ark, after the flood got drunk and naked.

Exodus 2:11-12

11 Now it came about in those days, when Moses had grown up, that he went out to his brethren and looked on their [c]hard labors; and he saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his brethren. 12 So he [d]looked this way and that, and when he saw there was no one around, he struck down the Egyptian and hid him in the sand.

Moses — Leader of God’s people out of Egypt, Holder of the 10 commandments; was a murderer.

Joshua 2:1, 8-9

1 Then Joshua the son of Nun sent two men as spies secretly from Shittim, saying, “Go, view the land, especially Jericho.” So they went and came into the house of a harlot whose name was Rahab, and [a]lodged there.

Now before they lay down, [b]she came up to them on the roof, 9 and said to the men, “I know that the Lord has given you the land, and that the terror of you has fallen on us, and that all the inhabitants of the land have [c]melted away before you.

Rahab — One of a few women in the bible with her own story. She was a harlot. She protected the Israelite spies in Jericho.

Are you feeling any better about what is in your past yet? God has used murderers, drunks, prostitutes, tax collectors, and cheaters.

No matter what your situation is, no matter what you have done in your past, no matter how ruined you feel that you are, God can and will use you. All you have to do is listen to Him, when he is calling to you. He is waiting on you to call out to Him and ask for His grace and forgiveness. He is waiting on YOU to say, Lord I know I’m a sinner, and that I am far from you. I want you in my life. I want to receive your forgiveness and grace. Lord please forgive me and come into my life and make me new. Use me Lord, to reach those around me that are far from you. Clean me Lord and restore me. I know that it is only though you that I can be saved. It is only through you that I am made whole. Thank you Lord for making me whole and saving me. Thank you for your grace and your love and your mercy.

Remember that Grace will always win…

January 21, 2016 by corymcglone

Married Mondays – Plans

Welcome back to another edition of Married Mondays.

We all make plans. Before marriage we plan out our career, our future wedding, our future life, we plan what we think that person we marry will be like and who it will be. We plan in our heads what they will look like, how the engagement will happen, we plan that she will say yes… We get married and we plan our lives together, we plan for a house, we plan for family. We plan to do ______ when we have ______. We plan for the whens.

But what happens to the IFs. Many times the IF is the negative part of the process. We never really look or think about the “what ifs” in life. When you are working together as a team to “plan” for life, you have to look at the what if scenarios; What if one of us lost our job, what if we can’t have kids, what if we fight, what if a job requires us to move… These are the plans that you never want to talk about. These are the plans that will do one of two things when they have to be discussed, they will bring you closer together or pull you apart.

No one wants to sit around and plan for these what ifs but making sure that you are together is the biggest part of these plans. Making plans for life and what you want to do, finding the vision of you what you both want out of your marriage and

Working together, communicating, and staying honest are they ways that you will be able to get through anything. No matter what life throws at you, working together and keeping a strong faith in God, trusting God and trusting each other, you will be able to make it through.

January 18, 2016January 18, 2016 by corymcglone