Couple's Devotion 4- Best Friends

Oh, it has been months since I last posted an entry for our Couple's Devotion Sunday taken from the book Night Light by James and Shirley Dobson. So, here is an entry for this week's devotion.

This has been our devotion the other day and I truly like our discussion at the end of the reading as it opened up a lot of issues that has been in our hearts for a long time but never had the opportunity to come out as both of us assumed that it was all settled. Anyways, read on and I hope you and your spouse can also spend some time reading the entry , answer the questions honestly at pray together.

Have a Blessed Sunday!!
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Best Friends

A friend loves at all times
Proverbs 17:17

There is a limit to the openness we have described. It can be used to create insecurity and gain power over your spouse. I (JCD) know of a handsome young company president who told his wife every day about the single women at the office who flirted with him. HIs candor was admirable, but by not also stressing his commitment to his wife, he was saying ( consciously or not): You'd better treat me rigth because there are plenty of women out there just waiting to get their hands on me." His wife began to fret about how she would hang onto her husband.

He should have reflected on his real motives for alarming his wife. Did this kind of sharing nurture or injure his friendship with her? ANd she could have helped redirect the conversations by pointing out to her husband - in a calm, non threatening manner- how his words made her feel.

If you reveal your inner feelings honestly with pure motives, and continually reaffirm your commitment to your marriage, your spouse will become your most treasured confidante, protector, adviser, and friend. After forty years of marriage, I can happily report that Shirley and I are best, intimate friends- in no small part because we've earned each other's trust.

JUST BETWEEN US:

• Have you shown me the real you?
• How should we respond when our partner shares weakness?
• How can I become a better friend?

PRAYER:

Father, thank You so much that my spouse and I are lifetime partners. But we want to always be best and dearest friends, too. Bless us with Your wisdom, grace, and power to this end, we pray. AMen.

Couple's Devotion 3 - Then You Came

This is a beautiful devotion and it'll be more beautiful if you and your spouse can get together read the verse, the story, ask each other the questions below and pray together..

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Then You Came

Love never fails.
1 Corinthians 13:8

The young husband was desperate. His wife had abandoned him and their two children weeks before. Though she still called occasionally, he had no idea where she was. On the phone, he pleaded with her to come home and told her how much he and the children loved her, yet she continually rebuffed hi. Was it time to give up and move on?

No. The husband used his meager savings to hire a detective, who found his wife living in a third-rate hotel across the country. The husband borrowed money for a plane ticket. Soon he was on her doorstep saying " We love you so much. Wouldn't you come home?" She fell apar in his arms and they went home together.

Weeks later he asked why she hadn't come when he expressed his love repeatedly on the phone, " Because," she answered, " those were only words before. But then you came."

True love is more than words. It may involve flying across the country, even when it costs you your last nickel, to bring your spouse home.

Just between us.....

• How have I shown you my love this week?
• If " actions speak louder than words," are my deeds shouting or whispering my love for you?
• What can I do this week to show my love for you?
• How specifically, did Jesus show us HIs love?

Dear Lord Jesus, we want both our words and actions to say " love" in personal, powerful, and positive way. Show us new ways to " honor one another above ourselves" Amen.
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Taken from Night Light by Dr. James and Shirley Dobson

Couple's Devotion 2 - I Promise

I'm sorry for a delayed post for couple's devotion day. Today's devotion from Dr. Dobson's, Night Light, reminds us our promise to our spouses on our wedding day. Are we keeping our promise that we made several years ago? Read on and be reminded and be blessed..

"I Promise..."

" Simply let your 'Yes' be 'Yes,' and your 'No,' 'No." Matthew 5:37

Love can be defined in myriad ways, but in marriage " I love you" really means " I promise to be there for you all of my days." It is a promise that says, " I'll be there when you lose your job, your health, your parents, your looks, your confidence, your friends. " It's a promise that tells your partner, " I'll build you up; I'll overlook your weakness; I'll forgive your mistakes; I'll put your needs above your own; I'll still by you even when the going gets tough."

THis kind of assurance will hold steady through all of life's ups and downs, through all the " better or worse" conditions.

The Lord has demonstrated throughout the ages He keeps HIs promises - including the ost important one of all, reserving a spot in heaven for each of His folowers, for all eternty. Since God keeps HIs promises, we must keep ours too - especially the one we mde before God, our family, our friends, and our church on our wedding day.

Just between us...

• What part of our wedding vow means the most to you now?
• In what ways has our pledge to " stick together no matter what" seen us through hard times?
• How do we benefit spiritually from keeping our commitments?

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Dear Lord,

Give us Your strength today to honor our promises. May our word be our bind - to each other, to our friends, and to family and associates. Thank you that You never waiver on Your promises to us. Amen.

Couples Devotion Week 1

Welcome to our first Couples Devotion post. Please read here for more info. This is one touching story that made me and my HUbby teary eyed when we were reading this.

What if we were in the author's situation? Will we stay committed or will be get tired and give up easily? Read on and be blessed.

Do You Want Me? by Park York

I rise early this Friday, as I do every day, to prepare coffee and mix a protein shake. The television news plays quietly in the corner. Flossie, my wife, is still asleep.

Sometime after eight, she begins floating out of slumber. I bring the shake to her bedside, put straw in her mouth, and she and she gives her cheek a little pat as she begins to drink. Slowly the liquid recedes.

I sit there holding the glass, thinking about the past eight years. At first she asked only an occasional incoherent or irrelevant question: otherwise she was normal. I tried for two years to find out what was wrong. She grew agitated, restless, defensive, as she was consistently tired and unable to hold a conversation.

At last a neurologist diagnose Alzheimers's disease. He said he wasn't sure - a firm diagnosis could come only from examining brain tissue after death. There is no known cause for this malady. And no known cure. READ MORE

Coming Up..Couples Devotion

Since this is our (JEsu and Lalaine) blessing blog. We would also like to share the blessings in our life as a married couple.

We've been married for almost 6 years now. Imagine a Filipina married to a Malaysian ( onTamil descent) and living in Thailand. Would that spell a 'disastrous' mix of culture, language and tradition? I thought that I would really have a difficult time adjusting to cross cultural marriage in a cross cultural context. That's why I didn't want to marry a foreigner in the first place ( read our Love Story for more details). But surprisingly, 6 years just went passed without any major struggle in cultural adjustments. We just blended real well without me even realizing sometimes, that Jesu is of a different culture and we're in a totally different country.

When Jesu and I look back and talk about these things, we are always grateful to God for giving us his grace and love in our marriage. One very important aspect in our marriage life that we found important is through our coming together in prayer and study of God's word. We try to have our regular time to do a couples devotion.

With this said, I would like to regulary share in this blog, portions of our couples devotion. We're using the book from Dr. James Dobson, Night Light. It's a very good material with true to life story, insights, questions to be asked from each spouse and application too. I'll be posting this every Sunday together with my personal comments and reflection. Please feel free to use this material too as you and your spouse come together in prayer and devotion.

Do You Want Me?

Do You Want Me by Park York

I rise early this Friday, as I do every day, to prepare coffee and mix a protein shake. The television news plays quietly in the corner. Flossie, my wife, is still asleep.

Sometime after eight, she begins floating out of slumber. I bring the shake to her bedside, put straw in her mouth, and she and she gives her cheek a little pat as she begins to drink. Slowly the liquid recedes.

I sit there holding the glass, thinking about the past eight years. At first she asked only an occasional incoherent or irrelevant question: otherwise she was normal. I tried for two years to find out what was wrong. She grew agitated, restless, defensive, as she was consistently tired and unable to hold a conversation.


At last a neurologist diagnose Alzheimers's disease. He said he wasn't sure - a firm diagnosis could come only from examining brain tissue after death. There is no known cause for this malady. And no known cure.


I enrolled Flossie in a day care center for adults. But she kept wandering off the property. We medicated her to keep her clam. Perhaps from receiving too much of one drug, she suffered a violent seizure that left her immeasurably worse, lethargic, incontinent, and unable to speak clearly or care for herself. My anguish gradually became resignation. I gave up all plans of retirement travel, recreation, visits to see grandchildren - the golden era older people dream about.

The years have passed, and my days have become a routine, demanding, lonely, seemingly without accomplishment to measure. Flossie has gradually dropped in strength and weight, from 125 pounds to 86. I take some time to work with a support group and to attend church, but the daily needs keep me feeding, bathing, diapering, changing beds, cleaning house, fixing meals, dressing and undressing her, and doing whatever else a nurse and homemaker does, morning to night.

Occasionally, a word bubbles up from the muddled processes of FLossie's diseased brain. Sometimes relevant, sometimes the name of a family member, or the name of an object. Just a single word.


On this Friday morning, after she finishes her shake., I give her some apple juice, then massage her arms, and caress her forehead and cheeks. Most of the time her eyes are closed, but today she looks up at me , and suddenly her mouth forms four words in a row.

" Do you want me?"
Perfect enunciation, softly spoken. I want to jump for joy.
"Of course I want you, Flossie!" I say, hugging and kissing her.

And so, after months of total silence, she has put together the most sincere question a human being can ask. She speaks, in a way, for people everywhere those shackled by sin, addiction, hunger, thirst, mental illness, physical pain- frightened, enervated people afraid of the answer, but desperate enough to frame the question anyway.

And, FLossie, I can answer you even more specifically. It may be difficult for you to understand what's happening. That's why I'm here, to minister God's love to you, to bring you wholeness, comfort and release. Mine are the hands God uses to do His work, just as He uses others' hands in other places. In spite of our shortcomings, we strive to make people free, well, and happy, blessing them with hope for the future while bringin protein shakes every morning.


____Looking Ahead----------


Unlike so many people today, this gentleman who so gently cared for his wife clearly understood the meaning of COMMITMENT. As her mind and body deteriorated with no hope for a cure, he willingly abandoned the hope and dreams he had worked to achieve. She needed him desperately, and he would be there for her, even though she could give nothing.

Taken from Night Light by Dr, James and Shirley Dobson

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