GRATEFUL FOR ROAD TRIPS! This past weekend, Steve and I headed west to Boyertown, PA where we shared God's wisdom on marriage with a small group of couples. These men and women attended this weekend retreat to enrich their marriages God's way!
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The fall foliage is still gorgeous and we knew we were in for some great scenery for the trip. It was important to follow the map and road signs from South Jersey to PA. There were a few very out of the ordinary sights along the way.
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As I shared yesterday, the topic of the weekend: In-to-me-see (Intimacy) is not always one that's easy to forge with a group of people who come from many different stages of their marital journey. Yet, we sat around in lovely surroundings (many of my pictures taken are missing from my cell phone)....
We contemplated this picture of two trees as the beginning of a series of pictures that guided us into a deeper look at INTIMACY.
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GRATEFUL FOR THE JOURNEY! These two trees, for Steve and I, are symbolic of two people coming from two very different worlds and growing together over the years (in spite of the fence... the boundaries...). Our root system and shared life journey now make us totally intertwined.
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I looked back, yesterday, asking the questions, "What attracted you to your spouse in the first place?" and "What were the characteristics of his that made you taken by his love?"
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Yesterday, I shared what first attracted me to Steve (in 1970) via that little ABC exercise of the characteristics of Jesus. Today, after 40 years of dating, I see how that list has expanded - no matter what the circumstances.
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Through the challenges and the storms, I am still taken by the love of a man who makes it is goal to please Jesus... to be like Jesus... and in so doing, he has learned and is learning that to be like Jesus is not always a pleasant journey... I hope my ABC's of Steve capture the essence of my Beloved:
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- Advocate (for Jesus)
- Blessing / Brother / Betrayed
- Counselor
- Despised
- Encourager
- Faithful
- Grace / Gentle / Good
- Humble / Healer
- Inspired / Inspiration
- Joy
- Kind
- Lamb / Love
- Mediator / Merciful / Man of Sorrows
- Nail scarred (symbolically)
- Obedient
- Patience
- Quieter of the winds and the waves
- Refuge / Rejected
- Son
- Truth / Tempted
- Unspeakable gift
- Victorious
- Wisdom / Wounded
- eXample
- YHWH (in Him)
- Zion stander
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