Your Spouse is Ever Present

image courtesy of Blue Forest

This past Sunday we finished the Reynolda POPs class. It is very sad to see it come to a close. Allison and I have enjoyed the past year and half getting to know each of you and learning about parenting with you. Please remember that just because the formal class time has ended, it does not need to be the end of any of us getting together. Also, on the side, if anyone decides to revive the class, you are welcome to this domain URL.

For our last class we discussed how our spouse are always present in our decisions and actions now that we are married. When we were single we had the freedom of making our own decisions, but now even the smallest decision is going to affect at least one other person. Even in following the Lord, as a single person we could follow whatever leading we felt God was giving us. Now every leading must be balanced by what our spouse is also feeling.

At times these feelings do not agree. These disagreements are actually a good thing. They cause us to dive harder into God for clarity because he is not divided and will not move a married couple in different directions. More than likely each of you only has a part of His directions and as you come together you can get His full will.

Being married is being on the same team. Especially as parents of preschoolers this is even more the case. God created marriage for us to be one flesh and move together in oneness. The fact that we are aware of them in every decision is actually a grace from God, because He is teaching us to consider Him in everything as well.

God's View of Sex

image courtesy of free stitch

Wow! We really came back strong during class yesterday. When we have a discussion on sex, there is a fear that either nobody will talk or it would be too embarrassing. Thankfully neither happened. We had great discussion, and I do not think anyone turned red. Here are the notes for the Sex and Intimacy chapters.

Sex is a wonderful gift of God for married couples. It is a way to draw closer to one another and give to your spouse. Unfortunately the world and Satan have distorted our view of sex so much that we have a hard time seeing the good at times. We should remember, if Satan is trying hard to distort something, then there is probably something really good God intended for it.

Sex is the channel where we become one flesh. All of the blessings and pain of the two individual now reside in both people. There is obvious benefits to the joint blessings, but the combine pain invites the other person to join in with their spouse in finding the healing of Christ. The two are no longer two and to try to live as separate individuals is not God's plan.

Ultimately sex has a spiritual equivalent with God in worship. This is where we give ourselves completely over to Him for His enjoyment. It is here that we experience the highs of intimacy with our Creator. It is also hear that we take on all of God's blessings. And since God does not have any sin, He just takes our away from us. There is forgiveness in worship. There is healing in worship. Seek to give God every part of you.

Restart This Sunday

Thank you all for your patience the last few weeks as we took break to join the Just Walk Across the Room discussions than broke for Thanksgiving. We will be starting back up this Sunday in room 225. This is the sex week looking at chapter 11 from Sacred Marriage. You will have to believe me that I have not been trying to skip this week and avoid the potential embarrassing discussions. To tell you the truth, I think this will be a great discussion for the class.

If you are the one nervous, please remember that Allison and I hold to a "Private Kingdom" stance within marriage, which means that there are some things that only you and your spouse know. The bedroom is one of those things. Sunday's discussion would be more on what God is trying to tell us through sex and how that applies to our relationship with Him.

Allison and I look forward to seeing everyone this Sunday. Please come as we also have some class administration things to talk about for during and after the holidays.

No Class This Sunday

In case you did not get Allison's email, we will not have class this week. We were not planning on meeting the week of Thanksgiving and after a month of not meeting, we felt it would be better to have the remaining classes on consecutive weeks. This means that the next class will be December 6th.

We miss you all and hope you are doing well. See you in a couple more weeks.

Things To Do in Winston Salem for Kids

Sorry I have been holding out on everyone, but here is a link that Allison gave me a while back that you will find helpful. It has an updated calendar of things going on around town that are good things to do with kids. It is perfect for our stay-at-home moms. It also has great afternoon and weekend events.

KiddingAroundInTown.com

Orphan Sunday - Videos

Anna - "I want you to know someone's searching for a way to get you here."

These two videos (via ABBA Fund blog) are to help gear you for orphan sunday this week. As you know God has given Allison and I the desire to adopt and both of these songs strongly pulled at my heart.

This first video is from Aaron Ivey. He has been in the process of adopting two children from Haiti for the past two years. The video is a song he wrote telling the story of the parents to the child.



This second video takes the view from a child who has been adopted. This takes the music of Cat's in the Cradle and rewords it to tell his story. The artists involved are Darryl McDaniels aka DMC from Run DMC fames and Sarah McLachlan - both of them had been adopted. And yes, this song also made me tear up. You can call me sweet or weak. Whatever, I love the girls God has given and is giving me.

He Loves Us by Kim Walker

Here is another resource to the last two posts. We have sung this song at Reynolda, but it has been awhile. Allow it to sink in. Enjoy.