FAMILY Archive

THE JOYS OF AN ANCHORED MAN

As I sat down to write my husband's birthday card yesterday I broke into tears. I got emotional thinking, how can I possibly love him more today than I did the day I married him? The answer to that question came quickly to me . . . I’m more in love with him because of God. With each year we have been married and with each birthday that has passed, Greg has gotten closer to God. Pastor Tim Harlow spoke at church this past weekend and he explained that the closer you and your spouse are to God, the closer you will be to each other. I find this to be so true in our marriage.

Now I’m not saying our marriage has always been easy or without bumps, but looking back over the past 16 years, there is for sure a direct correlation to our closeness to God and our closeness to each other.

This past year has been the biggest example of this as I followed God’s call on my life to start Anchored Press. A year and a half ago I asked my husband what he would think if I, pulled the plug from my profitable stationery business, drained a big chunk of our savings, and, oh by the way you probably won’t get very much of my attention in the next year. So honey, are you on board, or what? You know what he said without hesitation? “Yes!” and he said, “I believe in you, but more importantly, I believe in God.” I mean, really? I am so confident that if Greg wasn’t in the Word every day and in deep prayer with our Heavenly Father all day, he would never have backed up this daring dream and been my biggest cheerleader (and #1 salesperson, I might add) over this past year.

I’m sharing all of this with you because I want you to experience this same level of closeness that we have. I want you to commit to your relationship with God so that your relationship with your husband reaches it’s full potential.

But, I also want to reach out to those of you that have husbands who do not have this kind of faith. The single most important thing you can do is surrender him to God. God has the ability to change your man, not you. Pray for him and ask God to bring godly men into his life. I’m so sorry if it’s hard. It has to be hard. But, the same is true for your marriage, the closer you get to God, the closer he will get to God…even if he’s not a believer. So focus on your relationship with your Savior instead of focusing on saving your husband.

Now on to those of you that have yet to find your man. For starters, stop looking in the wrong places, and for that matter stop looking all together. God is in control of your life and that includes your marital status. He knows the person he wants you to spend your earthly life with. And, I may not be qualified to talk dating since I haven’t been on one in close to 20 years (except with my hubby, of course!), but on that first date, talk faith. Be bold in your love for Jesus. If he’s the one God chooses for you, he will love you for it! And the theme of closeness goes for you, too. The closer you are to God, the more attractive you will be to others. On the inside . . . where it counts!

This whole husband thing was not on our blog calendar and all of this is sort of heavy, but I really felt God wanted me to share this piece of my heart with you. My prayer for you is that when you meet with God every day in your Anchored Press Devotional Planner, you will draw closer to Him. I also pray that you reap the added bonus of drawing closer to your man, as you draw closer to your Savior.

Where love and faithfulness meet together; righteousness and peace kiss each other. Psalm 85:10 NIV 

MAMA GRACE

With Mother’s Day just a week away, I wanted to share a free printable with you and a little lesson in grace I experienced last week. On May 2nd (tomorrow) in your Anchored Press Planner, I ask you to write down your 5 greatest strengths as a mother. In my planner I wrote mine on a sticky note and used my journaling space for a prayer (I mix it up and “color outside the lines” a lot in my planner!).

After I wrote my TOP 5, I was curious and had Madelyn (my 13-year old) write out what she thought were my 5 greatest strengths. And you know what? 4 out of 5 were completely different than mine! The tasks that fill my planner pages, like volunteering at school and never missing a sporting event, didn’t even make her top 5. She thinks I’m great because I love God, I’m caring, I’m passionate about being a mom, I’m funny and I make yummy dinners (which was the only thing that matched on our lists).

I’m learning that the things that I’m busying myself with are not the things that make her love me more, or more importantly, make her a better person.

This was also a good lesson in grace. I think as mothers we get caught up in all the things that are expected of us from our circle of influence. Don’t get me wrong, they are still good things. I delight in watching my daughter use her gifts to play sports and I do love being at school so I can get to know the people that she spends most of her waking hours with. But, I also learned from this exercise that I can cut myself some slack when it comes to trying to making it all happen. And, in the end, I want her to remember that I loved Jesus, cared deeply and was passionate about being her mama! These are the things that should be filling my planner pages.

Below is the link to the above printable. If you don’t have kids, print the verse out and put it in a frame for your own mama to enJOY!

Download Mother's Day PRINTABLE here

Do you want a chance to win a 2017 Anchored Press Devotional Planner?

Post a picture on Instagram with your printable filled out by your kiddos, tag @anchoredpress so we can find you, and we will randomly choose one reader to receive a 2017 Anchored Press Devotional Weekly or Daily Planner…your choice (and will be shipped to you in August)

So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.
Romans 12:2 MSG