Is Your Marriage In Trouble? Try a Little 70's Love Songs

Disclaimer: This is just a light hearted post, and in no way meant to minimize any trouble you may be having in your marriage.



All around us in society we see marriages falling apart, our non-believing friends, as well as our Christian brothers and sisters. The reasons range from struggles with the economy, expectations not being met, infidelity and so on. This morning it hit me that when you or your spouse is in a heated argument, turn on some old 70's love songs, and see what happens. Grab a karaoke machine or just turn on Itunes and sing along.



I happen to hear Elton John's "Don't Go Breaking My Heart" this morning and was singing along with my son and youngest daughter. They know the song from Ella Enchanted. Love the music in that movie by the way. Suddenly the thought occurred to me, one of the reasons I believe that Skip and I have stayed together for almost 17 years (besides the obvious love for Christ and to honor him with our marriage) is that we have fun together. You might be surprised but we don't have a scheduled date night every week, we don't have to take expensive vacations alone each year(not that we wouldn't love to) and we don't feel the need to read every new marriage book on the market. Our biggest secret is definitely laughing together.



So if you see your marriage start to go on a downward slide, become a little drab, feeling your needs unmet from time to time, give my little idea a try. Turn on your youtube, sit side by side and soak up a little nostalgia and laugh your head off. The clothes and the style of music are too funny. Here are a few of my 70's love song suggestions:



Al Green- "Let's Stay Together"

Queen- "You're My Best Friend"

Andy Gibb- "I Just Want to be Your Everything" (our personal favorite)

Olivia Newton John and John Travolta- "Your the One That I Want"

Starland Vocal Band -"Afternoon Delight" or this version (I couldn't resist)



Now, if you really want a good laugh, and your an 80's girl like myself, throw on almost anything 80's and you will get the same effect. You might even find yourselves remembering those old days you first found that twinkle in your spouse's eye during a Duran Duran song like "Save A Prayer". HeeHee



Honestly friends, if you are truly struggling in your marriage there is nothing that will help except the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. Let him come in your life and heal what needs healing, find a good Christian counselor, and don't give up the fight. Let others around you in to help if possible. Share your burdens with those who care about your spiritual and emotional well being and not just saying what you want to hear. Michael and Amy Smalley have an excellent website full of resoures at your disposal. Go check it out here. And don't forget to LAUGH!

I Want to Move Some Mountains!

"I can almost see it

That dream I'm dreaming.

But there's a voice inside my head saying,

"You'll never reach it"

Okay, I know this may be cheesy starting this post with a Miley Cyrus song, but it fits. We all have our our own personal battles we deal with daily, some more than others it seems. I know most of my personal struggles are seriously not a big deal to most , but they are sitting there in front of me nonetheless. Sometimes I feel completely powerless to change them. Other days, I feel like I can accomplish anything. Today is one of those days. I am working on my finance goals and my weight goals, both of which are a constant struggle for me.

What mountain do you need moving today? Do you really believe you can do all things through Christ who strengthens you? I have to share this version of Phillipians 4:13 from the Amplified Bible "I have strength for all things in Christ who empowers me [I am ready for anything and equal to anything through Him who infuses inner strength to me, I am self -sufficient in Christ's sufficiency.]" I know it's a lot of words, but I need to let them soak in deep today. I hope you will too.

"Keep Moving, Keep Climbing

Keep the faith, baby

It's all about, it's all about the climb,

Keep the faith, keep your faith"

Turning Pity Party into Praise

Do you ever have those pity party days? How about pity party weeks? Months? Years? Okay, I'm kidding now, but you know those times where you just want to complain, even though you know nothing is really too big for God. Oh my goodness, was I having one of those weeks. It was a circumstance that came out of nowhere and somehow my faith was taking a long, fat nap that day. I started to worry, no that's not right, I started to seriously panic. My mind went to worst case scenario, and my emotions were ...let's just say, not very becoming of me.

Praise Jesus that when I have those times, He tends to knock me right out of my desperation pretty quickly. However this time, He let me go on and on to a friend (a full out venting session...with TEARS! Oh the embarrassment! Not to mention I was hormonal(pms)too! Then about 24 hours later, God just poured His heavenly balm over me in a way that was so like his awesome Heavenly Self to do. He gave me a bazillion verses during my Esther week 8 video session that left me absolutely speechless, and most of all, BREATHLESS! Don't you love when Jesus shows us who He is through His Word and we can't even come up with words to adequately thank Him. I sure do.

I'm not going to just soak up all this good news he gave me and then not share with you. Even though your current situation is not the same as mine, I know it will encourage you nonetheless.

The first verse is Isaiah 30:18 "Yet the Lord longs to be gracious to you; he rises to show you compassion. For the Lord is a God of justice. Blessed are all who wait on Him." Beth Moore shared that the words "longs" and "wait" in this verse in Hebrew, both mean the same thing-wait. God waits on us and we are to wait on Him. I just love that! He waits on me to get my act together, so can't I wait on Him to work things out for good? I know He could fix my problems instantly, but what kind of faith would I develop and why would I need to trust if things always went according to the way I want. I would much rather be a warrior than a spoiled brat. This brings me to my next verse.

Deuteronomy 33:29 "Blessed are you, O Israel! Who is like you, a people saved by the Lord? He is your shield and helper and your glorious sword. Your enemies will cower before you and you will trample down their high places." Beth reminded me through this verse that even though most of us think we are wimpy and helpless, God says we are His People and that our enemies will cower before us and be trampled by us. Why? Because we are a people like no other, we are a people saved by the LORD! That makes us capable of some major booty kicking of the enemy. Why do I always forget this?

Things are not hopeless. God brings hope. Things are not impossible. God does the impossible. Things on this earth are temporary. God is EVERLASTING. Let's bring honor to our Saviour by remembering this when times are tough and struggles are overwhelming. After all in Isaiah 49:16 God tell us "See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands." And there is absoluely NO place I would rather be!

Catching Up

Top Five Things That Have Taken Me Away From My Blog Lately

1. I have been spending way too much time just "getting by" in life. I don't know if it is all the catching up from the turns in life, or what. We are now on a family plan which includes budgeting, goals, and making some huge changes in the way we live. A lot of it is not blog worthy talk, but my life none the less.

2. Found I love Facebook and keeping up with friends that way.

3. Written tons of post, but my right before I hit publish, I delete. God is showing me that not everything needs to be for everyone. If it will benefit you and glorify Him, then yes, I want to share.

4. Lots of focus on helping my husband to be the best at what he does. I find that there is great joy in seeing someone you love excel. Since God hasn't given me clear direction on what things he wants to do through me, then I am happy to do for others. I guess that is in effect working His goodness through me.

5. Enjoying my children, my church, and where life is today.

I do hope to start blogging more and writing about the ins and outs of life. This blog was started several years ago as a family journal and a way to encourage women in their faith. I think filling up with God's word and living obedience out on a daily basis is what is going to keep me doing just that.