It's Time for Christians to Take Back Their Bedrooms!

Love and sex?  Shhh! Christians don't talk or write about such things. Well God certainly did!

Hollywood has us believing that sex is a dirty topic.

 Let's remember that the sexual relationship between husband and wife was the first blessing in the Bible. In Genesis 1:28 ". . . God blessed them [Adam and Eve] and said, 'Be fruitful and multiply." Woo hoo, God! Thank you for this blessing.

God instructs further in 1 Corinthians 7:3-5 "Husbands and wives should satisfy each other's sexual needs . . . Don't withhold yourselves from each other unless you agree to do so for a set time to devote yourselves to prayer. Then you should get back together. . . " What can I say? 

What God meant as sacred, the world has made sleezy. What God meant as pure, the world has putrified. Linda Dillow and Lorraine Pintus said it well in their powerful book, Intimate Issues.

I think it's time for Christians to take back their bedrooms!

Dan and I teach marriage retreats. "Please teach us about sex" is the number one request received from Christian couples. Wow! That's an eye opener not to be ignored.

I fear Christians are believing  the Hollywood lie and bringing that distorted and disgusting influence to their marriage bed.

Flourish Magazine dedicated their January/February issue to Love and Sex. This fine Christian magazine blessed me with a request for an article.

Here's the great news: IT'S FREE! The Love and Sex Issue is available on-line at no charge. Check it out at www.Flourishliving.com.

My heart is for marriages to flourish. The sexual relationship between husband and wife is a gift from God to you. Open your gift and enjoy God's blessing on your marriage.

My books Splashes of Serenity: Bathtime Reflections for Drained Wives (available for order on this website) and We All Married Idiots: Three Things You Will Never Change About Your Marriage and Ten Things You Can will also help you enjoy marital intimacy to it's fullest!

May God splash serenity on your marriage bed!

When Cupid Shoots an Arrow—Don't Duck!

If I had my way, this photo would not have been taken. Dan wasn't the man for me. But God, (and Cupid) had other plans.

I hadn't planned on a third date. Oh my, the first two were a disaster (that's another story). But Dan called a third time and invited me to dinner and to Ford Theatre to see The Fantastics.

I accepted because I was hungry and I wanted to see the Fantastics. You see, as a single girl living in Washington, DC, I spent my paycheck on clothes without budgeting for food.

Dan took me to a fine restaurant and I ate! For two days I had lived on apples and bread, and I was hungry. Watching me, all he could say was, "Wow!" (Years later he joked that he married me because I was the only girl he knew who could eat more than him. I guess somewhere between the cream crab dip appetizer and the cherry cheesecake, cupid's arrow pierced his heart.)

 Later that night, the arrow hit me.

It was 90 degrees on April 9, 1970 in our Nation's Capital. Not expecting the heat, Dan wore a wool sports coat. Ford Theatre, where Abe Lincoln was shot, looked like it did in Abe's day—no air conditioning and tiny seats. It was over 100 degrees in that building; I am sure of it.

Escorted to our seats Dan and I almost laughed, but it wasn't funny. One seat had a perfect view of the stage. The other seat was located behind a pillar built big and wide like in the days of Gone With the Wind. Without thought of his own discomfort or that he paid for the tickets, Dan immediately gave me the better seat and he sat behind the circular pole. His long legs straddled it, his eyes face-to-face within inches of it, the pole blocked his view of the stage.

The Fantastics were, well, fantastic! Poor Dan sat for two hours, unable to see, sweat pouring from his face, and never once complaining about the heat, or the seat, or the girl who finished his dinner after she ate her own.

I looked at him and cupid's arrow hit my heart. All I could think was, This is a quality guy! Five months later we married.

To think, I almost didn't go on that third date. I was ready to give up on him before I saw his true heart. How many miss the love of their lives because they don't take the time to discover the  treasure inside. 

"As water reflects a face, so a man's heart reflects the man." Proverbs 27:19

Thanking God today for my Dan—my Valentine for 41 years. 

You can view more cupid stories on Diane Estrella's cupid blog hop: http://www.DianeEstrella.com.

Elaine

Hold On To Your Marriage! Don't Let Go!

Elizabeth Taylor was a woman of passion. She married eight times--twice to Richard Burton. She claims Michael Todd and Richard Burton were the loves of her life. Sad that Michael Todd died. Unfortunate that she and Richard just couldn't get along. It's tragic that this great woman of passion searched over and over again for happiness in marriage and she never found it. Asked, if she would marry again, she proclaimed, "Oh no!..."

I'm a little like Elizabeth Taylor. I don't have her talent or her beauty, but I do have her passion for love and for marriage. Today, I thank God that the first and the tenth year of my marriage when I wanted to run, I stayed. I shudder to think what my life would have been had I successfully thrown away this dear man I adore.

Thank you God, for my one husband who I love with all my heart. He still sends tingles down my spine, butterflies in my tummy, and tears of gratitude in my eyes at just the thought of him.

It isn't always so. But we hold on during the difficult times, we grow closer as we work out our differences. Our love blossoms as we dig in and commit to make our marriage grow stronger and longer.

This I know: Many say if they had worked as hard at their first marriage as they worked at their second, there would not have been a second marriage. Too many give up too soon for too little reason.

How about you? Are you at the end of your rope? Hold on. Don't let go. I thank God He held Dan and I together when I wanted us apart. We needed a miracle and we trusted in a miracle-working God. What He did for us, He can do for you. Cling to Him when your marriage seems hopeless. Remember that nothing is impossible for God.

To me, Elizabeth Taylor was a delicate child desperate to love and to be loved. I wonder if she ever knew how deeply Jesus loved her and how desperately He wanted her to love Him. In Jesus, she would have found what she was searching for in husbands. For He alone can satisfy the needs a man can never fulfill.

Praying your marriage is a splash of serenity that keeps on splashing!

Elaine

He Cleaned Up My Mess!

Last month I was smashed. This month I was flushed. The mammogram was easy. The colonoscopy was not.

Most of us know to prep for a colonoscopy, we drink a gallon of laxative and experience a glorious cleansing of everything not securely attached to our innards. I picture my poor liver holding on for dear life while the torrent of liquid washes away every trace of onion. Enough of that picture.

But it gets worse. My body has trouble with medicine. I mean Nyquil keeps me awake. My 5 foot 1 inch frame didn't know which end was up and my flushing also became my vomiting. Violent vomiting--that landed me in a hospital bed with an IV. Without being too graphic (because that is not the point of this blog), let's just say my dear hubby rushed me to the hospital after I baptized our beautiful white bathroom from both ends.

Lying in the hospital, IV pumping my dehydrated and delirious body with nutrients, I thought about my bathroom. I love my bathroom. That's why I write bathroom books. At that moment I knew the floors and perhaps walls of my bathtime sanctuary were a mess.

Babette, my nurse, made me feel better with her physical and verbal comfort. "I can tell your husband really loves you," she said. "How?" I asked. "By the way he looks at you." Let me tell you, I've probably never looked worse. He really does love me.

Hours later my body settled, colonoscopy performed, no polyps found, my hubby returned me to our home and tucked me into bed. When I awoke, the reality of it all hit me. Oh dear, I've got to clean that bathroom. It's a mess.

Walking into the scene of the crime, I was overwhelmed at the sight. The bathroom sparkled. Dan had cleaned up my mess. What an awful job for a husband, who considered it a privilege. Never have I felt so loved.

The Bible says husbands are to love their wives as Christ loved the church. That's how Dan loves me. He cleans up my mess. Just like Jesus, Who died to clean up all our messes. It doesn't matter how dirty and smelly and gross is your mess. Jesus really loves you and He'll clean it up. Let Jesus wrap his arms around you, whisper sweet comfort in your ears, and clean up your mess. You'll never be more loved.

Splashes of Serenity,

Elaine

Drained Marriages

Marriages are in trouble. Divorce percentages prove it. My marriage almost became a statistic when I packed Dan's bags three times the first year we were married. I shudder to think what life would have been like had I successfully discarded this man I adore. This year we celebrate 40 years together. I'm so glad I stayed. Too many throw away their spouses too soon for too little reason. I thank God and my amazing husband that neither of them let go of me. That's why I wrote, "Splashes of Serenity: Bathtime Reflections for Drained Wives." Marriages need rescued and my story could be a marriage preserver.

You would have laughed if you had spied me writing "Splashes of Serenity: Bathtime Reflections for Drained Wives." My fingers flew across the keys--while my mind and lips kept repeating the only sentence that allowed me to be transparent: "No one is going to read this book. No one is going to read this book." I knew that if I was going to reach the heart of any marriage, I must bare my soul and reveal deep secrets unknown to anyone but me and God. When my publishing contract arrived in the mail, I wailed, "Oh no! What will people think of me?"

Then I remembered my goal: save one marriage. My heart leaped and I cried the day the e-mail arrived saying, "Your book saved my marriage." God uses our stories to help others. That's why I write.

I've been promoting my books ever since without guilt. My goal: save another marriage. Someone asked me once, "How do you feel about promoting your own book?" My answer, "I'd feel disobedient if I didn't promote my books. God gave me a story to tell. He gave me a beautiful gift book and a publisher. I must do my part to assure it is read."

This Valentine's Day, give yourself and your honey a present that could transform your life. Contact me for an autographed copy of "Splashes of Serenity: Bathtime Reflections for Drained Wives." I'd be thrilled to send it to you.

Have a month filled with love and splashes of serenity,

Elaine