Our Journey With Covid — Separation

Crushed.  Dan, who always protects, provides, and cares for me, felt helpless to care for me now.

Thank You, Lord, for facetime. We talked and talked and talked. Both of us knew the outcome of my bout with covid-19 may end in a funeral. Dan and I spoke words of love and thanksgiving we needed to say. How thankful I am for that opportunity. Those who die suddenly, never get a good-bye. We said good-bye. We planned my funeral (my idea, not Dan's). We laughed, we cried, we prayed, we sang. We held on to each other and clung to God together in heart, if not in body. We hoped. We trusted. We treasured our time.

Daily, Dan drove to the hospital so he could be as close to me as possible. Parked in the hospital parking lot, he cried out to God for my healing. He fasted and prayed for days. 

"The Covidland Casanova (as the nurses referred to Dan) delivered a daily gift to me, via the reception desk in the hospital lobby.  

Yes. We were separated, but in many ways we were closer than ever. We knew nothing could separate us from our love for each other or our love for God. The day we wed we became one. Oneness can not become two. 

"For I am convinced that

neither death nor life,

neither angels nor demons,

neither the present nor the future,

nor any powers,

neither height nor depth,

nor anything else in all creation,

will be able to separate us from

the love of God that is in

Christ Jesus."

Romans 8:38-39

As covid-19 invaded my lungs, Dan's love for me and my love for him filled our hearts. Oh, shame on us for ever taking for granted or overlooking the sweetness of married love and the speediness of life lived not treasuring every moment.

 Open your eyes, lovers! 

Let go of the stupid stuff that irritates.*   

Enjoy each other!

 Play!

 Laugh! 

Don't live with regrets. 

Don't wait! 

Love strong! 

Love deep! 

Love now!

*My book, We All Married Idiots: Three Things You Will Never Change About Your Marriage and Ten Things You Can, will help you esteem your spouse as a gift to treasure, not as an idiot to tolerate.

Happy loving!

50 Shades of Grey — What Your Beloved Doesn't Want for Valentine's Day

"Touch her tenderly as an object of worship. A wife needs to be treasured, not trampled." ~
We All Married Idiots

  Don't women desire to be touched tenderly as an object of worship? Don't they yearn to be treasured and not trampled? Of course they do.

Then what is the attraction of 50 Shades of Grey? I'm not sure except we are so hungry for that tender touch that we believe the lies and think this momentary thrill of watching nudity on the screen or reading about unmarried sex in a book won't cause a lifetime of harm.

Not true. Pornography kills marriages and destroys lives. My husband and I have spent hours counselling couples devastated by the damage of pornography.

Last week a woman told me her story. She was exposed to Playboy magazine at age 10. The magazine decorated the back of the toilet in a neighborhood friend's home (also 10 years old). Images of naked women pierced her brain, mind, and heart distorting and confusing this little girl's understanding of God's plan for the female. Forty years later those images remain. A two-minute trip to the potty shattered the life of a child.

I haven't read 50 Shades of Grey and I won't see the movie. Oh my, why would I?

Why would anyone spend their time or money watching other people have sex when they could be making love with their own Valentine? What's the appeal of watching erotica on a screen or reading about it in a book when you can touch and feel and enjoy and experience the love of your life within the privacy of your own bedroom?

Isn't that a better use of your time?

This Valentine's Day, or any day, don't mar your marriage  with visions of violent sex scenes and  other peoples' bodies playing on rewind in the depths of your soul.

 God says, "Have nothing to do with sexual immorality, impurity, lust, and evil desires." 

Colossians 3:15b

"What part of 'have nothing to do with' do we not understand? Yet, we live in a world filled with sexual immorality, impurity, lust, and evil desires and wonder why our marriages and our lives seem so heavy." ~ We All Married Idiots

I implore you, whether single or married, to honor God and honor your spouse with your body. Afterall, your body doesn't belong to you. God says,

"The wife's body does not belong to her alone but also to her husband.

 In the same way, the husband's body does not belong to him alone but also to his wife."

1 Corinthians 7:4

 I ask you, what part of your body belongs to your spouse?  Every inch. Your eyes, your ears, your mind all belong to the one you promised to cleave to, forsaking all others. When you glance at another in a book or on the screen or in a magazine, you are stealing something that does not belong to you. You are depriving your spouse of knowing you only have eyes, ears, a mind, and a heart for one person.

Isn't that what we all want for Valentine's Day? To know our beloved is 100 percent our own.

Give your husband or wife the best Valentine's gift ever and don't bring anyone else (real or imaginary) into your marriage bed this weekend or ever.


May God splash serenity on your marriage,