Numbers 35:9-36:13
It’s a short word of the day today so I figured it’d be a good day to make this short. Have a blessed day!
Keep it Simple
Categories: 365 Life, Numbers, Writing Through the Bible in a Year
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Jesus is There, Stage by Stage
“Moses wrote down their starting places, stage by stage,” Numbers 33:2
For the last four years I’ve been writing down my journey, stage by stage. Each stage has been unique and filled with… chaos; at least it felt like it at the time anyway. But to look back on each of them, it wasn’t chaos at all. It was measured steps towards the place where I find my feet today. Sometimes the hardest thing to do is start something new. It’s scary and unfamiliar, yet holds the very potential to be a fantastic adventure! IF we let it become that to us.
Life is full of chaos, uncertainties. It’s filled with pain and heartaches that can’t even be put into words. There are some lessons that just can’t be taught in outlines and sermons, they have to be felt, experienced, LIVED.
Jesus came so that we might have life, and have it to the FULLEST. But what is that? What does it mean? To me, right now, it means that Jesus has given me the opportunity to enjoy each moment of this life, even the ones that hurt. In the pain, there is a joy. It’s hard to describe except to say that it’s there.
There’s something about being sad that feels good. It feels good to have emotions and to let them out. It feels good to cry until you can’t possibly cry anymore. It even feels good to be mad, sometimes, but not all the time, that’s just a poison. No matter what happens, life is meant to be lived, not just survived. That involves risks, and faith. It requires patience and trust. It takes time and love. Life is HARD, but it’s GOOD and shouldn’t be wasted. Life involves loving people without abandon. Which means that there will be times when those people you’ve been tender with will turn sharp and cut you to the quick. But that doesn’t mean that the relationship is irreparable.
Even though all relationships have a shelf-life, that doesn’t mean that both parties have to leave the relationship wounded. There is always forgiveness. There is always hope, because there is always Jesus, our eternal King and High Priest.
No matter what wounds you have suffered from the hand of your Beloved, Jesus can heal them. You need only to ask Him, He is MORE than willing to do it. Although it may take more time than you’d like. Wounds heal in layers. Jesus can take you on the adventure of a lifetime where you find yourself over the rainbow in a world you’ve never seen before with more color and life than you’ve ever imagined. No, life with Jesus isn’t all flowers and lollipops. There are some really hard knocks that come with the territory. But those knocks are never suffered alone. Not ever. And that’s the beauty of Jesus. He’s not a religion, or a denomination. He’s a person; a real live person who simply wants to be your friend. He wants to hold your hand through the tough times and shout for joy with you in the fun times. He wants to sing with you when you’re happy and cry with you when you’re sad.
A lot of times Christians make life with Jesus a lot more technical and difficult than it really is. Christianity isn’t a religion, it’s a friendship. It’s as simple as that.
“No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from My Father I have made known to you. You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in My name, He may give it to you.” John 15:15-16
Categories: 365 Life, Jesus Loves YOU, Numbers
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Ordinary Work/Granny Square Picture Tutorial
“You shall do no ordinary work” Numbers 28:18, 25, 26; 29:1, 12 & 35
It started to become fairly obvious to me that God was trying to make a point when I ran across the fourth “you shall do no ordinary work”. Here I am writing about identity and our purpose in life and smack dab in the middle of Numbers in the sections on feast days God starts speaking to me about calling.
Yes. In the context of the reading the work they are speaking of IS regular, ordinary, every day work. And realistically, that’s what I’m talking about too. HOWEVER, that’s not where the reality of life stops. So often we love to draw a line between our God and our world of work. We work in the world and God doesn’t associate with the world right? WRONG! If that statement were true there would have been no Crucifixion!
No, Christ came into the world to save the world by doing something that many others were doing in a way that only He could do it. THAT’S a calling! It’s something that that God created you to do; and to any ordinary onlooker you may look like any other person doing your job. And in that aspect you are just like everyone else. But that’s where the similarities stop. No one can do your job the way YOU do it. NO ONE.
There were all kinds of Rabbi’s when Jesus was teaching and preaching. But there was only ONE Jesus.
Sure, there may be millions of other teachers out there, but there isn’t a single other teacher out there just like YOU! Sure there are millions of other people out there that crochet, but none of them are just like YOU! Yup, there are even millions of moms out there, doing exactly what you’re doing today. But none of them are just like YOU.
So today, while you’re busy at your “ordinary work” think about this; when you’re the one doing the work, it’s anything BUT ordinary!
Granny Square Tutorial:
Abbreviations:
Chain (CH)
Slip Stitch (SL)
1 Granny Stitch (GS) = DC 3, CH 1 worked into the CH 1 space from the previous round
Initial CH 3 counts as 1 DC
______________________________
Start with a magic ring
and chain (CH) 3.
Round 1:
DC 2, CH 1,
GS 3 more times into the magic ring.
Pull the magic ring closed,
It will look like this:
SL to first CH 3.
CH 3,
turn.
Notice where the gaps are because this is where you’re going to be working for the rest of the square.
Round 2:
DC 2, CH 1, GS 1 in the first CH 1 space from the previous round.
GS 2 in each of the rest of the CH 1 spaces from the previous round [there are 3 left],
SL to first CH 3.
[You can finish off and be done here in this round if you want small Granny squares. Or you can keep going for larger ones.] CH 3, turn [if still going]. Skip down to the end if you’re finishing off.* Now my blanket’s squares don’t have a third round, it’s a baby blanket and I wanted to keep them small. So I don’t have any pictures for this next round. 😦 Sorry. However, if you would like to make your squares larger this is how you would do it.
Round 3-?:
Here is where you have to start paying attention to where the corners are. If you’re working on a side: work 1 GS into the CH space. If it’s a corner: work 2 GS into the CH space. Work around until you reach the beginning, SL to first CH 3. CH 3 & turn if you’re going on; finish off if you’re done.
*To finish off simply CH 1 and pull it TIGHT forming a knot in your work.
Trim your ends, leaving a little bit of a tail at the knot to be able to work it into the square so it won’t unravel on you when you wash them.
Tada! Happy crocheting my friends!
Categories: 365 Life, Crochet Tuesday, Jesus Loves YOU, Numbers
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The Nag
“in proportion to its list”
I’m in a list season at the moment. I often do this. I feel like I’m behind the eight ball so I try to get organized. I make list upon list upon list of things that need done and for a time it helps tremendously. I get uber productive and accomplish many things. But then things start to slip and the list becomes my angry task master demanding, “More!” I go from being the master of the list to being its slave. If I’m unable to accomplish all the things on my list, it beats me and make me feel inferior. I begin to place my worth on how many things I crossed off my list today rather than the Word of God. If I got all my list accomplished then I was a “good girl” today and I can have a treat.
Ahhhh… but, if I only got one thing done, well, obviously I didn’t do a very good job today. I know there’s somebody out there vigorously nodding their head in agreement with me because they know exactly what I’m talking about. If that’s not you, well, lucky you. Will you email me and tell me how you do it?
Seriously. Any tips? Leave a comment below!
This past Sabbath I had a mission. Finish the blanket I’ve been working on. [I’m hoping to have instructions and pictures up tomorrow… but we’ll have to see how many fits my computer decides to throw before then.] I usually crochet on my Sabbaths, it’s kind of my meditation. Right now I’m doing a granny square blanket so it’s a constant, “1, 2, 3, chain… 1, 2, 3, chain… 1, 2, 3, chain…” It’s almost hypnotic. While crocheting I sit and catch up on my recorded shows. By the end of the day I am so relaxed I feel like butter and its HEAVEN!!!
Well, on this particular Sabbath I kept thinking of all the other things I had on my to do list. “The laundry needs folding and put away,” “the dishwasher needs emptied and filled again,” “the trash needs taken out.” And every time I would counter it with, “No. I’m crocheting today.” But they still kept coming, “the email needs answered,” “the kitchen table needs cleaned,” “the floor needs vacuumed,” “those papers need filled out.” “No! I’m crocheting today!” Each time the Nag got more and more insistent that I do something on my list rather than the one thing I needed most, REST.
Our culture so values productivity, and who can blame us? It feels GOOD to finish things and accomplish goals. I mean, it’s part of our human DNA. Adam was created and given… a job. He was given something to occupy his hands, time and talents. He was given a purpose. And just like Adam we have purpose too. It gives life meaning and enjoyment.
BUT
There has to be a balance too. Adam was created on the sixth day. On the seventh, God rested from ALL His work declaring the seventh day holy. A Sabbath. A day of rest from work. God ended His week with rest. But Adam started His week with rest!
They have scientifically proven that stress makes you sick. Well, a weekly Sabbath (also known as a Pajama Day) where you’re not allowed to leave the house, clean or work. But watch TV and movies, well, that’s a prescription for health!
Resting one day every week is NOT being lazy. Even when the accuser tries to get you to think it is. Taking a day off every week is taking care of your mind, body and soul. Hmmm… right now I can hear someone out there saying, “I don’t have time to take 2 hours off, let alone 24! I can’t afford to do that!”
My friend, you can’t afford not to!
We spend all our health trying to earn more money only to use that money to try to buy back our health! Except you can’t! A Sabbath rest does WONDERS, trust me! The revelations God has given me on these days is beyond compare, not to mention I am rarely ever sick.
Here’s one way to think about it:
A mom and her small child get in an airplane. There’s trouble and the cabin pressure changes to the point that the oxygen masks are needed. The mom’s first motherly instinct is to put the mask on her child first before putting on hers. Except in the time it takes to put her child’s mask on she passes out from low oxygen and now there is no one to help her child.
God has called YOU to help someone by doing something. However, if you’re not first helping yourself by caring for your temple, then there will be no one to help the people you were supposed to help. Because you’ve exhausted yourself to the point of being helpless yourself.
You’re not being lazy if you take one day off from work. You’re being MORE productive in that one day off than the other six combined! You know how? Because in that Sabbath day of rest you’re letting GOD do the work for you. And He’s more effective than you ever could be! I mean, He did make the entire universe in just six days. Can you do that?
Categories: Writing Through the Bible in a Year
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The Letter I Mentioned Yesterday
First of all, sorry this is coming to you so late today. Sometimes life just has to come first.
Yesterday I mentioned finding myself curled up on the church floor sobbing because just that morning I had written a letter from God and then that afternoon was faced with the prospect of no longer writing and it sent me into a severe emotional “event”. Looking back at that powerful letter I realized that it just wouldn’t be right if I didn’t share it with you. So, without further ado, the letter:
Lord,
I am struggling to keep my head above water with all these things that I’ve committed myself to. I beg You to put Your desires for me in my heart. I want to want what You want. I want to love what You love. I want to want to walk in the GOOD paths. For my own sake and Yours. Lord, I still believe that You planted this love of writing and teaching into my heart. Yet, because of me following this dream, much hardship has befallen us.
“OH REALLY? HAS IT? OR, have you just felt like it did? Your house feels warmer this year and it has cost you less to heat it than any other year before. In one of the coldest winters on record! Your fridge and cabinet have always been full, as have your stomachs. I have been with you EVEY step of the way; through thick and through thin. You have never wanted for the things you NEED. And honestly, the things you wanted weren’t things you should want anyway. I have kept you so well guarded your entire life, you have no idea what want REALLY is. No, you may not have everything you want, but you CERTAINLY have everything you need and much much more. Furthermore, this “writing thing” as you call it, it’s saving your family, all of them. Bit by bit you will start to see the difference in them. They’re paying more attention than you know. But you need only one thing, Me. – and to pay CLOSE attention to ME. I will guide you; I will continue to guard you. I will provide for you more abundantly than you could ever dream and more. You have no idea how much I love and care for you. You have no clue how much I’ve done for you over the years and yet you doubt and fear, you cringe in anticipation of a pain that never comes.
You fear what you do not know, and without realizing it cause yourself undue grief. You need fear nothing for I hold everything – and you know it. You are worried about many things, but only one thing is needed, sit at My feet, listen to My words, lean on Me and My understanding, on My wisdom, on My knowledge and My goodness. I am the Good Shepherd, YOUR shepherd. I lead you beside still waters and green pastures – lie in them and be still; knowing that I AM GOD, YOUR God who loves you with an everlasting love deeper than you could ever fathom.
I am the keeper of the stars; I call them out, night after night, by NAME. I flung them into the sky – FOR YOU. Aren’t they beautiful? Yet their beauty cannot even come close to your beauty. They burn bright in the night sky, but you … you burn bright in an all together different kind of darkness. Your smile sparkles in this valley of the shadow of death. Your laugh rings free from the disaster that surrounds you. While the stars are beautiful,
they aren’t you. They are not My children, beloved beyond compare. No, the stars are a pretty little mobile in the sky for My precious baby girl – you.
You are My crowning achievement, the babe I knit together in the womb. You are My miracle, My masterpiece, My sonnet, My song. You, My precious girl, are Mine. And I love you. I always have, and I always will. I PROMISE.
No matter what you do, no matter what you say. No matter how far you try to run away, you’re still Mine. No matter what, I promise you that I will ALWAYS love you. And what’s more than that, I’ll always LIKE you too.
You see, it’s hard for you to separate the things you do from who you are. But that’s just it, they ARE two separate things. What you do does NOT make you who you are. Who you think you are determines what you do. That’s why it’s so CRITICAL for you to come to Me every day; because I will tell you who you REALLY are. You’re not who they say you are. You’re not necessarily even who you think you are. You are who I say you are. I am your maker, the creator. I made you with such intimate detail that even with all the technology and science of today they still haven’t found all the galaxies of mystery hidden inside you. And they never will. Heh, heh, heh.
Yet I know them all, from the hairs of your head, to the steps of your feet, I know them all. Why? Because I CARE FOR YOU! I care so deeply for you I could die.
No, wait,
I DID!
I would rather die the most excruciating death humanity could dish out, than to live one more moment without a relationship with you.
Yes, I want to be your God and your Father, but more than that I want to be your FRIEND. I don’t need more servants; I already have plenty of those. What I need are friends. People who share their lives with Me. People who share their hopes and dreams and desires with Me. People who share their devastations and pains with Me. I want to share in your joy. I want to be there for you in your grief and hurt. I want to be more than your God. I want to be your FRIEND, the lover of your soul. Because I do love your soul, every part of it. But you rarely let Me touch it. You barely ever show Me your soul because you’re so busy doing things for Me instead of with Me. You’ve gotten so busy that you’ve hardly had time to just be still and allow Me the opportunity to comb your hair and massage your weary shoulders. You’ve gotten so busy with the cares of life that you’ve forgotten how good I can be to you. You’ve been so concerned about getting things done that you’ve stolen My chance to do them for you and relieve a bit of that burden from your shoulders.
I love you.
I want to help you get through this. But I can’t do that if you don’t let Me. I want to be a part of your life. I want to help you. Please let me.”
Psalm 139 O LORD, You have searched me and known me! You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from afar. You search out my path and my lying down and are acquainted with all my ways. Even before a word is on my tongue, behold, O LORD, You know it altogether.
You hem me in, behind and before, and lay Your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high; I cannot attain it.
Where shall I go from Your Spirit? Or where shall I flee from Your presence? If I ascend to heaven, You are there! If I make my bed in Sheol, You are there! If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there Your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me. If I say, “Surely the darkness shall cover me, and the light about me be night,” even the darkness is not dark to You’ the night is bright as the day, for darkness is as light with You.
For You formed my inward parts; You knitted me together in my mother’s womb. I praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are Your works; my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from You, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in Your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them.
How precious to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them! If I would count them, they are more than the sand. I awake, and I am still with you. Oh that you would slay the wicked, O God! O men of blood, depart from me! They speak against You with malicious intent; Your enemies take Your name in vain. Do I not hate those who hate You, O LORD? And do I not loathe those who rise up against You? I hate them with complete hatred; I count them my enemies.
Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!
I Am, Therefore I Do
“Moses stripped Aaron of his garments and put them on Eleazar his son.” Numbers 20:28
First of all, I can’t tell you how GOOD it feels to be back at the keyboard again typing away to you!!! It seems as though our Oh So Sovereign God has planned these little “breaks” for me, so that by the time I get back to you after a month I’m so ready to be back it’s not even funny!
In this month of studying about identity and calling and Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs and the plethora of other things I studied this last month, I’ve learned something so critical to my life. Writing to you every day is my center. During the break I was still reading with you every day, but it just wasn’t the same. It wasn’t enough. It was like I was taking the reading and swallowing it whole without chewing it first and really savoring it’s flavor and depth. I’ve missed that. I’ve missed YOU.
Although I can’t see your faces as you read, I know that you’re out there. Listening and paying attention. Some more than others perhaps, but still, you’re there. And that matters to me.
This month has been a harried, frenzied, mess of a month. We’ve had more snow than I can think to count, which has made school schedules crazy, which has made my schedule crazy, which has made me crazy. Put on top of that my center being taken away, and well, it just spells disaster plain and simple.
If you’re a writer (which I think I may have finally come to terms with the Truth that I am) then you KNOW what I mean by calling it my “center”. It’s the thing that I do that comes from the very center of my being, the very core of my existence. It’s the thing that I do because I HAVE to. Not just because I want to, or because it’s what God’s called me to do, but because it’s the thing that if I don’t do it I’ll die. Maybe not physically, but the part of me that’s actually ME, that part will die.
There was a day this month where I found myself in the church all by myself sobbing in a huddled mass on the floor begging God not to take “this” away from me. Earlier that day I had written a letter from God to me, it had been my writing for the day, and it had meant so very very much to me. His words like honey on my fingers and health to the very bones of my existence. Suddenly I was faced with the prospect of that all being taken away from me in one fell swoop and I couldn’t bear the thought of it. And with choking sobs I wailed (I’m not exaggerating here either.) “God PLEASE don’t take that away from me!” to the point that I was concerned that the people in the insurance office next door would call the cops thinking that someone was being murdered next door. (OK, here I might be exaggerating a little bit, but I bet it made you smile.)
Here’s my point. I know that from this point on for as far as I can see into the future with this blog, I’m supposed to be talking about Identity in Christ. This month off I’ve delved deep into as many books as I could on the subject. I’ve searched psychology websites and more than anything, I’ve searched myself.
Awhile back, in Unshakable Foundations Make Fear Flee, I pointed out that Jesus gave us the commandment to “love your neighbor as yourself”. Yet how can we do that if we don’t first love ourselves? And that naturally leads us to ask the question, “who am I?” We can’t love ourselves if we don’t know who we are now can we?
In today’s reading we find its Aaron’s time to meet his maker. So Aaron, Moses and Aaron’s son Eleazar go up to Mount Hor and perform a ceremonial changing of the guard so to speak. Aaron is stripped of his priestly garments and they are placed on Eleazar’s body. Ceremonially he is being given the tools, the authority and the title of the next high priest of Israel.
Eleazar had been waiting for this moment for quite some time. Possibly with anticipation, perhaps with some anxiety; it’s a huge job, spiritually leading the entire nation. But it was what God had chosen him for. It was the job that God had blessed him with. It was his calling, and part of his identity. For him not to do it, would have killed him. And in those times, for him to not do it correctly would have literally killed him!
Perhaps, we find no satisfaction in our jobs because we fail to see the bigger picture of why doing that job is important for us, our families, our company and the society as a whole. All too often we see ourselves as this tiny little cog in the machine of society, small and insignificant. What we don’t realize is that when that tiny little cog isn’t working properly it can jam up the entire works. What if the person who made those clothes for Aaron, hadn’t made them. Then where would Eleazar be?
Yes, you may feel like you only play a small part in the production of life. But the reality of it is it’s an IMPORTANT part none the less. Without you playing the part you’ve been cast in, the production just wouldn’t be the same.
Case in point: I was in the Unsinkable Molly Brown in high school. And there was this guy, Florian. He had a bit part, maybe one, two lines at most. I think he might have been the butler. But he played the bajeepers out of that part to the point that he was, by far, everyone’s favorite character in the play!
Here’s my point, he may have had a small part, but he didn’t play it that way. He played his part as if it was the most important part in the play. And suddenly it became that way, all because HE treated it with respect. None of us will ever forget Florian in that part because NO ONE could have played it like HE did. None of us could have done a better job with that part that him. It was his and he owned it, small or not. What mattered was that he was part of the production. People talked about that play for WEEKS afterwards, and most of it was about Florian and how great he was in that part.
You may feel like you have a small part to play in the production of life. And in reality we all do. The main character is Jesus, we all take bit parts next to Him. But we’re still part of the play. And our part is just as important as the next guy. But the MOST important part is how we play the part. Do we take it seriously? Do we claim it as our own and make the most of it, or do we downplay its importance and allow others to make us feel like we’re less significant because our job isn’t as noteworthy as the next guy’s?
BY NO MEANS!!!
God has given you a part to play in the production of life. Not only is it important to society, it’s important to YOU that you play it with gusto and pride; because it’s YOURS. It’s your part to play. It’s your center, the thing that stems from the essence of your being. It’s the thing that if you don’t do it you’ll die inside. And that’s the worst death of all. It’s the thing that you do that makes you feel full and complete and good about yourself. It’s the thing that you do that helps you get through the days when you just want to give up. It’s the thing that the very thought of it being taken away makes you crumple up in a ball and wail.
Don’t know what that thing is? Well then let’s figure it out! Let’s appeal to your Maker and ask Him what it is that He made you to do! Let’s go to the Director and ask Him what part He’s asked YOU to play. And you know what the really awesome thing is? He will tell you. He is faithful and good and just and He will help you find that thing that thing that stems from the center of your being. I’m praying for you and He WILL help you find it.
But remember this. Your “do” doesn’t define you. You define your “do”. That’s identity.
I am, therefore I do.
Categories: 365 Life, Jesus Loves YOU, Numbers, Writing Through the Bible in a Year
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Sabbath
NO
ASSIGNED
READING
TODAY!
For any of you newcomers, if you read this it explains the Sabbath principle that we follow here. It’s powerful so I highly recommend you read it, and follow it. 😉
Take (another) Day Off
In order to allow you the proper time to catch up on the missed reading from this weekend, there is none for today. 😉 Sorry for all the chaos. I think it comes with the territory sometimes. 😀
Day 34: Beneficial
God saw all that He had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning, the sixth day. Genesis 1:31
Humans were one of the things created on the sixth day. When God made humans He created them with procreation in mind. But more beautiful than that, He performed the very first wedding ceremony too! In Genesis 2:22-24 it tells us that He brought her to the man (walked her down the aisle), the groom said “va va va vooom! I’ll take her! I DO!” and then God said the thing that has been repeated in almost every wedding ceremony since the beginning of time “For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh.” Now, *ahem*, “and they will become one flesh”; WHAT do you suppose THAT means? They’ve just gotten married, God has approved and finalized the union, and then mentions that they will become one flesh. Hmmmm….. Well, God blessed them; and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; and fill the earth, and subdue it. (Genesis 1:28a) Hee hee! You see, God isn’t afraid of sex. He created it, and He created it to be “very good”! “God saw ALL that He had made, and it was VERY GOOD.” Ya-know, since humans were included in that statement, I believe that means sex was also included in that statement. God created it all, including sex to be VERY GOOD, otherwise we all would’ve stopped having it a long time ago.
When you view your body as a living sacrifice and a gift to both God and your husband, sex with your husband can end up being an act of worship and praise to God if you let it. As part of this act of worship I recommend praying together before making love. It may seem a little strange or silly at first (considering we’ve never seen it on movies or TV), but think about it; we pray together at the dinner table before we satisfy our body’s hunger for food. Is it really that far of a stretch to pray together at the marriage bed before we satisfy our body’s hunger for sexual fulfillment? Personally I think taking a few moments to thank God for our true intimacy is just as important if not more so, than thanking Him for our food. Besides, in a few more moments you’ll probably be praising God for His “job well done” in making your husband’s body, and your union. Just make sure that you’re not worshiping the sex or your husband, but the true maker of them both, God Almighty. He created sex for our enjoyment, so have FUN with it. Don’t allow sex to be another item on your to-do list, let it be something you look forward to with anticipation. Let it be something special between you and your husband, something to get silly and giddy about. Honestly, in our marriage, sex has gone from an obligation to, well, we’re acting like newlyweds again. We’re playful with one another. We’re whispering to each other. We’re speaking in code to tell each other “I want you”. It’s a whole new world for us now! Our God is a creative God, be creative in your love-making. With that being said, I must throw in this precautionary verse as a consideration for you.
In 1 Corinthians 6:12, Paul informs the Corinthians that while everything is permissible for them, not everything is beneficial for them. Meaning, just because it’s not considered a sin for you to do something doesn’t mean that it’s not harmful for you to do it. And that’s the question you have to ask of the LORD, “Is this sexual act I’d like to do beneficial?” Something that God has spoken through me is that “He made marriage to allow us to do whatever our filthy little minds would come up with.” From what I’ve been able to find through all my research thus far; as long as it’s within the bounds of marriage (one woman and one man for life, legally bound by the state), it is permissible. Whether it is beneficial is between the two of you and God! Remember, you do not want to do anything that will harm your body, or cause you to sin against Him, or degrade each other. Your bodies are the temple of God, a living sacrifice, so you need to be respectful of that at all times; You do not want add a 3rd party or pornography to your love life. These, among a few other things, fall outside the bounds of “one woman and one man for life, legally bound by the state” and would (in my opinion) be a big mistake. When in doubt about something, ask God and possibly a doctor if need be. If you can’t get a clear answer, I’d recommend skipping it for now. In my opinion, it’s better to be safe than guilty and build more blessing blockades. Another aspect that you need to consider is if one of you is being degraded or disrespected by the sexual act in question? Let’s take oral sex for example. If my husband finds it disgusting and degrading, then it would be inconsiderate of me to ask him to do it all the time. However, if he chooses to do that for me, I receive that as a HUGE act of love and kindness since I know that it is something that he doesn’t really care for. You’ve got to be respectful of each other and your preferences.
Most of all, you need to be open with one another about these things! Have conversations about the things that you like and dislike things you’d like to try and things that really turn you off. I’m telling you, these conversations can be QUITE eye opening and very exciting. They will help you to be more open to each other’s ideas, and give you an opportunity to discuss things ahead of time so that when you’re actually in the process of being intimate with each other you can simply focus on one another.
As I prayed for a nice scripture to wrap up this book, God gave me Proverbs 3:5-6 Trust in the LORD with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight. Hee hee, that’s not the ONLY thing that He makes straight!!! May God bless your sex!
Christian’s comments:
Well, you made it. It has been thirty days. Are you ready to have sex? Don’t be surprised if you answered “No”. You may not be ready to go “all the way” yet. You may need to take a couple of days to build up to it. Just take it slow and enjoy the experience.
If you are like me, you like your wife to come on to you. However, if she follows Tamar’s instructions, she won’t this time. You must lead her in this aspect of your marriage, just like you do in every other aspect of it. If you’re not sure about that, don’t worry, God will lead you. I suggest that you pray together before you get started.
The best advice that I can give you is: HAVE FUN! Enjoy each other. Marriage gives you leave to do most of the things your dirty mind can think of. Try new things. Try new positions. Try new locations! You don’t have to be restricted to the bedroom. Ask your wife if there is anything she wants to try. You will quite possibly be shocked and pleasantly surprised by what she says. I was!
Husbands, buy your wife some lingerie. Wives, wear it! And not just in the bedroom. Surprise your husband by wearing it out to dinner under your clothes. Or better yet, TO CHURCH! Meet him at the door when he gets home from work wearing it (just make sure the neighbors don’t see)!
Husbands, surprise your wife too. Buy yourself a sexy pair of shorts or a thong at the lingerie store and strut around the house for your wife (just make sure the kids are asleep, or at a friend’s house). Or jump in the shower with her. Or surprise her when she’s doing laundry. Washing machines can be fun!
Maybe try costumes if you have always wanted to; perhaps a French maid. What I’m getting at here is, now is the time to start living out your fantasies with each other. But remember to pace yourselves; you have a long life together ahead of you.
Most importantly of all, keep God involved. He created sex. He wants you to enjoy it. With Him involved, it will be a very spiritual experience.
Well, this brings us to the end. I pray that reading and following this book helps you as greatly as writing it helped us. I think all that’s left to be said is, God bless, and great sex.
Categories: 365 Life, Jesus Loves YOU, Numbers, True Intimacy
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Here are the Readings we missed over the weekend! Day 29-33
Day 29: Free
Therefore, confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another so that you may be healed. The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much. James 5:16
Now is the time! If you’ve been holding something back, something you haven’t been telling him, NOW is the time to come clean. If you’ve had suspicions of something but you’ve been avoiding saying anything because you just didn’t want to know, now’s the time to say something. Draw the truth out into the open. By bringing it into the light you take its power over you away. Will it be painful? Probably. Will you enjoy it? Most likely not. However, Jesus tells us in John 8:32 that when we know the truth it will set us free. Allow me to share from my personal experience of a truth setting us free.
(My journal entry the day after Christian told me the truth) “AND THE TRUTH SHALL SET YOU FREE! Oh Lord! Never in a million years did I ever expect to say this, but Thank you for Christian’s sins! Well, thank you for the forgiveness of sins and the freeing power of forgiveness!” All day that day, God’s presence was as thick in the air as the August humidity. I came into our bedroom to get Christian’s laundry and could BARELY get there due to his clutter on the floor! Desiring to do something nice for him I started to pick up his uniform hangers that littered the room. Among the rubble, there were a LOT of old notes (recently recovered from his parent’s house) from past girlfriends (which brought back painful memories for me of another fateful day). I picked up one of the notes thinking it was from me, opened it and read it. By the end of the note, not only was I disgusted, but I was also saddened by the very perverted things I read (from one of the girlfriends before I came along). I sent him a text complaining about it and after a few more texts regarding the box of notes and the need to get rid of them all, I felt a gentle urging to “clear the air” once and for all with him. We’d been fasting for 33 days now and I wasn’t about to have gone through all that time just to have unresolved issues afterward! Over the last 9 years I had occasionally asked him about the other woman never feeling satisfied with his lie that they had only kissed. And so, this time I asked him a little differently. I asked him to “be honest”, “do NOT spare my feelings” and to “tell the truth”. “Were you really a virgin when we first had sex and have you ever been with another woman before or after me?” (Just writing about this again is giving me butterflies in my stomach. But you need to know because God allowed us to go through this so that we could share this experience with others and help you get through it too.) His response was “Yes & yes L”
So I asked, “how many?” And he told me “2”. “2 others?” I asked. “Yes” he said. After that we spent the next 4 hours texting. Me asking questions, details about the affairs, and him responding to them honestly. I won’t lie; a lot of his answers were extremely painful. Yet his honesty was soothing (“Wounds from a friend can be trusted”). He was FINALLY allowing me to see the truth. He was finally releasing the secret that the enemy had snared him with for 13 years. Held him captive to, enslaved him with, depressed him about for 13 years. Until Jesus said “The truth will set you free”. Christian had been enslaved in his sins, held captive by the enemy and his lies for so long that he had become depressed and difficult to live with. That day he was set free as the 13 year secret came out into the light. The truth was the key to his prison cell and my forgiveness allowed him to come out into the open for the first time in 13 years. In telling the truth we were able to take those skeletons out of our closet, look at them, admit that they were there, and then together agree that we will NEVER let the enemy taunt us with them again. Then together we handed them over to God so that He can take them and separate us from them. As far as the East is from the West! As if they had never been there to begin with. Afterward, we both felt giddy and light and for the very first time in our married life, we BOTH wanted to have make-up sex. But I’ll get into THAT a little later.
[The LORD] say[s] to those who are bound, “Go forth,” to those who are in darkness, “Show yourselves.” (Isaiah 49:9a) Sin holds us captive. We are slaves to our sins, new and old. We are slaves to it, held in darkness, until we let the Son of light set us free. Our sin, and the guilt that it brings with it, hold us in bondage to the enemy. Only by the grace of Christ and His blood sacrifice can we ever even hope to gain our freedom. And yet that still isn’t enough. Because we have free choice, we have the choice to stay in bondage or gain our freedom through Christ. But it is only by our choice to allow Jesus’ forgiveness to sink into our hearts and remove our sin that we can truly become free. It’s our choice. Momentary pain and gain our freedom from secrets in our marriages, or remain in bondage to those secrets. Which do you choose? And remember BE BRUTALLY HONEST!!!
Christian’s comments:
Again, I am a dirtbag. Yes, I slept with two other girls while I was in college; each of them multiple times (I did wear protection every time). I have no excuses and won’t waste time attempting to create any. We’re not here to talk about that, though. We’re here to talk about the freedom that comes from confessing.
After the four hours of texting, I started to feel liberated. Yes, my thumbs were a little sore, but the feeling of freedom was unbelievable! It felt as though I had been carrying a huge boulder on my shoulders. After confessing, the boulder was gone! I felt taller, lighter, and almost giddy. I don’t remember ever feeling so happy. Granted, things were still tense between Tamar and me, but I knew there was nothing else between us, holding us back. WE WERE FREE!
Husbands and wives; don’t let the enemy stand between you any longer. If there is something you need to confess, do it. If there is something you need to ask, do it. It’s going to hurt. It’s going to be uncomfortable, but it has to be done. Your marriage (and sex life) won’t get better if it doesn’t get done.
Day 30: Don’t Look Back
Above all, keep fervent in your love for one another, because love covers a multitude of sins. 1 Peter 4:8
The day that we talked was a defining point in our marriage. That day when we decided; “Yup, this thing is forever. No matter what. We’re not giving in.” Our two lives truly turned into one on that night. Through the sharing of a deep dark secret we were drawn closer together than we ever had been before. Christian was so afraid that I was going to leave him. He was so afraid that all of his clothes would be out on the front lawn when he got home, or the locks would be changed. But none of that happened. What happened was love and forgiveness. Was I hurt?
YOU BET YOUR BANANAS I WAS!
But, did it make me love him less? Strangely enough, No. In fact, it made me love him even more, because he had FINALLY opened up to me! I’d stayed with him through years of being emotionally and sexually bottled up inside over this, and now we had finally torn down all those walls. He was TALKING to me! It was the most amazing thing. God worked a miracle in our marriage. In the span of 33 days He had completely and totally changed two people so dramatically that we were acting like teenagers all over again!
This was my journal entry a few days after “Truth-day”: “Lord, when will my heart stop hurting over the adultery and lies? The pangs are so brutally painful. It’s down to my soul, my marrow and it feels like something ripping apart inside of me. I know why it hurts, I’m just wondering if it’ll ever go away. I forgave him immediately, and I meant it too, but the words just keep popping back up into my mind! The change in Christian however, is tremendous! He’s back to the boy I met and fell in love with in high school. You know the saying a ‘shell of a man’? That’s what it was like. He was just an empty shell of the man I fell in love with. I still loved that shell of a man, and there were moments when he would peek his head out and be the Christian I’ve always loved, but he wasn’t happy and peaceful. This Christian, on the other hand, is a happy, free, whole man. This Christian is the man I wanted to marry, and I’m still so glad I did! And I’m even more thankful that I STAYED married to him. Thank you LORD! Thank you for my new husband, THANK YOU!”
As you can see, I was still dealing with the pain. I forgave him immediately, but that didn’t keep those names from popping back up into my head while I was doing the dishes or vacuuming. And in those instances the pain was not just emotional pain; it was a physical pain, right in the middle of my chest, like someone was stabbing me with a newly sharpened pencil. I prayed a lot about the pain in those first few days. I was an emotional roller coaster. I’d be high on the top of the hills when I’d think about Christian and the true intimacy we had finally found. He treated me differently now, we were talking again, and OH GOOD GRAVY THE SEX! WOO! Then, I’d go plummeting back down to the bottoms of the hills the second, one of those names came into my head. That’s when God reminded me of Lot’s wife. In Genesis 19 it tells the story of Sodom and Gomorrah. God is preparing to destroy these cities for their sins but Abraham’s nephew Lot is living in Sodom with his wife and family. So God, showing mercy on Lot, sends 2 angels to rescue him from the city before it’s destroyed. These angels were trying to save Lot from the sin surrounding him and the impending disaster and Lot hesitated! If he stayed where he was he would die, and he hesitated. How often are we like that? We are so stuck in our sins that even though we know we’ll die if we stay in them, we hesitate to leave. Then the LORD rained on Sodom and Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the LORD out of heaven, and He overthrew those cities, and all the valley, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and what grew on the ground. But his wife, from behind him, looked back, and she became a pillar of salt. Genesis 19:24-26
God did precisely what He said He would do and the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed. From the buildings, to the plants, to the people, everything, all gone in one sulfur-y swoop. And what did Lot’s wife do? She looked back! For just a moment she looked longingly over her shoulder back to the only life she had ever known, the life that GOD was rescuing her from. And in that one moment she disobeyed the direct order of the angels “don’t look back!” Through this story, God told me something. “Tamar, I have delivered you from this sexually immoral life, now DON’T. LOOK. BACK! Don’t look back at the things that you both have done and allow them to cause you pain. All has been forgiven which means those things are GONE. Don’t look back on them and allow them to hurt you anymore.” This story has another thing to tell us about looking back. Don’t look back on those times and wish for those sins to return to your life either. You are so much better off now, don’t look back.
Promising them freedom while they themselves are slaves of corruption; for by what a man is overcome, by this he is enslaved. For if, after they have escaped the defilements of the world by the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and are overcome, the last state has become worse for them than the first. For it would be better for them not to have know the way of righteousness, than having known it, to turn away from the holy commandment handed on to them. It has happened to them according to the true proverb, “A dog returns to its own vomit,” and, “A sow, after washing, returns to wallowing in the mire.” 2 Peter 2:19-22
Don’t. Look. Back.
Christian’s comments:
So, you have taken our advice and confessed to one another. You have taken a big step to a great marriage (and sex life). Now, DON’T LOOK BACK!
You have moved past whatever was holding you apart. Never return to it. Yes, you will think about it from time to time, that is natural, but do not dwell on it. Don’t long for things to be as they were before. Don’t ever think “I wish I never confessed to her.” Things will be rough in the beginning, but they will get better.
With the exception of our wedding day/night, I have never been happier in my marriage than I have been since our fast. Do you want to know why? Because the past is behind us and we have moved on.
Day 31: Purity Bath
So Jacob said to his household and to all who were with him, “Put away the foreign gods which are among you, and purify yourselves and change your garments.” Genesis 35:2
Christian and I were drawing near to the end of our 30 days, and I just had this feeling in my gut that we weren’t going to just “jump right back in the sack” on day 30. The morning of day 30 actually came and I still felt like it wasn’t time yet; like I needed to DO something first. All morning long I had the word “purify” running through my head. I had just spent an entire month learning who I was, how God saw me, and how to be the best wife I could possibly be; and I felt like I needed to do something…ritualistic. So I looked up scriptures for purification rituals. In almost every one of them they mentioned blood, water, oil and perfume. Well, Christ took care of all the blood we would ever need, so I wasn’t concerned at all with that. But the water, oil and perfume made sense to me; I could take a bath. I remembered how in 2 Samuel chapter 11 when David saw Bathsheba from his rooftop she was taking a bath and had purified herself from her uncleaness. So. Blood: provided by Christ, check. Water: take a bath, check. Oil and perfume: I had a bottle of olive oil and some vanilla in the kitchen, check!
So, here’s my general procedure for the purity bath that I take, the Holy Spirit usually leads me to change things here and there from time to time, add a few things, subtract a few, etc. Pray about it and if God is leading you to change something, feel free to do so. Our experiences with God are uniquely ours so your purity bath may look completely different from mine. This is just what I have done.
When my period is completely finished, 7 days from when it started, I take a purity bath to dedicate myself to God. It is to help me feel pure, inside and outside. Because through the blood of Christ we have been made pure and don’t HAVE to do any purification rituals anymore, but I feel like sometimes as humans we need to DO something to help us remember that fact. Plus, I have learned that God really loves symbolism, so I know that this process pleases Him greatly. (Note: This entire process generally takes an hour or more depending on how long I sit, soak and pray. So I usually try to carve out plenty of time in my schedule for it. I really don’t like skimping on this very intimate time with my LORD.)
Step 1) I have an old soy sauce bottle that I use to mix my anointing oil; it’s just the right size and pours nicely. I never actually measure anything, but I use a cup of oil and a bit of pure vanilla extract (not a whole lot maybe a teaspoon, a little bit of this stuff goes a LOOOONG way) into the bottle. These are the ingredients that God has inspired me to use, however, this bath is intimately yours and God’s so I highly recommend asking Him what He would like for you to use for your oil and perfume.
Step 2) I clean my bathroom concentrating on the tub itself, even if I just did it the other day, I do it again. (Do NOT skip scrubbing the tub! I did this ONCE and I will NEVER do it again. The rest of the bathroom is less important, but you can not take a sacred bath in a dirty tub! Learn from my mistake, do NOT skip this part of cleaning.) Cleaning is a symbolic act, one where I am cleaning the dirt and grime from my bathroom and asking God to continue cleaning the dirt and grime of sin from my heart. It is time spent on my knees in fervent prayer. I thank God for forgiving me and for cleaning up my life and my marriage. God has changed ME so much already and He isn’t done with me yet. Praise God!
Step 3) Once everything is clean and all the dirt and trash are outside the room, I start filling the tub with the HOTTEST water I can possibly stand; as full as it can go without running over when I get in. To me, this is like God’s cleansing fire and the Holy Spirit. Sometimes, if the room is cool enough you can actually see the steam rising off the hot water just like the Holy Spirit moving throughout the room, filling your lungs. It’s incredible!
Step 4) I kneel before my full tub and come before God on this sacred day, naked, unashamed, grateful for the work He is doing in my life, and sincerely apologetic for the things that I have done against Him. I shake the bottle and mix the oil and vanilla together asking God to make Christian and I one flesh (the two shall become one flesh). Then I pour it into the water and ask God to be the third cord that binds our hearts together forever. I ask God to use this water to make me a virgin again, and to give us back all the missing pieces of our hearts. I beg for His forgiveness.
Step 5) Read Romans 6:11-14.
Step 6) I completely submerge each part of my body in the water as I dedicate it to God for His glory and ask Him to purify and cleanse me. I start with my feet and finish with my ears, eyes, nose, mouth and mind including swallowing a bit of the water and praying that He fill me with His words and that my words be pleasing to Him. No more shall sin rule over me! I lay there and think about the changes that God has made in me over the last days and how He loves me. I continue to pray (and listen) as I rest in the presence of the LORD, letting him surround me and fill me with His Holy Spirit.
Step 7) Once I’ve soaked long enough, I lay down as far into the tub as I can and pull the plug on the drain with my foot. As the water drains away from me I pray that my sins will be in the water and that as they drain away from me God will throw them as far as the East is from the West! It’s the coolest feeling as the water drains; it feels like the sins are being sucked out of your body! It only feels like this when you’re laying in the water though.
Step 8) (CAUTION: the tub will be soaked in oil and will be SLIPPERY at first so be VERY CAREFUL!) I carefully stand up and take a shower, totally pampering myself. I shave, wash my hair, and take my time; doing all those things that I normally never take the time to do. I groom things, buff things, scrub things, anything to make me feel gorgeous.
Step 9) I clothe myself in clean white garments of righteousness. (This is where the white panties/bra or jammies come in; I hope you were able to get some new ones.) Now, while this doesn’t mean that I’m perfect; it does mean that I’m trying to be.
From this point forward, I am like the lions from Daniel in the lion’s den. I keep my mouth shut and my paws to myself. I have my husband show me how much I mean to him by not rushing things. We’re talking days here, not hour’s people. We’ll talk a little more about this later.
Christian’s comments:
Husbands, you don’t have to do your purity bath like Tamar listed hers, but rather let God lead you. I don’t take baths, but shower instead. And I don’t shave my legs. You don’t have to shave your legs either… unless that’s something you do. I know a couple of guys that do, but it’s your prerogative.
Tamar blessed me by anointing my head with oil the first time after our first fast. After that I started taking my own purity baths. I prepare myself like it is my wedding day. I clean the shower. I run really hot water for my shower, use some nice smelling body wash and scrub myself. I use oil to shave my head and face, so I ask God to bless the oil so that I may purify myself for my wife.
I wore the typical black tux at our wedding, so I bought some black, silky boxers to wear. You don’t have to do this, but if your wife got dressed up in a new night gown, or new white underwear, you should do something nice too.
Day 32: True Intimacy
These [trials] have come so that your faith – of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire – may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. 1 Peter 1:7
Honestly in writing this book, all it’s done is make me ask more and more questions about God and sex. And I’ve got to say, since the first fast, Christian and I have… well… I’ll just say it’s been amazing, fun, adventurous, eye opening, and just plain WOW!!!
In the beginning, we had agreed on 30 days; then on day 30 (after my purity bath) God told me to keep my mouth shut, my paws to myself, and let him lead. I couldn’t touch him in any way sexually without him first touching me. It was basically a really adult version of follow the leader. We took things VERY slowly; we were starting over from the very beginning. We had gone too fast in the beginning of our relationship and ended up swimming in a pond, this time we were going to take our time and get to the ocean! God was leading Christian, and Christian was leading me. Every time he stopped things, it screamed, “I love you and I respect you THIS much!” It was an amazing feeling, plus, talk about building up the sexual tension! Woo!
“Truth-day” came around and we stayed up until about 12:30 talking things out. I asked questions, I needed all the details, and he answered them. He said, “I’m sorry” and I said, “I forgive you”. When our hearts are changed, everything changes; and from the moment I forgave him I had such an overwhelming desire for him. We didn’t know what to do. Was it still too soon to have sex? What was God’s will for us? So we asked God for a sign. We, “laid out the wool”, and He gave me a definite sign that pointed to a big fat “YES HAVE SEX”! When I told Christian that God had said “Yes” and that I was still supposed to follow him, he took the lead, and although it was already almost 1 o’ clock in the morning, we took our time. Stopping frequently to ask if it was REALLY God’s will for us to be doing what we were doing; just to make sure we were not going too quickly. We’d already done that once and it almost cost us our marriage, we were NOT going to do that again!
Suddenly, I remembered my purity bath. I had purified myself with water, oil and perfume; yet Christian had done none of this yet. That’s when God told me to “Anoint his head with oil”. I poured some oil into my left palm and then put a dab of oil on my husband’s ear, hand and foot. “To put the oil on these three body parts is a reminder to us that we should constantly guard every part of our lives. We must submit to God’s will in what we listen to and how eagerly we devote ourselves to his word (ear). We must guard our actions and choices (hand), and we must carefully watch our walk though life (foot).” We prayed together asking God to bless our union for His glory and to purify Christian, cleanse his sins, and make him whole in Christ again.
Well, after that, although we were still taking our time we got down to business; and OH MY! I am not kidding when I say, by FAR the BEST SEX OF OUR LIVES!!! Never before had we felt so connected, so safe, so blessed by each other’s company, so amazingly stimulated, so intimate than in that moment in each other’s arms. In that moment we both changed. We changed from the world’s view of how sex is supposed to be, to how God MEANT for sex to be. Between a truly intimate married couple.
THANK YOU GOD FOR MY HUSBAND!!!
Christian’s comments:
Are you ready for the best sex of your life? You better be, because you’re going to get it soon. With all of the secrets, lies, and other “stuff” out of the way, there will be nothing between you; nothing worrying you in the back of your mind. No questions you are burning to ask, or answer. When all of that is gone, God can fully bless you with great sex.
We took our time that night. Yes, it built up great sexual tension and made us crazy for each other, but we wanted to make sure that we were following God this time. We would proceed a little way, then stop and ask Him if it was His will for us to go on. Our sign to go on was the rain on the roof of the house.
To explain this a little bit, I need to go back to the purity bath. That night Tamar gave me my first purity bath with the oil, but you can’t bathe without water. Tamar asked God “What about the water?” In that instant, it started raining – hard – and that was her answer. Every time I asked if I should go on, the rain would get harder and we could hear it on the roof. We went on that night, knowing we were doing things correctly according to Him.
Day 33: Celebrate!
So these days were to be remembered and celebrated throughout every generation, every family, every province and every city; and these days of Purim were not to fail from among the Jews, or their memory fade from their descendants. Esther 9:28
At this point in our fast, I was studying Beth Moore’s Esther: it’s Tough Being a Woman and it wasn’t but a day or two after our “first time” that this verse came up in our bible study. Beth Moore was telling us about how important it is to God that we celebrate the times when He delivers us from the enemy’s hand. The Israelites were delivered from slavery in Egypt, so they celebrate Passover. In Esther they were delivered from an evil man’s plot to commit genocide, so they celebrate Purim. As Christians we were delivered from sin and death by Christ’s death on the cross, so we celebrate Easter. God loves it when we celebrate the miracles He’s performed in our lives.
God used this fast to deliver us from the bondage and slavery of sexual sin. And I pray that He has done the same for you as well. Therefore we should celebrate that deliverance! The way that Christian and I have started celebrating is by fasting monthly during my period.
While some people may find the Old Testament laws “old-fashioned” and “out-dated” and “there’s no need to follow them all”, I feel that following them will bring us a much greater blessing than not following them. With that being said, in Leviticus 15:19 it says, When a woman has a discharge, if her discharge in her body is blood, she shall continue in her menstrual impurity for seven days; and whoever touches her shall be unclean until evening. And in Leviticus 18:19 it says, Also you shall not approach a woman to uncover her nakedness during her menstrual impurity. (Notice, it’s a repeated scripture…) Now from some of the people I’ve talked to about these scriptures, they feel that this was simply for a cleanliness issue back then, they had no running water. However, I’m not so sure. This is blood that we’re talking about, and we KNOW how God feels about blood, it’s a serious thing for Him. So, like I said earlier, I don’t think that God can give us his full blessing if we’re not following his laws; even the “old” ones.
So, anyway, back to celebrating. As a celebration of how God has changed our marriage, every month for the 7 days of my period Christian and I mini-fast. We change clothes in the bathroom, we hug, and 10 second kiss, and that’s it. We use that time to back away from each other and draw closer to God. During the week I pray that God draw out anything that is standing between God, Christian, and I before the 7th day. And, so far we’ve had something to talk about every time. On the 7th day, I take my purity bath, prepare myself for my husband, and become the lioness again – he leads. And, it’s still amazing sex. I’ll be honest, life still happens and there are still times when things don’t go quite as we hope they will, but the intimacy is more than I ever could have hoped for. Glory to God!
Christian’s comments:
I know, husbands, I know. You’re probably thinking “What? We just started having sex again after thirty days, and now you want us to fast a week every month!” I was thinking the same thing. Believe me when I tell you, as great as the sex is when you stop each month, its better when you start again after her period. Treat this short fast as seriously at the 30 day fast. The same rules apply. No sexual activities of any kind.
You will learn so much about one another during that week. It is actually a lot of fun. So be happy in the celebration. You will get so much closer to your wife, that the sex will become even more amazing.
Categories: 365 Life, Jesus Loves YOU, Nehemiah, Numbers, True Intimacy
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