Fabulous Friday!

Last night I surprised John with our Fabulous Friday date night! (A huge thanks to all of your fun ideas here. I used parts of all of them!).

Since John loves boats and we recently purchased one for our family, I decided to go with a boating theme. When he came home from work, I gave him a note with clues that told him to sit back and relax while I drove him to dinner. We ended up at Snug Harbor ~ one of our favorite restaurants in Grand Haven, Michigan. We had a front row table right along the water. The Lord blessed us with such a beautiful, clear night. It was fabulous!!

After dinner, we found a bench along the boardwalk. I surprised him with a photo album of different boats that John and his family have owned throughout the years. (A huge thank you to my inlaws for putting that together for us!). It was so much fun to look at his childhood memories together ~ and dream of how we can create new family experiences with our 4 kids. What fun!

Before leaving Grand Haven, we also went to watch the sunset. We went to a State Park that has steps up the sand dunes. We climbed all the stairs and were able to view the sun set from high up in the trees. It was a magnificent sight!!

So why do I share all of this??

To celebrate God's goodness and faithfulness in my marriage!

There was a season a few years ago where John and I weren't sure we were going to make it.

Our marriage was at a very low place. We were blessed with many friends and family members that dropped everything to join us in begging God for a miracle.

They prayed for us, fed us, helped with the kids, gave us time off of work, and so much more ~ journeying closely with us and speaking words of TRUTH to us along the way. It was a long, hard, painful season ~ but worth it to now experience the unconditional love and joy that we have in our marriage .

Stormie Omartian writes in her book "The Power of a Praying Wife"...

"The joy of seeing something hopelessly dead brought to life is the greatest joy we can know. The power that resurrected Jesus is the very same power that will resurrect the dead places of your marriage and put life back into it. (God both raised up the Lord and will also raise us up by His power. 1 Corinthian 6:14) It's the only power than can!

But it doesn't happen without a heart for God that is willing to gut it out in prayer, grow through tough times, and wait for love to be resurrected. We have to go through the pain to get to the joy."

I have these pages in my book highlighted and underlined and starred. What a blessing to look back on those days where all I knew was that God was faithful, and see how He breathed new life and love into our marriage and resurrected it to life. Thank You, God!!

If you are married and things are going well for you, may I encourage you to stop and thank God for His goodness in your life. And if you are currently experiencing a harder season, may I encourage you to stop and pray for God to breathe His life and power into your marriage.

He is in the business of resurrections!

And if today finds you single, may I encourage you to keep your focus up. God knows what He is doing, and will bring the perfect person at the perfect time. May He grant you patience and peace as you wait on Him.

And for all of us, may the Lord continue to keep our hearts open and tender as He transforms us more and more into the men and women He desires us to be!! Let's pray...

Thank You Lord for Your goodness and faithfulness in our lives. Please help us to keep our eyes fixed on You and to be used by You to bless those around us. Thank You for being a God of resurrections and miracles and joy!! Fill our days with more of You. For Your purpose. For Your Glory alone. In Jesus Name! Amen!!!