Weekend Kindness
Reaching Others Through Kindness

STRENGTHEN YOUR COMMITMENT TO YOUR MARRIAGE.

Marriage is not a contract. It is a covenant, made before God and witnesses. Marriage is not a fuzzy feeling of love. It is a commitment. It is a commitment to build a godly marriage that is a picture to the world of Christ and His bride. It is a commitment to build a family and raise a godly seed. It won’t always be easy. It’s hard work. But we are committed to the task. We take no notice of difficulties. We are not daunted by problems. We keep on with the task, because we are committed to a vision of building a godly generation. We are not concerned only with the present, but with the future, and the generations to come. We have no thought of quitting because we know that it would affect not only our children now, but also the generations to follow. We keep pressing on toward the goal, pushing through the mountains of difficulties, as we trust in our God.

Got any rivers you think are uncrossible?
Got any mountains you can’t tunnel through?
God specializes in things thought impossible!
He can do what no other can do!

God is for your marriage. He will be with you to make it strong and precious. There may be times when the tide goes out on your marriage. When the tide goes out, you see all the ugly things on the beach. When the tide goes out on your marriage, the ugly things loom large. But don’t despair. Don’t look at the rubbish. Look to the Lord. There is a divine law I want to remind you about. The tide ALWAYS COMES IN AGAIN! If you are going through a tough time, hang on to God. The tide will come in again with love and blessing and reconciliation.

~Nancy Campbell~

SANCTIFY YOUR MARRIAGE WITH PRAYER AND THANKSGIVING.

None of us are exempt from trials. We all face hard times in our marriages. What do you do? Grumble and groan? Complain and criticize? Talk negatively and nastily. Oh it is so easy to do this, because this is how we feel. But here’s the secret. Take it to the Lord in prayer. Thank Him. Trust Him. All your groaning and blaming one another will not solve the problem. God is your Deliverer! You can trust Him. Learn to hang on to God and look to Him as your source. Don’t trust in your husband’s ability alone, but in the Lord.

Make it your habit to pray and praise the Lord together daily. If you pray daily together, you’ll keep free from “the little foxes that spoil the vines” that eat away at your marriage. Make your home a house of prayer and thanksgiving. Matthew 18:19 is a wonderful promise for married couples. “If two of you shall agree on earth as touching anything that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven.” Notice these words – “If two of you…” The two of you together can claim great power and miracles in your relationship and in your home as you faithfully pray together.

And never forget the exhortation in Ephesians 4:26, “Let not the sun go down upon your wrath.” If you have an argument or get upset with one another, don’t act like a baby and put on the silent treatment. Sort it out. Say “I’m sorry.” Forgive one another. Never go to sleep until you have restored the relationship. 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18.

~Nancy Campbell~

SWEETEN YOUR MARRIAGE.

Ouch! This is a challenge to me. If I start to get a little harsh, Colin will say, “Come on, Darling, be sweet to me.” And I do have to be reminded! But he never lets me get away with sharp words. He always pulls me up to be gentle and sweet.

How do you sweeten your marriage? With words – sweet words, soft words, encouraging words, cheerful words, positive words, helpful words, supportive words, kind words, wise words, forgiving words, loving words, pleasant words and life-giving words. You can’t miss having a successful marriage if you put this secret into practice!

I am always challenged by Song of Solomon 4:11 where the Bridegroom speaks to the bride and says, “Thy lips, O my spouse, drop as the honeycomb: honey and milk are under thy tongue.” What drips from the honeycomb? Sweetness! What kind of words drip from your tongue?

A dear friend called in this morning and shared this quote with me: “People turn their best side out: they are delightful in company, but snarly at home. There they give vent to their dissatisfaction, their temper, their grouch. They are scent-bottles abroad, vinegar-bottles at home… To be a Christian at home one must learn to ‘keep sweet’.”

Your words will gradually kill your marriage or they can keep it alive with love. It’s your choice. Proverbs 18:21.

~Nancy Campbell~

My wife and I have told God that we want Him to work in our lives.  To take us and our family anywhere He pleases.  We have been looking for a house for over two years, and every time we get close, the door closes.  God tells us that it’s not the right time yet.

And yet, on the horizon is something big– something God-sized that is going on, but I’m not quite sure what it all means yet.  Let’s just say that I see the hand of the Lord on my family again, and that He is already at work preparing something for us to do.

How do I know it’s Him?  Part of it is intuition– the intuition that told me to return to my hometown, to join this current church at this time, and that told me who to marry.  Part of it is circumstance– I couldn’t begin to detail all that I’ve seen and that I’m seeing at work.  Maybe as it comes closer to fulfillment I can talk about all the marvelous ways I’m seeing Him at work.

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Praise God that He always has a plan. One year after we had joined our new church home, our church went through a time of trouble.  Just as I had been asked to be a deacon, circumstances came to bear that left us without a Pastor and some of the key pillars of the church when I had joined.

Very quickly I went from the new deacon to the deacon’s spokesman to the Deacon Chairman.  My understanding of Biblical passages and my untaintedness meant that I was the logical choice in a polarized atmosphere.  I also ended up being the Pulpit Committee Chairman in a rather uncomfortable twist of events.

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When I chose to attend Bob Jones University I wasn’t sure that it was right for me.  I did not agree with Calvanistic Doctrine.  I did not like some of the rules that were put upon the students.  And I had been the homebody that didn’t go off to Boy’s State like his brother.

However, I blended right in.  I was able to become pseudo-popular… Popular in my own circles.

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Somewhere in between debates on the presence of God and Creation and the thoughts of a God who has always been at work I’ve found myself taking a hard look at who I am, who I should be, and what it means to be a follower of Jesus Christ.

It’s easy, while you’re caught up in the day to day activities of life to miss God’s plan, to lose site of Him and to start focusing on yourself.  Each and every day I get up to do basically the same thing, with little variety, attempting to take comfort in the knowledge that God works even in the mundane, and yet the Holy Spirit has been at work in my heart to want more.

How do I know it’s Him?  Because God always comes first.  This is one of the first truths that I came face to face with in my devotional study.  We want more of God because He is at work in our hearts.

I say this because I believe that God is currently working a plan out that I have yet to see the end of– but I know it’s Him.

To understand my walk with God, you have to look back over my life, and so– as boring as it will probably be, I want to take some time of reflection, time to show you God at work, and point the way to where I see God at work right now.