He is Risen, He Is Risen, Indeed!! I hope that you and your family have a wonderful Easter.

Jesus’s death showed many that He was God on Good Friday:

Today’s Scripture Sunday is from Luke 10. We were talking about parables this evening in small group. This has always been my favorite parable. It amazes me just how much God loves us. Enough to send his Son to die for us so that we could go to heaven one day.  When I think of the love that I have for my children, I can’t imagine allowing them to die a painful death for someone else, but God loved us so much that he did.

So, since God first loved us, we are able to love others as well. This week I am going to try to show love to my neighbors. It will be a crazy and stressful week. I have so much planned, I am exhausted just thinking about it, but I am going to try to show others love regardless as opportunities arise. I hope that you find an opportunity to show love to others as well this week!

²⁵On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?”

²⁶“What is written in the Law?” he replied. “How do you read it?”

²⁷He answered: ” ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’^[c]; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’^[d]”

²⁸“You have answered correctly,” Jesus replied. “Do this and you will live.”

²⁹But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”

³⁰In reply Jesus said: “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he fell into the hands of robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. ³¹A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. ³²So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. ³³But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. ³⁴He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, took him to an inn and took care of him. ³⁵The next day he took out two silver coins^[e] and gave them to the innkeeper. ‘Look after him,’ he said, ‘and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.’

³⁶“Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?”

³⁷The expert in the law replied, “The one who had mercy on him.”
Jesus told him, “Go and do likewise.”

I am actually going to send you to another site today for Scripture Sunday. I met Kimberly from Raising Olives at Blissdom. She is a wonderful, Christian woman. She has a 90 day challenge going on on her website, and is talking about Isaiah, Jeremiah and God’s love and punishment. I thought you guys would enjoy reading her post. You can check it out here.

We have been talking about love and marriage this month in Sunday School. Today we actually covered a verse that has  been so important to my marriage.

I was definitely not the perfect wife when I first got married. I had a lot of growing up still to do. I am sure that I am still not the perfect wife today, but I am definitely improved from the beginning of our marriage. The first 6 months of our marriage, I pretty much thought that I knew best about everything, and argued over every little thing with my husband. However, 6 months into our marriage, I read Ephesians 5. The verse that really stuck out to me was verse 33. I needed to respect my husband. This was something that I was not doing at the time.

I decided then and there to start respecting him. What a difference that made. I actually saw that he was almost always right. He is a very logical, smart man who loves me a ton. He always has my best interests at heart. Honestly, his decisions were almost always better than mine. As I started respecting him, I saw him in a new light, really the way he always was.

He of course listens to me, and I listen to him. We are a partnership. We make decisions together, but I have learned to listen to his opinion and value it more. I think that it is so important to a man that his wife respects him, just as important as it is to a wife that her husband loves her.

So this week, I challenge you to look for ways that you respect your husband. Offer him sincere compliments and appreciation for the things that he does for you. Those things only increase love in a marriage.

Here are some things that I really respect my husband for (small and big):

1. He is such a great dad, and spends time with our kids.
2. He always takes the trash out. (Seems small, but I really appreciate it. And, we have a LONG driveway!)
3. Being the spiritual leader of our house
4. Being such a good provider
5. Making me feel safe.
6. I love how smart he is. He knows all these random history, science, and political facts that are fun to hear.
7. He is really frugal and good with money.
8. He thinks through decisions.
9. He loves me, and makes me feel like the most incredible woman in the world.
10. There is so much more, but since he reads my blog, and I don’t want to embarrass him. I think I’ll stop there. (-:

So those are my tips. I am definitely no marriage expert, but I do know that the Bible is always right, and this verse in particular was very important for me.

What ways do you respect your husbands?

Ephesians 5:25-33

²⁵Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her ²⁶to make her holy, cleansing^[b] her by the washing with water through the word, ²⁷and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. ²⁸In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. ²⁹After all, no one ever hated his own body, but he feeds and cares for it, just as Christ does the church— ³⁰for we are members of his body. ³¹“For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.”^{[c] 32}This is a profound mystery—but I am talking about Christ and the church.³³However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.

Since it is Valentine’s Day, I thought it would be appropriate to talk about love today. I love my hubby and my family so much, but God loves us even more than we can imagine. Isn’t it wonderful to know that!  Jesus said that the most important things was to love.

I Cor. 13:4-8     Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails.