Share Four Somethings

Happy Tuesday, friends! I'm linking up with Heather G for this month's edition of share four somethings, where we share things that we loved, gleaned, braved (saved) and achieved. I realize I may be a little early for this post, but it's just working out like that this week. 

Loved

I loved getting away with my man for a night this month. It started off great, but it ended with him not feeling good, so we headed out early the next morning to drive back home. This was when we went to Nashville for one night to a banquet where he was honored for saving a life. That's the short version of the story, but the longer and more detailed version can be read here. 

I also loved a chance to wear this dress. I bought another one this past weekend, in a totally different print. 

Gleaned

Thanks to the Bible study I just finished, I feel like I gleaned a lot about marriage. I have always had such a high esteem for marriage, but what I learned more about was how a marriage brings glory to God. I'm continually gleaning that it is not at all about me, it's not at all about my husband. It's all about us being united together for the sole purpose of glorifying God. Sometimes we succeed at this and sometimes we greatly fail. That's another thing about marriage that I keep remembering—we mess up on an almost daily basis. We don't communicate, we don't spend time together, we are sometimes like ships passing in the night. We get it wrong a lot, is what I'm saying, but God's grace is sufficient and He gives us wisdom and new mercies everyday. I saw something on Instagram today that I loved. I'll share it below.

I think perhaps we all need to spend more time praying over our marriages. One thing I know is that the enemy is after the family and it begins with marriages. Please don't think I'm ever shaming anyone for divorce, I promise that is never my intention. It's why I share some of our own failures in the hope that everyone knows we are normal people. God does hate divorce, but He gives grace to cover it when it does happen. Sometimes a divorce is permitted that the Bible talks about and sometimes divorce is the safest thing for someone in an abusive relationship. Sometimes though, people claim to fall out of love and that's where the line is gray. Like I said, there's grace that abounds there, but no marriage is perfect and a good one takes boatloads of work and commitment. 

 Braved

Well, this isn't necessarily being brave, but I'm realizing that we're getting closer to being down to just the two of us. It's sounding sweeter and sweeter! We had a big chunk of time alone over the weekend and we LOVED it. That probably makes us sound terrible. 😂 That being said, I've been doing new things. I've been using the leaf blower and keeping things cleaned up outside of our house. I've also decided I'm going to start cutting our backyard. I know people are thinking I have boys, there's no reason I should have to do that, but here's the thing—they've all taken care of the yard since they were old enough to learn how to mow a straight line, which was around the age of eleven. They've done a great job over the years and this is nothing that I have to do. It's something I want to do. I want to put on my bathing suit and mow the grass and keep the backyard looking good. It's a good way to exercise and it's a good way to get some sun. I'm excited to start! I attempted this yesterday, but the battery on our mower was dead and that's the only thing we didn't go over when Todd talked me through this last week.

If I'm going to sit out there on the swing to read, I'd love for it to look as good and well kept as possible. 

Achieved

Did I mention I'm finished with my portion of the Bible study I'm helping to write? This is a huge achievement, because I was on the first seat of the struggle bus for months trying to get motivated and inspired to start. It's on some hard material—1,2,3 John and Jude—and it's extremely repetitive. I am so thankful to be done with my portion. All that's left for me to do on mine is to make the corrections our editor suggests and then I'll help edit the whole thing before it goes to publish. 

Your turn! What is something you've loved, gleaned, braved or achieved this month? I love looking back on these. I'd love to hear from you! Thank you for reading my blog and taking the time to comment, I always love reading what you have to say! I appreciate you more than you know. Love to all!