I just found out my book, So You Don’t Want to Go to Church Anymore, is about to release in Italian. Imagine that! Maybe it will find its way into the Vatican! Wouldn’t that be fun. Maybe it should be called So You Don’t Want to Go to the Cathedral Anymore! That’s the book cover at left.
I’m at LAX headed for France today and a weekend with people in the southern end of the country. As excited as I am about spending some time with some good friends of mine and meeting some new people, it was tougher leaving home today than any other trip has been. Sara and I have just had two of the most glorious two weeks together sorting out this new stage in our journey. Fortunately she joins me in a few days and as part of this trip we’ll be taking some time away just for us. I’m really looking forward to that, as is she.
We may talk in more detail about what’s going on in us up the road. I’m sorry to have frustrated some of you by being so nonspecific and I know more than a few of you have jumped to conclusions that were not accurate. What we are discovering are not the obvious things people worry about from childhood traumas, but it is allowing a new part of Sara to emerge and we are already enjoying the firstfruits of what this means in our love for each other. While we still have some miles to go together in letting Father shape all that he wants to in this season, it would be an understatement to say we are both excited about the Father’s work here. We thought we had an amazing relationship before, and in many ways we did. But now we’re finding some new places in each other’s hearts to explore together and I find myself both overjoyed and shocked that after 37 years of marriage there are still new places to discover. Who would have thought?
I’m so glad our marriage has never been static. We’ve never just settled in to a pattern of living that just allows us to coexist together. We’ve managed to stay on a journey with God that helps us keep expanding as individuals, and which has, in turn, meant we’ve had to keep expanding in our hearts to make room for the other. I’m blessed Sara keeps doing that for me, and I keep wanting to for her.
All told, this has truly been a joy. Yes it was birthed in some pain and confusion, since it caught us both off-guard. But as Sara said the other day, it feels like everything is new. And it does, which is hard to explain after all the time we’ve been together and all the joys we’ve already shared. We’re both glad the journey continues, that God’s grace is limitless, and that love can keep growing with each passing day.
So I’ll count the days until she joins me… Thanks for all the love and prayers so many of you expressed for us. Please know that we are at rest in the Lord’s working and grateful for all that has unfolded in recent weeks.
Wow, now that’s a love story!!! Thanks for sharing your hearts. I’m so encouraged! I have seen that truth in my own marriage. As my husband and I grow closer to father, we find our love for each other continues to deepen. As we discover how deeply we are loved, that felt safety frees us to be authentic with each other. When you stand before one another completely revealed and find that you are loved even more deeply, there is nothing like it!
So true Michele, I love what you wrote. For it to work though both partners have to be willing to keep discovering, keep changing, and keep providing a safe place for the other to fall. His love certainly makes our love possible. I love this part of the journey.
It is so encouraging hearing from people like you, that it is worth to invest our lives in marriage!
Where can I order “cos non vuoi piu andara in chiesa”?
I have some italian friends here in Germany 🙂
Wow, now that’s a love story!!! Thanks for sharing your hearts. I’m so encouraged! I have seen that truth in my own marriage. As my husband and I grow closer to father, we find our love for each other continues to deepen. As we discover how deeply we are loved, that felt safety frees us to be authentic with each other. When you stand before one another completely revealed and find that you are loved even more deeply, there is nothing like it!
So true Michele, I love what you wrote. For it to work though both partners have to be willing to keep discovering, keep changing, and keep providing a safe place for the other to fall. His love certainly makes our love possible. I love this part of the journey.
“But now we’re finding some new places in each other’s hearts to explore together and I find myself both overjoyed and shocked that after 37 years of marriage there are still new places to discover. Who would have thought?”
That is as exciting as it is encouraging.
It is so encouraging hearing from people like you, that it is worth to invest our lives in marriage!
Where can I order “cos non vuoi piu andara in chiesa”?
I have some italian friends here in Germany 🙂
“But now we’re finding some new places in each other’s hearts to explore together and I find myself both overjoyed and shocked that after 37 years of marriage there are still new places to discover. Who would have thought?”
That is as exciting as it is encouraging.
Yay!
Blessings on you trip to France hope you two have an awesome time!!! Also congrats on the book being in Italian….that is so wonderful, the world needs those two books “He Loves Me”, and “so You Don’t Want to go to church anymore”, I just met with a pre-med student joining me in Africa and suggested she read them both before coming. I am knocking on the door of the old group home “someplace else” in Wichita, It has gone from $90,000 to $37,000…. I am asking the realtor to ask them to donate to us as I know there is a lot of work to be done on it, but I know it works for my AIDS patients and would be a good place to have again, close to Dr. and hospital as it will be a bit longer for Newton. So Just praying God’s will, and hoping the door opens or shuts before I go to Africa! Bon Voyage… and have a great trip.
Yay!
Blessings on you trip to France hope you two have an awesome time!!! Also congrats on the book being in Italian….that is so wonderful, the world needs those two books “He Loves Me”, and “so You Don’t Want to go to church anymore”, I just met with a pre-med student joining me in Africa and suggested she read them both before coming. I am knocking on the door of the old group home “someplace else” in Wichita, It has gone from $90,000 to $37,000…. I am asking the realtor to ask them to donate to us as I know there is a lot of work to be done on it, but I know it works for my AIDS patients and would be a good place to have again, close to Dr. and hospital as it will be a bit longer for Newton. So Just praying God’s will, and hoping the door opens or shuts before I go to Africa! Bon Voyage… and have a great trip.
I hear ya. Our journey is going through changes too. Similar time together, and new and amazing…sometimes uncomfortable…discoveries are part of our lives. Prayers for you both as you explore a new phase. Thank you for being “real” and sharing your journey. your gratitude in what come your way is an inspiration.
XXXXX
I hear ya. Our journey is going through changes too. Similar time together, and new and amazing…sometimes uncomfortable…discoveries are part of our lives. Prayers for you both as you explore a new phase. Thank you for being “real” and sharing your journey. your gratitude in what come your way is an inspiration.
XXXXX
Guido. It is being published by Anastasis Editore: http://www.anastasisonlinestore.com/
Guido. It is being published by Anastasis Editore: http://www.anastasisonlinestore.com/
Love your transparancy as always. Are you guys working on a marriage book together? Thought I heard that somewhere sometime in the past. Must be sweet to be so loved by Papa. This is what pastoring looks like, sharing the struggle of the journey is so helpful. I know in my own marriage as we age I am really seeing with more clarity why the marriage metaphor is the one He chose to reflect our relationship with Him. Between my marriage and parenting He really teaches me well and loves me beyond my wildest imagination. I hope you get hit with a little Cupid in Paris Wayne and find a little romance with Sara in the city. Thank you so much for keeping it real with us.
Love your transparancy as always. Are you guys working on a marriage book together? Thought I heard that somewhere sometime in the past. Must be sweet to be so loved by Papa. This is what pastoring looks like, sharing the struggle of the journey is so helpful. I know in my own marriage as we age I am really seeing with more clarity why the marriage metaphor is the one He chose to reflect our relationship with Him. Between my marriage and parenting He really teaches me well and loves me beyond my wildest imagination. I hope you get hit with a little Cupid in Paris Wayne and find a little romance with Sara in the city. Thank you so much for keeping it real with us.
Life is such a journey. I read this great reminder this morning in another blog I read: ?”I stand on top of a rise in the road. Before me, a valley stretches, still shrouded in fog. Behind me, the sun has burned its way clear and I can see the ways I’ve come. I can make out a few of the sharper turns, various forks and crossroads where I chose this way or that for one reason or another, spots along the way where the road disappeared into a dark wood, then emerged on scenery wholly new. Well past halfway on my journey, I’ve forgotten more than I remember, and some of what I recall I don’t trust. In some ways I’m more sure of my path, in other ways I’ve never been less able to plot my course. It’s foggy ahead, and the way is not clear. Take a hand and enter the fog together. Don’t let go.” (Mike Spencer) How true! Blessings in your journey.
For the answer to Joni’s question, please check out the next blog….
Life is such a journey. I read this great reminder this morning in another blog I read: ?”I stand on top of a rise in the road. Before me, a valley stretches, still shrouded in fog. Behind me, the sun has burned its way clear and I can see the ways I’ve come. I can make out a few of the sharper turns, various forks and crossroads where I chose this way or that for one reason or another, spots along the way where the road disappeared into a dark wood, then emerged on scenery wholly new. Well past halfway on my journey, I’ve forgotten more than I remember, and some of what I recall I don’t trust. In some ways I’m more sure of my path, in other ways I’ve never been less able to plot my course. It’s foggy ahead, and the way is not clear. Take a hand and enter the fog together. Don’t let go.” (Mike Spencer) How true! Blessings in your journey.
For the answer to Joni’s question, please check out the next blog….