reformation day.

I have no qualms against celebrating Halloween - dressing up in crazy costumes and having a good time with friends.  In fact, I went to a Halloween party Saturday night - I was a woodland nymph...but I also learned a few years ago that a greater event happened on October 31st...in the year 1517.

Now, I won't claim to be an expert on the life of Martin Luther, nor will I say I agree with all of his teachings and doctrinal statements, but he was used in a pivotal way to maintain the purity of the Gospel in church history, and on one point he was most unequivocally right and clear: that salvation comes through grace alone, by faith alone, in Christ alone.

Luther grew up originally wanting to become a lawyer, but God had other things in store.  He ended up becoming a monk.  He participated in confession, self flagellation, and all aspects that accompany monk-hood.  Historical documents tell that while many of the other monks would spend about 5 minutes in confession each day, Luther oftentimes would spend up to three hours belaboring over the prior 24 hours worth of his sin.  He saw God as holy and righteous, but he mostly saw Him as a fearful, harsh Judge - and Luther was very aware of his inability to stand before His righteousness with even an ounce of sin.  While this is true of our standing before a holy God, Luther did not understand full forgiveness and the cleansing that comes through Christ...until later.

At the time of Martin Luther, the Roman Church was practicing the sale of "indulgences" as a means for mans' sins to be absolved by the Church.  This had nothing to do with the gospel or biblical teaching whatsoever in light of the fact that the gospel presents Christ's sacrifice for sin received by faith alone as the only means of salvation.  Nowhere in the Bible does it state that any man [other than Jesus Christ] has the authority to remove sin from any other man, and nowhere does it mention purchasing any indulgences from a man.

As Luther continued to study scripture in the monastery and teach theology at Wittenburg, he became increasingly aware of the stark contrast between what scripture taught about salvation through faith in Christ, and the indulgence doctrines of the Church.  One verse that he struggled with in particular was Romans 1:17: "16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. 17 For in it [the gospel] the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, "The righteous shall live by faith."   His greatest conflict with the practices going on around him was the emphasis that seemed to approve more attrition [sorrow, but not repentance] through the quick purchasing of indulgences, rather than contrition [true remorse and repentance] of sin.  Now remember that Luther was the ever-confessing monk that had seen his sin in light of a holy God who was to be feared - therefore, he was fearful that the teachings of indulgences in the Church were leading many to be blinded to the true state of their souls: he felt that the indulgence movement was a cheapening of forgiveness and a cheapening of grace [as put by R.C. Sproul]. 

So when, on that fateful day 494 years ago, Luther marched up to tack his 95 Theses on a church door, he wasn't attempting to start something new, but his purpose was to expose theological issues within the Church, get back to the basic truths of the gospel, and consequently, show many the error of their ways in hopes that they may turn in repentance to Christ.  He saw how the Church had gotten much too big, and the Cross much too small.  Salvation was not and is not based on church authority, the buying of indulgences, your own "goodness," or practicing the ordinances.  

Let me give you a verse from God's very own Word that expounds on this: 

"Yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law, but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified." Galatians 2:16

And again: 

"For it is by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast." Ephesians 2:8-9

During Luther's time, the Church was the most powerful institution in the world.  Knowing this, it only makes Luther's endeavor to expose truth all that more impacting and inspiring.  He stood alone; therefore, he must have firmly believed in the errors of the Church, otherwise, why would he have risked his life and reputation?

If you are still hoping and believing that your own good works will save you when the time comes to stand before a Holy, Righteous, Perfect Judge that can only allow holiness, righteousness, and perfection in His sight, then I, in line with Luther, urge you to examine your heart and your understanding of truth to see that Christ is the only Holiness, the only Righteousness, and the only Perfection that you can ever, and will ever need.  Serve Him today as Lord of your life, in full repentance of sin, relying only on His perfect work on the cross for your full forgiveness in the sight of the perfect God who delights in His Son. 

This is truth from God's Word, and I pray that He opens your eyes to see it.   I am glad that the Lord provided such a man at such a time: that the Reformation would allow for greater clarity of the Gospel, and that ultimately, the truths of scripture would prevail in being exposed in glorious light.

Much love, and to all who delight in these glorious truths, Happy Reformation Day!

like a regular grenadian...

...I attended a school talent show tonight.  All. By. Myself.

That's right folks, Marieke and I were invited to attend a dance recital [which was much, much more] by the girls that we work with at the orphanage, but Marieke is taking classes online and was unable to attend.  I thought it would still be a good thing for me to go and show my support - plus get a little insight into the daily lives of our girls :) The girl I work with mostly ["T"] no longer attends this school because she graduated and now attends a "transitional" school, but she made a couple guest appearances in some of the dances [there were so many!!!] and the other two girls were in various skits/dances/songs throughout the night as well.

It was supposed to start at 5pm.  Well, this is Grenada, so it didn't start then, and actually, I ended up leaving early because it was coming on 8pm and still wasn't over, and I needed to come home and cook meals.  I think it would have been over soon, but the girls had seen me and I didn't want to walk home any later.  

The show was to benefit/celebrate 35 years of the Special Education School of Grenada.  It was held on the second floor of a parish, and it was definitely a different experience from any school talent show I had ever been to - not in a bad way, just in a Grenadian way.  For instance:  the "program" was hardly followed, and because many of the kids were in many of the performances, and each performance had a different costume, much of the program was held up in order for them to be able to change.  The emcee promptly opened the mic up for anyone who might want to share a talent, and even belted a song for us himself.  The teachers even had more than 3 performances, I think.  It was very long, but it was sweet to see so many kids express their creativity.  "M," who Marieke works with, was in too many acts to count.  Apparently, she has a thing for the stage :)  Here are some pictures from the night:

 Here we are...M is on the mic to the right, belting her heart out :)

 This was a cute skit of "Old MacDonald" - I didn't know any of the kids, but it was sweet.

 Here's M again, doing her thang.

 And again.

 This is A, second from the right. Marieke and I share time on Thursdays working with her.

 This was a sweet mother/daughter song.  It was so cute - the little girl watched her mom the whole time, and her mom got really into it, haha.

 View from the back.

 Rendition of Cinderalla...this was a VERY reluctant prince, who also happens to be a kid I know from the LIMES program.

 I've never seen the Cinderella story have so much attitude...seriously.  Mostly thanks to yours truly, M...in the checkered dress.  I don't know where this girl got all her costume changes.  It was ridiculous.

 There's T!  [Furthest on the left]

 

She's so pretty!  Love this girl- she's super sweet.

Here are some links of two of the performances, little snippets really:

Kids Singing "World's Greatest"

M and T's Dance

Hope everyone's night is going well! Much love.

how to throw a fall festival in grenada.

Step 1:  

Hire these two party planners. 

Step 2:

Hang fall leaves cut out from a brownie box from the ceiling and doorway of your kitchen.

Step 3:  

Make a "Jack'O Lantern" from a brown paper bag received when you bought some food from a local food stand [a "hot double" to be exact: chickpeas served on fried bread with mango/hot pepper sauce - sound gross?  It's actually amazing and now I want one...]

Step 4: 

Make a homemade centerpiece using an old wine bottle and more of that glorious cardboard from a cake mix box.  Surround the whole thing with beach glass from the local beach :)

Step 5:  

Make one of my favorite fall treats: spice cake mix and canned pumpkin - baked bite-sized.  Serve with Funfetti frosting as an option on the side [because it is just as amazing without frosting]

Step 6:  

Retrieve a care package from the post office downtown that contains candy corn exclusively sold in the US [donated by Marieke and Ryan].  Careful, it melts in the heat...

Step 7:  

Make brownies and sprinkle homemade caramel on top [left over from the HP party, ha!]

Step 8: 

Whip up a vat of cocoa tea and dish it out in any mugs you are blessed to have! 

Step 9:  

Invite people over!  Play Mafia, eat all the treats, drink all the cocoa tea, then end the night watching October Sky :)

Tah-dah!  You have the most perfect Grenadian Fall Festival this side of the equator. 

Note: take more pictures...unfortunately, Mafia left me too distracted to document the 10 people over last night :)  But it was a blast!  

[PS - Marike also received tattoos in her care package...note her willingness to give them to all fall festival attendees below...]

 And by the way: Happy Grenadian Thanksgiving!  

J and the rest of SGU has off today for the national holiday :) 

YAY! Hus is home! :)

random post.

Wanted to share a couple things in a quick post today...Dad sent pictures via email of the pumpkin project that he, mom and Livie did the other day:

 This is J, me, Anna and Livie - I think they did a good job, huh? 

J's teeth look a little scary though, not sure what this means...he liked his scruff, though...haha :)

On another note, this song has been in and out of my head for about two weeks now, so I wanted to share it...from the new Phil Wickham album, check it out:

Phil Wickham - Joy

Well, the Fall Festival is happening tonight.  Currently, our cleaning lady is cleaning around me - our house is a MESS, but I wasn't expecting her this early, and I was planning on tiding up a bit later...I told her not to worry about a few things *sigh - I've never really been embarrassed about my house til right now.  Oh well :)  

I'll post Fall Festival pictures tomorrow, Lord willing.  

Much love.

summore limes.

So I stole some pictures from Jessie [you've "met" her here before] of Limes day this past Wednesday.  I hadn't been in a couple of weeks because of the new orphanage schedule with Marieke, but I decided to do both this past week - it was an eventful day to say the least, but the pictures are super cute, and Jessie did a great job of capturing the kids :)

It started here...innocently reading and helping with worksheets.

 Which led to..."Miss, I will plait [braid] your hair..."

 Which led to this... [you can see our wonderful wall in this photo]

 Then this...[seriously, this little man should go into the hair business...]

 And finally this...

Sunglasses are a favorite amongst kids everywhere, apparently.  Love this little girl.

 And I just loved this picture - perfect capture right there.  This little one is hilarious - quite the 'tude for such a little person :)
Super cute pic of Jessie and some of the kids.

LOVE this little brother & sister - he is so protective of her, it's really sweet :)


Hope everyone's weekend is going well - much love.

night at the art auction.

Last night was one of the coolest fundraisers I have ever attended.  I found out earlier this week that there was going to be an art auction for the two orphanages that the SOs work with: the Queen Elizabeth Home and Bel Air.  The art was painted by the kids during one of their "beach days," which the OSO [Orphanage Student Organization] organizes for the kids every week.  Marieke and I go to Bel Air Home twice a week [Tuesdays and Thursdays] to work with three of the older girls who have very little reading skills, and it has been cool to get to know them and figure out the best ways to help them.  Both orphanages have been able to get a lot of their funding from fundraisers like this one, so when I heard the art auction was to benefit them, I was excited to go.

OSO put on the event.  It was held under a large tent at the end of campus, in front of the "Caribbean House," which has, on its opposite side, a beautiful view of the ocean.  A neighbor and I ended up catching the same bus to campus, so we arrived together.  There was a slide show going of all the children holding their individual paintings.  I recognized many of them from Bel Air, but since I have never been to the other orphanage, I didn't know a few.  Music created the atmosphere to roam around and check out the art that was laid beside its corresponding "bidding" sheet. 
There were tables full of wine, cheese and crackers, as well as coffee and homemade goodies [I was able to snag one of the last pumpkin spice muffins with cream cheese frosting! YUM! What a perfect compliment to an art auction ;) ] The Caribbean house itself had been decorated with tapestries, candles, and twinkle lights, transforming it into a coffee shop of sorts.  Musicians sang, poets read, and piano players played throughout the night.  I would guess that there were about 250 people that showed up overall.  It was a nice set up in that you did not have to stay the whole time to see if you won, you were able to leave your bid with your email and they would contact you later.  However, since I [and other SOs] had all the time in the world, I was able to stay until the end - and yes! I won my painting! :) I wish I had brought my camera to take pictures of the whole thing, but I thought that since it was art done by the kids, and the orphanages seem to be rather sensitive about pictures, I shouldn't snap photos; however, I don't think it would have been a problem, and since this fundraiser is held every semester, I will be sure to get pictures then :)

After winning my painting, Natalie, her husband Jade, Sarah and I headed into the "coffee shop" since we still had a half hour to wait for our bus home :)  We listened to a girl sing "Drops of Jupiter," and then we were able to listen to a great piano piece by another girl.  It was wonderful to say the least.  I think last night showed me how "art-starved" I have been here: no shows to go to, no random art pieces hanging on a local coffee shop wall, no street performers, etc.  I was soaking it all in, and I've got to say I was very, very impressed by OSO's creativity and final production.  We left after the piano performance and I met Jonathan at the bus stop.  I told him all about it, and hopefully he will be able to come to the one next semester - I know I will :) 

J has no classes today, and since the Grenadian Thanksgiving is on Tuesday, Marieke and I are throwing a "Fall Festival" on Monday night [pictures and post will follow, obviously] and we have a long weekend of sorts [he still has class on Monday, but only for a little] so this weekend is full of possibilities :) Hope all is well with everyone - soak in the glory of art and music! Much love.

our daily bread.

This morning started with a walk to the local police station.

This would seem like a very intriguing story, but in reality, it was only so I could meet Marieke and we could get our temporary driving permits.  Once that was over [about 5 minutes of my life] we walk along the beach for a while and collected sea glass.  Eventually, she went her way back to campus and I continued to walk until it started to rain and I figured it might be best to get home, just in case it turned into another torrential downpour and I was caught husband-less.

Turns out, it was just a heavy rain, and it actually felt great to get soaked.  I got home, started some laundry, started dinner, and started...yeast bread.

Now, my dear friends know the relationship I have with yeast.  It isn't a good one - I've never successfully made a delicious loaf of nutritional homemade goodness.  This is unfortunate seeing as I enjoy making delicious and nutritious homemade things.  But today, seeing as we are currently over budget for groceries for the week and in need of bread...I decided to try one.more.time.  Well, maybe not the last time ever, but knowing my previous history...

So I began my process with the yeast, warm water, whole wheat flour, etc., literally praying that this loaf would turn out - partially because I really wanted to know I could make bread from scratch, and the other partially because it would be 4 cups of flour or so down the drain if it failed.  So I found myself praying, "Lord, please let this bread rise.  I can't do it, but You can."  This may seem like a hysterical thing to pray, especially considering that I was also talking to my bread dough among other things, but it also got me to thinking: aren't we are supposed to pray for our daily bread?  I mean, it's in the "Lord's Prayer" - the one Jesus gave to his disciples as an example of how to pray: 

"Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. 

Your kingdom come, your will be done,
    on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts,
   as we also have forgiven our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation,
   but deliver us from evil." Matthew 6:9-13

Now, I know that "daily bread" can mean a lot of things - overall provision is the point, and not necessarily a loaf of bread in and of itself, but I think I can go with the "basic loaf of bread concept" for a while...

Today, we can hop over to the store and purchase a ready-to-eat loaf of our choice, Whole wheat, white, cinnamon raisin...it's probably even made by a machine! And it's no biggie.  But back in the day, when women much much better than I did everything from scratch, it was probably more of a hit or miss kind of deal, I'm sure [especially if any of them were my ancestors, more misses than hits...just guessing].  My point is: I think it is much easier in our day and age to assume that everything will happen they way we need to happen, be at the store for us to pick up, go as planned, etc.  We are continuing to lose our ability to rely on the Lord in and for everything due to our "convenience" culture, don't you think?  I mean, when was the last time you prayed that God would handle something as seemingly insignificant like making your attempt at bread dough rise?  

I mean, I can't make bread dough rise.  I can mix all the ingredients like the directions say, but beyond that, I'm helpless.  So isn't it amazing that the Lord would bless me with two awesome loaves of bread from 4 cups of flour, some water, and some yeast?  Yes, I believe so, and it was a glorious reminder of the intimate mercies of God to pull them out of the oven 3 hours later or so [yes - praise the Lord, they rose and baked great! :)]

My contribution ended with
this first picture right here:                            It rose!                Never been able to punch bread before!

I was going to do one huge loaf, but seeing it so big was ridiculous, so I made it two.  Wish they had risen a little more "up" then "out" but oh well :)  I have plenty of time to try again!

And now, a quote I stumbled upon again:  

“Ever plan for yourself in simple dependence on God. It is nothing less than self-idolatry to conceive that we can carry on even the ordinary matters of the day without His counsel. He loves to be consulted. Consider no circumstance too clear to need his direction. In all thy ways, small as well as great; in all thy concerns, personal or relative; temporal or eternal, let Him be supreme. Who of us has not found the unspeakable ‘peace’ of bringing God matters to minute or individual to be entrusted to the most confidential ear?” - Charles Bridges

 

 Anyway, to sum all this up:  Quite literally, live in constant reliance on God, and praise Him for our daily bread, and everything in between :)

Much love.

the height of tourism.

This weekend has been another busy one...it started with an island tour courtesy of the SO organization that went from 10am-5:30pm and we literally went around the WHOLE island.  We started off at the two forts from the French/British colonization times [maybe...I don't really pay much attention on historical tours, I know, I know...bad me...] and then we went to Carib's Leap, where several Grenadian prisoners jumped to their deaths rather than surrender to an opposing army [British or French?  Again, bad me...] and become slaves.  We went from there to the best part of the tour [in my opinion]: the Belmont Estate. First off, I think its hilarious that everywhere I go has something named Belmont, but beyond that, it was just generally awesome.  They also have several animals there, including goats, from which they make great goat cheese [I brought some Garlic & Chive cheese home to my husband and I and I'm pretty sure we will finish it by tomorrow...we miss having great cheese!]  Belmont Estate also produces the chocolate for the Grenadian Chocolate Company, and it is AWESOME.  We got a bar of it from the store a week or so ago, and it reminded us of Theo Chocolate - the only organic, fair trade chocolate produced in the states [and discovered on our honeymoon] in Seattle, WA. 
We had the option of eating lunch there, but I had brought mine with me, so the other girls and I who ate our own lunches were able to explore a little more than everyone else who had to sit down and eat.  We discovered the array of mimicking parrots, the billy goat, regular goats, meaner donkeys, slow tortoises, and the historical decor from the original estate.  Once everyone was finished with lunch, we went on the official tour of the chocolate processing "plant," and we were even able to "walk" through the cocoa beans [they still use a person to "till" the beans every half hour by walking through them - this helps the beans dry out quickly and evenly...interesting.  I feel sorry for whoever has to eat the chocolate aided by my feet...ah well.  I was able to bring some more chocolate home to my excited husband, so that was also cool.  After the tour, we went to the old airport.  It seems like it was just deserted one day, with no explanation or clean-up. There are still buildings advertising duty-free goods, and two or three airplanes that have just been left to rust and inhabited by plants.  We were not expecting to find the official guard dog of these planes, however: a full grown male cow who was not about to let any of us get too close. He charged at us twice, but once was enough for me - I headed back to the bus :)  We were also supposed to go to a rum distillery, but we ran out of time.  I didn't really mind, I think everyone was ready to get back by the time we did - for some reason, riding in buses takes it out of you.  I got quite a few pictures, so I am only going to post a few "key" shots...we'll see :)

 Fort.

 Carib's Leap view...we could see other islands!  [sorry you can't see them here...]

 Me in a "dress" [Marieke said it looked like I was in a dress] in a mirror from the old plantation stuff.

 What up.

 Yo, Billy...good luck getting back in your cage...

 Raw nutmeg! How cool, huh?

 RAW CHOCOLATE!!!!!!  It was weird, kinda sweet, a little slimy...interesting to say the least.

 Everyone turning the chocolate beans.

 I have "sock patterns" on my feet, haha :)

 Chocolate Tea done AMAZING!

Oh geez.

Yesterday, we bought a car.

Yep.  One of Marieke's MBA professors was selling her car since she is leaving the island after living here for 3 years.  We all went in on the cost and got a really awesome deal, and we hope to be able to sell it for a little bit of profit, or at least even for the price we paid when it gets time for us to leave.  Cars don't depreciate much here - any car [the cheaper the better] is always in high demand among students. We are going to try to keep driving to a minimum, but it will be nice to have for store trips, when people visit, and when we want to get a little further up the island without paying bus fees, etc.  It's a little weird to realize that I don't need to take the bus for everything.  I'll post some pictures later.  Ryan and J are very excited that it is a "manly" color [grey], haha.

But along with doing that, J was able to take a good study break and he and I spent some time on Grand Anse Beach.  It was very relaxing and nice to hang out together for a while.  After that, we came home and he got ready to go back to campus to study and go to his Bible Study.  Marieke came to hang out for a while during that time, and then they switched again when she left and J came home.  I was able to talk to my dear AJ before he came home, too.  

This morning we went to church, and now J is on campus and I came home to make dinner for tonight as we're having some friends over :)  Black bean "burritos" are our go-to food for the masses :)  And I think we will enjoy some chocolate tea with homemade pumpkin spice syrup [it's really good, actually!] and some pumpkin cookies for desert :)  I was missing our home church again today, but every Sunday seems to bring on all my "missing" feelings.  I'm grateful to have fellowship here, too, but I deeply miss our church family back at home!  

Anyway, it's been a long weekend, but very good nonetheless.  We gotta cram these weekends full of fun whenever we can! :)  I hope everyone's Sunday was full of rejoicing in the Lord's grace and glorious mercy in sending Christ for our sins: allowing us to have life to the fullest if we turn in repentance to receive this grace and are, with full assurance of faith, living in obedience to Him. 

Grace, peace, and much love to all.

a tribute to marriage.

Today marks my parents' 26th wedding anniversary.  

To me 26 years is a long time, but I asked Mom if she felt like it had been that long.  She said no.  I've decided that in life you will never really believe how old you are, or how long you have been married, but I guess that's a good thing - it reminds us how fleeting life is, and how a "long time" is really very short.

But I wanted to post a post in honor of my parents' marriage for a few reasons.  

One:  They are my parents.  I know no other marriage [outside of my own] as intimately as theirs - I grew up watching them interact, share joys and sorrows, happiness and burdens, and raise their kids to know obedience, love, and fear of the Lord from day one.

Two: It is an awesome thing to see a marriage that is still flourishing in a time when marriage and family are quickly losing value and "societal norms" are up for grabs.  

Three:  It is even better to see a marriage rooted and grounded in the eternal truths of the gospel, having been established through and for God, and still honoring Him years later.

I think it is important to glorify marriage in general versus marriage specifically because it wouldn't make much sense for me to say something like, "Hey, congrats, Mom and Dad, for keeping it together this long!" because [and I know they would agree] it is all the work of the Lord.  There are plenty of marriages that are just "lasting" based on "old-fashioned" societal standards, or religious rules that prohibit divorce, when in reality the "married couple" are living like a functionally divorced couple...but at least they live in the same house.  That is sad.  That is not what God intended, and that is not what marriage looks like if He is intimately involved.   Does this mean that every Christian couple will have a perfect marriage, or that they are guaranteed an "easy time" if they prioritize God? No.  But they also certainly won't be functionally divorced. 

One of our pastors back home always includes this line in his marriage sermons: "The God of the Bible is no prude."  He created marriage to be enjoyed by man and wife - no ball and chains here! Marriage was meant to display His glory by reflecting the glorious truth of Christ and the Church.  Just as Christ is the head of the Church, nourishing and cherishing it - giving His life up for it - the husband is to so cherish and nourish his wife, seeking her good in every way [Ephesians 5:29, paraphrased] and wives are to love their husbands and to be self-controlled, pure, kind, and submissive [Titus 2:4b-5, paraphrased].  When husbands and wives realize their God-given assignments, they are free to live out the gospel in these roles for all the world to see.  Realizing the  different roles men and women are to fill in a marriage brings about a harmony the world is still trying either to fight or hopelessly figure out.  Only God knows how to bring about peace in marriages that otherwise would be marred by futile attempts at 50/50 contributions and endless debates over every mundane circumstance that might threaten the happiness of either person.  God allows a marriage to operate in the realization that they are, in fact, one flesh under God's authority, and are therefore about to seek the good of one another, nurturing their marriage, and ultimately glorifying God by showing the world how it was always meant to be.  

This harmony is impossible, of course, for people who have not submitted to Christ as Lord of their lives - meaning, whatever shots He is calling, you're obeying.  If there is no recognition of the authority that God has over everything [including the very details of marriage], then there is no desire to please Him, no power to obey Him, and no willingness to lay down a life for another.  The ability to do any of this comes when Christ's sacrifice for sin has been accepted personally - realizing that no human efforts can earn eternal glory, but only the cleansing blood of God's only Son - the only thing that has power and authority before the throne of God.   Once this realization hits, your life takes off.  There isn't anything you wouldn't do to obey God, and loving people is a liberal display of what Christ has already done for you - if you've been forgiven of all sin, how can you not freely forgive anyone who sins against you?  If Christ gave His very life for you, how can you not deny your own desires and wishes for another in love?

So let's get this back to marriage.  Marriage is meant to display all of that in a nutshell:  two sinners living under the same roof, if they realize the authority of God in all areas of their lives, will freely serve, forgive, cherish, nourish and love one another out of the overflow of the Love they have already received.  

My parents know this Love and honor this ultimate Authority, and even though their marriage and child rearing has not been easy, they have kept God at the center, and they have taught it to their children.  I'm sure that if you ask them the success to their 26 years of marriage, they won't tell you about how keeping Friday date nights is pivotal [although I'm sure it doesn't hurt ;)] or how having kids fulfills all your hopes and dreams [HA!].  But I am sure that they would be able to tell you of the grace they have received that allows them to be gracious to one another.  That the ultimate Sacrifice by which they have been freed from sin allows them to serve one another, give preference to one another, and sacrifice time and energy to do what the other wishes.  There is no "secret" to marriage - it has been laid out clearly in the Word of God, and if your life is ruled by Him, your marriage certainly will be as well.  

I leave you with this encouragement:

"For by Him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities - all things were created through Him and for Him. And He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.  And He is the head of the body, the church.  He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything He might be preeminent." 

Colossians 1:16-18

So Happy Anniversary, Mom and Dad!  May God grant you many more as you continue to seek and honor Him with your lives together, being held together by Him, and making Him preeminent in all things :)

Scary what Google can give you, eh? Haha...