Last week, my husband got down on one knee in the kitchen and asked me to go steady.  In case you are wondering, I accepted.  I find him rather irresistible.

I don’t want to take my man for granted ever.  I am thankful that he still romances me, and I am learning that cherishing your spouse is a daily intentional choice.

Likewise, I create these lists every Friday because I want to earmark memories, so that I won’t forget what God is teaching me.  So, here in no particular order are ten things I learned this week:

1.  The church is a sanctuary.  I love how Jamie the Very Worst Missionary explains this through an emotional encounter she almost didn’t have with a stranger.

2.  Kendal at A Spacious Place is a gifted poet.  This week, she reminded me that “when we hold fast to things-not-god” we become a broody hen that God has to push off her nest.  Ouch!  Check out “on broodiness (oh, it’s a word).”

3.  Marriage requires unselfish investment in your spouse.   I love the wisdom my friend Rosanne at Free Indeed shared in her post “Twenty Years of Marriage — A Reflection.” 

4.  Lysa TerKeurst reminded me that my identity is in Christ in her guest post for (in)courage.  I am not in a popularity contest:

“‘For in Christ

all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form,

AND YOU HAVE BEEN GIVEN

FULLNESS IN CHRIST,’

(Colossians 2: 9-10).

I have been given fullness.

In Christ.

I can place

the wholeness of my identity in that reality…

and see everything else as small in comparison.”

5.  As a Christian, I am called to pray for my enemies.   I love Sarah’s story in this guest post over at (in) courage —  her 5th grade daughter “gets it” when it comes to the Gospel message.

“Praying for our persecutors is a grace-filled,

innocent request on the part of us, the wounded,

to honestly ask for blessings on those who do us wrong.

We must be a people who want to rain love

and grace and blessing on those who hurt us

and those who take from us.

We must be a church who prays,

with genuine hearts, for our enemies.

And we must, at the same time, wish them well.”

6.  Something magical happens when we gather around a table with friends and food.  Shauna Niequist is reminding me in her amazing book Bread and Wine: A Love Letter to Life Around the Table with Recipes.  Have you read it?  The Bloom Book Club for (in) courage will be digging into this amazing book this summer.  Go here for the details.  Here is a quote from the “Introduction” to whet your appetite:

“What’s becoming clearer and clearer to me

is that the most sacred moments

in which I feel God’s presence most profoundly,

when I feel the goodness of the world most arrestingly,

take place at the table” (p.13).

7.  In Christ, I have “an inheritance of living hope.”  I read about it this week in I Peter 1 as part of the She Reads Truth community.

8.  This week, I shared how God surrounds us with songs of deliverance.  Philippians 1:19 reminded me that my prayers are a powerful and necessary part of the equation in seeing God set my loved ones free from the bondage to sin.

9.  Studying the Bible with a group of girls can be a life-changing experience.  This week, I started reading Jennie Allen’s book Anything: The Prayer that Unlocked My God and My Soul as part of the Good Morning Girls Study.  I am sharing this journey with 20 amazing women.  I am so excited about what God is going to do in our lives!

10.  Russian Chicken with rice is a magical recipe that is easy peasy.  Try it out on your family — you will thank me.

Q4U:  What did you learn this week?

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I am joining Rachel, Jesse, and friends this weekend for