"Love Never Fails"

Oh How He loves Us...

The past few months I've been blogging about what I've been learning on how to love my husband. I've also been learning during this time how much God loves us. His love never will fail us. In His perfect, infinite love He will always lavish it upon us.
I heard for the first time the song "Oh How He Loves Us" by Kim Walker a few weekends ago and what a powerful song. (you can follow the link below to check out the video..enjoy)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_GFIJXWXiyI
Here's the lyric so you can see what I mean how God lavishes His love out on us..
"He is jealous for me Love's like a hurricane,
I am a tree Bending beneath the weight of
His wind and mercy When all of a sudden,
I am unaware of these afflictions eclipsed
by glory and I realize just how beautiful
You are and how great your affections
are for me. Oh, how He loves us so

Oh, how He loves us How He loves us so.

Yeah, He loves us Woah, how He loves usWoah,
how He loves us Woah, how He loves.So
we are His portion and He is our prize,
Drawn to redemption by the grace in His
eyes If grace is an ocean we're all sinking
So heaven meets earth like a sloppy wet
kiss and my heart turns violently inside of
my chest I don't have time to maintain these
regrets when I think about the wayThat he
loves us, Woah, how He loves us Woah, how
He loves us Woah, how He loves us"
His love truly will never fail!!!

There's so many scriptures in the Bible the just jump
off the page and tell us how much God loves us...
on of the most common ones is John 3:16
There's even a whole chapter in Psalm that talks of his steadfast love endures forever
Psalm 136
1O give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever.
2O give thanks to the God of gods, for his steadfast love endures forever.
3O give thanks to the Lord of lords, for his steadfast love endures forever;
4who alone does great wonders, for his steadfast love endures forever;
5who by understanding made the heavens, for his steadfast love endures forever;
6who spread out the earth on the waters, for his steadfast love endures forever;
7who made the great lights, for his steadfast love endures forever;
8the sun to rule over the day, for his steadfast love endures forever;
9the moon and stars to rule over the night, for his steadfast love endures forever;
10who struck Egypt through their firstborn, for his steadfast love endures forever;
11and brought Israel out from among them, for his steadfast love endures forever;
12with a strong hand and an outstretched arm, for his steadfast love endures forever;
13who divided the Red Sea in two, for his steadfast love endures forever;
14and made Israel pass through the midst of it, for his steadfast love endures forever;
15but overthrew Pharaoh and his army in the Red Sea, for his steadfast love endures forever;
16who led his people through the wilderness, for his steadfast love endures forever;
17who struck down great kings, for his steadfast love endures forever;
18and killed famous kings, for his steadfast love endures forever;
19Sihon, king of the Amorites, for his steadfast love endures forever;
20and Og, king of Bashan, for his steadfast love endures forever;
21and gave their land as a heritage, for his steadfast love endures forever;
22a heritage to his servant Israel, for his steadfast love endures forever.
23It is he who remembered us in our low estate, for his steadfast love endures forever;
24and rescued us from our foes, for his steadfast love endures forever;
25who gives food to all flesh, for his steadfast love endures forever.
26O give thanks to the God of heaven, for his steadfast love endures forever.

His love does endure forever and while sharing about loving, cherishing, & honoring our spouses I can only think of what a perfect example God has given us to follow. There's no greater example of how to love someone whole-heartedly & unconditionally then the way God loves us...
He sacrificed being with His son and willingly gave His one & only precious son Jesus Christ just so that we can live eternally with Him...
That's true, unfailing Love

Now that's the perfect example of how to love our spouse. There will be times we have to a give up our own selfish desires and make sacrifices to show how much we truly love them. It's not always easy loving our spouse but then again I'm sure it's not always easy for my husband to love me at times either.
Thankfully our Heavenly Father is perfect and know's how to love us perfectly. Let's follow our Heavenly Father's example and love our spouse the way He loves us!!!

love, honor, and CHERISH

What does it really look like to CHERISH our spouses. Probably the majority of us said in our wedding vows that we would love, honor and cherish our spouse but have we really lived up to cherishing them each and every day? To be honest, I know I haven't cherished my husband each and everyday. I'm trying to learn what cherishing really means so that i can "love, honor and CHERISH" him the way God intended me to do.
CHERISH: [Verb] To care a lot for something or someone, treat with tenderness and affection; to nurture, hold dear, be fond of; be attached to; to embrace with interest; to indulge; to encourage; to foster; to promote; to protect and aid; To value something or someone; To retain a memory or wish in the mind of a source of pleasure or as an ambition; to feel love for.
I know that I definately care alot about my husband but I haven't always treated him with tenderness or affection...the everday grime gets in the way all to often. I definately can be a better nurturer if I really am honest with myself. Tommy does such an amazing job at nurturing me when I'm sick. There was only a few times when I got really sick while we were living in LA and Tommy called into work to stay home with me (since we didn't live near family) and had no one else around to take care of me...yes ladies he is very sweet and he is all mine=}. I need to learn from his example how to be a better nurturer when he gets sick. I do hold him dear to my heart but I know that I need to show it more in my actions to him. (I need to be a doer not just say "I love you" I need to show him how much I love him. For instance, by doing more special things for him, maybe take him to the park spend quality time with him, go to Barns and Nobles (one of our favorite date places...it's free to read there)=}
I also know I am fond of my husband but I defniately am no where near showing him how fond of him I am. It's so easy when we are first start dating our spouses to show them our fondness. (We're constantly thinking about how wonderful they are, so the actions just come naturally) I know I use to make Tommy a card almost every week, and a special scrapbook full of all the things I use to give him or make for him....oh how easy it is to let the daily grime get in the way.
={ sad to say it's oh so true!
And how many of us know that when we first started dating our spouses no one could pull us apart...we would go kicking and screaming before you could get us apart, but as the days go by after marriage turning into years passing it's good to get space every now and then from our spouse but we do still need to make sure we are coming back together, spending that quality time together to make sure we have the glue that keeps us attatched in the long run (when we cherish our spouse and think possitivily about them not allowing the wrongs to build up...that is the glue that will keep us together.)
When we embrace with interest we are truly listening to what our spouses are talking about, whether it's the most borring thing in the world to us but they maybe totally over-joyed about the subject and we are showing them we are interested not only in them but also in their quirks that make them up to be the person they are. So "be slow to speak and quick to listen"=]
When we indulge we take in fully, savoring the moment...so when we cherish our spouses we are fully taking them in and savoring every moment we have with them

for we don't know when our last one will be.

Are we fostering, promoting and protecting who our spouse is or are we going around complaining who they are not or who we wish they would be....remember the reasons why you married them, they are unique from who you are and that's why you married them (who would want to be married to a person just like our ownselves... I would definately get bored) My husband is definately a true gift from God, a special gift from above!!!
I most definately can improve on showing my husband the true value he is....he is a child of the Almighty God, the Creator of the universe, he has the favor of God upon His life and I just get to be a part of that blessing b/c I'm married to him.

Oh, how I know what the word CHERISH means on paper, now I need to put it into action and CHERISH Tommy the way God intending for me to.

May all of you been blessed and challenged by the "LOVE, HONOR AND CHERISH" series. I know that I sure have been. I truly look forward to God showing me more of how to Love, Honor, and cherish my most amazing husband for the rest of my life.