LOVE NEVER FAILS

Last but definately not least...

as we are coming to an end of 1 Cor. 13:4 - 8a this statement of "Love Never Fails"

ties all the rest of the words describing love together

(Love is.... patient, kind, does not envy, does not boast, is not proud, is not rude, is not self-seeking, is not easily angered, keeps no records of wrongs, does not delight in evil, it rejoices with the truth, always protects, always trusts always hopes, and always perseveres)

this statement brings all of the words together to the full impact of what love is stating that when you truly love your spouse in these ways your love for them will never fail and will always come through for that person...they know they can always count on you.

"Love Never Fails" !!!

I started this journey out with Love and what I believe love really is, because most of our Marriages start out with us falling in love with our spouses...that's why we married them. We have hopes and dreams we share together and desire to share our lives with that other person for a life time.

That's why Tommy and I got married...we had hopes and dreams we desired to share together living them out together for a lifetime... I'm sad to say I haven't always loved Tommy fully in the ways 1 corinthians describes love. After 5 years of marriage I have really taken a look at this passage of scripture and tried to love Tommy in each of these 15 ways. It's not easy but the results are definately worth it. I figured, Lord willing I have another good 40 + years I get to keep on loving Tommy in (patience, kindness, not being envious, not boasting, not being proud, not being rude, not self-seeking, not easily angered, keeping no record of wrongs, not delighting in evil, but rejoices with the truth, always protecting, always trusting, always hoping for the best, and always persevering).

Baby, I'm looking forward to kissing you & loving you for another 40 + years. ;} you are the love of my life, and a dream come true. Thank you for loving me, for me!!!

(I'm the luckiest woman on earth to have such a great husband like you)!!!

Love Always Perseveres

Oh, this is a good one!!! It's not always easy to persevere through

hard times. I love running, and I hope to run a marathon someday.

I trained back in 2003 with Team in Training

(which is an organization that raises funds for children and adults who have leukemia) they train people to run marathons and triathlons.

My first marathon was going to be in Anchorage, Alaska but 3 weeks before we were to fly up there to run I got in a car accident and sad to say, was unable to run the marathon. Although I did complete a 20 mile run before the week of the car accident, so when I say I know what it means to persevere through long runs (I know what that truly means.) Through our long runs I really experienced what physical perseverance was. You keep pushing yourself to keep running to reach your goal. This only makes you grow and strive for so much more, you learn so much about yourself and life in general along the way. When you push through the hurt and pain and keep striving and persevering you become a better you and you reach more of you potential then you could have ever imagined.

My amazing husband running the Long Beach, CA marathon....I'm so proud of him!!!
(you can ask him what it means to persevere physically

and he can tell you 26.2 miles is not a cake walk).

The same is true when we persevere through the hardships that life brings us. They are difficult to go through but the end result is oh so worth it. You become a better person and in marriage a better spouse and your marriage grows from your willingness to persevere. Keep holding onto the hope and truth that you are becoming a better person and better spouse that is going to reap the reward of your perseverance through the hard times.

Love Always Hopes

Hope is a great thing... it brings life to our dreams and allows us to look forward to the future.
I know that many of us on our wedding day we were all filled with lots of hope.

You can always see it in the bride and groom's eyes...the excitement and life they are both looking forward to sharing together.

But how many of us allow the day to day grime to get to us?! I know that it takes an effort to keep that hope and dreams alive. It's part of the commitment we make to our spouses on our wedding day. It's a choice we make on a daily basis to keep that hope of a life long love growing.
The day I got married brought alot of hope for my future.

I looked forward to the many years ahead I'm going to spend with my husband.

It's hard to believe that this Friday we will be celebrating our 5th Anniversary. We always try to plan something fun to do on our Anniversaries. We had the privaledge of our first 3 years to spend our Anniversaries in California, so we either went to the mountains

(which are kind of hard to find here in Texas)=}

or we would try to get a hotel on the beach...

(which was usually a little over an hour drive depending on traffic...

now it's over a day drive for us) ={

So we have to go with what we have within a few hours drive this time around.. Most likely we will be going to Dallas this year. I love just hanging out with my husband, we have so much fun. We are actually are having 2 little get aways for this anniversary. Just a week ago we were blessed with a condo for 2 nights in Ruidoso, NM and had a great time

going fishing and just hanging out with each other. And then this weekend we are headed up to Dallas...WOW, WE ARE SO BLESSED!!! The best part about the trips is that I will be with the greatest man in the whole wide world...

and I look forward to many more Anniversaries we are going to be able to spend together!!! Anniversaries have brought hope to my life in looking forward to special trips with the man of my dreams but the every day life just getting to know my husband more and more brings hope to me. He is so amazing there's so much more I look forward to getting to know about him!!!

Love Always Trusts

WOW... how many of us can really say that we ultimately trust our spouse with everything? Trust has been a process for me. My husband was the first guy I dated for a long period of time (which I'm totally grateful for....there was no one else who could compare to him, he's the most amazing man ever!!!) although I have had to learn to release things slowly to build my trust in my spouse. It has been a sacrifice of self and a willingness to put myself out there. I have learned it takes faith in my husband that he would not abuse or use anything I've shared with him against me. I couldn't have been blessed with a more perfect husband for me (he's not perfect in himself, but he is definitely my soul mate and is perfect for me). I can say I definitely know that I can put my trust in my husband and his love for me looks over my faults and knows I'm not perfect but that he truly loves me for me.=}

I THANK GOD FOR THE MAN IN MY LIFE!!!

Love Always Protects

Protects means : to shield from injury, danger, or loss, defend, to guard, to set aside.

If we are doing everything in our power to protect our spouse we will stand up for them and do whatever we can to protect them...which may not be easy to do when we are in a disagreement with our spouse. But the way we can protect them is to take the issue to our Heavenly Father who loves our spouse more then we ever possibly can and He will direct and lead us how to work out our disagreements and issues with our spouse in a loving and respectful way. He is so faithful to show us how to Love our spouse the way He loves them.
This has not always been an easy thing for me to do... but I am a work in progress and I'm learning how to take my own personal issues to the Lord and He is showing me how to work things out and bring to my husband's attention in a respectful and loving way to work on our disagreements together...

Love us definately a commitment

It amazes me....as each week passes and a new word from 1 Corinthians 13 comes up to work on for the week...it seems as though every week the word I'm working on really plays a role in that week.... for instance the week of "Love is Patient" it seemed like my patience was being stretched to it's limits..

Or when "Love is not Irritable/ Easily Angered" I'm usually not that irritable but that week I was so irritable and all I could account for is that's what I was suppose to work on for that week....And this week I've been working on "Love rejoices in Truth" and oh man, has it been a tough week...due to some circumstances not completely in my control....thank goodness God knows what I can handle and gives me the strength when I need it the most.

The Love Dare challenge out of 1 Corinthians 13 has been great for my marriage but to be quite honest has been tough on and off through out the weeks... But most definitely worth the pain. Keep up the good work everyone who has taken on the challenge, God will give you the strength to make it through. And bless your marriage in the process=}

Love does not delight in evil

Love does not delight in evil...what does that mean to you???

What it means to me, is that we don't hold onto our spouses faults and keep bringing them up over and over and over again until we beat it or them into the ground. It is so easy to look at our spouses faults again, and again, and again replaying it over in our minds but all that does is lay out a path of destruction to the end of our marriages. I have been guilty of replaying what I feel are my husbands faults over and over in my mind, but what I might consider is his faults could actually be the very tools God is using to shape, and mold me into being a better person that He knows I can be. God knows my full potential and who I can be in this life and He will choose many tools throughout my life to help me reach my full potential. So, what I may think are Tommy's faults could very well be the iron that is sharpening the iron in me. Helping me to become a better wife, mother, daughter, friend and servant of the Most High God.

So, I challenge you with this....instead of looking at your spouses' faults look to yourself for your own faults which God may want to get rid of and turn you into the best person you can possibly be...Your the only one that can be you, so you might as well be the best you that there ever was. I join you with this challenge and let's seek God out to help mold and create us into the best Lauriena's and yous that there ever was or ever will be...