Love Letters: "Dear Wives" - Searching My Heart

SE's Newest MONTHLY feature!!

LOVE LETTERS to Singles & Wives

Written by:   Alexis Johnson and LaCrea Bucknell

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Dear Wives (and wives-to-be!),

I have been a wife for seven years, and the LOVE that I have for my husband has grown strong and continues to grow stronger, each day. He's my best friend - the one that I truly trust. He is my God-sent man – my Heavenly Husband. He is the man that I vowed my life to, on our wedding day. He LOVES me just right, and ALL glory goes to our Father GOD, whom we both keep at the center of our marriage. We both love God with all of our hearts and we truly thank Him for the wonderful marriage we have today. We thank Him for His wisdom and understanding as to HOW He purposed a marriage to function. For we know, without Him…. Without revelation… our marriage would NOT be what it is today! Oh trust me, before we came to know God… before we developed personal relationships with Him… before we grasped our roles as Husband and Wife… well, let’s just say, things were a little “different” in the Johnson household – but To God be the Glory – NOW, we know! Now, I am THAT wife – an EPHESIANS 5:22 WIFE… and thank you, Lord, my husband is THAT husband – an EPHESIANS 5:25 HUSBAND.

{Ephesians 5:22-28} Marriage—Christ and the Church

²² Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. ²³ For the husband is head of the wife, as also Christ is head of the church; and He is the Savior of the body. ²⁴ Therefore, just as the church is subject to Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything.

²⁵ Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her, ²⁶ that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word, ²⁷ that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish. ²⁸ So husbands ought to love their own wives as their own bodies; he who loves his wife loves himself.

We haven’t always been where we are today (smile)… Everybody starts somewhere, right?!  Well, my start, as a wife, was all wrong! I thank God, my husband was born with a patient nature, otherwise Lord only knows if we would have made it long enough to

Love Letters: "Dear Singles" - Time to Define & Refine

                        LOVE LETTERS to Singles 

Written by: LaCrea Bucknell 

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Dear Singles,

Sooo… you’re single? So am I. My question to you is, “How do you feel about it?”

I know there are some, maybe many, who are disheartened by this fact. I am not one of them, but if that is you, don’t be! Instead, EMBRACE this time! Yep, you read correctly; I said, “embrace this time”. You are single, not broken or incomplete! You are a whole person, and I’m here to tell you, if you are feeling a void… if it feels like something is “missing” or there is a hole to be filled… A man is NOT the solution – GOD is! A man cannot complete you. So fill yourself with HIM, God, the only one who can. Let HIM be your focus. Get to a place where you are so content in Christ, your life is so FULL of Him, that you don’t even know WHERE He will fit your husband into the picture, when the time comes! Allow yourself to become WHO He has purposed you to be. Perhaps, you aren’t married yet, because YOU aren’t prepared to be a wife. Maybe you haven’t spent the necessary time with God, in order for Him to mold you into the woman He desires to present to your Heavenly Husband! So it could be while you feel you are “waiting” on God, it is really God AND your Heavenly Husband, who are waiting on YOU.  Sisters, we have to change our approach to being single, if we truly desire to please God. Being single and “okay” with that, is a true act of and measure of your faith.

My Sisters, I pray that these letters are right on time. In the past few weeks, I’ve noticed many of you have posted in regards to the challenges you are facing as you strive to date AND please God. It is true, it isn’t always easy. Even when you ARE seeking God and acknowledging Him in all your ways, dating righteously has its challenges… but Sis, it’s next to impossible, when you are doing it on your own. Think of what we are up against – society and the media’s warped concepts of love and over-sexed images, loneliness, temptation, past hurts and betrayals, abuse, low self-esteem, broken hearts, trust issues, generational curses, an overall lack of knowledge, wisdom, and truth, and the list goes on.

Men Weigh In!! We asked, "What Effect Do Hard Times Have on Your Relationship with Christ?"

Round 4 of our newest BI-MONTHLY feature:
"Men Weigh In"

The men have spoken (again) - and I believe you will be blessed by their responses (again). *smile* I know I have been! God never ceases to amaze me. The guys that are weighing in here (and right now there are five of them) are men that I know personally. Men that I have seen walking in Christ - sincerely - for years. Men who not only, talk the talk, but walk the walk - to the BEST of their abilities. They love Christ with all of their hearts, and I value and appreciate their input. These are our brothers in Christ. We are here to grow and evolve; they are doing the same. We will all surely be mutually blessed by the contributions they make and the conversation it provokes. I thought it best that they remain anonymous, so that they could share their responses freely and be completely transparent. So I had to come up with some "aliases" for these guys!! ;-) This way, as we hear from them each month you will be able to recognize which contributor it is you are hearing from. I asked them each to tell me their favorite book of the Bible - and this is how I came up with their SE names. ;-) So we have Brother Proverbs, Brother Ecclesiastes, Brother Job, Brother Colossians, and Brother Psalms.

I'm sure we all know men and women can look at something and see things COMPLETELY different. Or maybe that's just my experience... but I doubt it! Lol. With that being said, prayerfully, we will all be blessed, challenged, and encouraged to grow by exchanging perspectives and thought-provoking dialogue with the opposite sex.

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We asked: "What effect do hard times have on your relationship with Christ?"

They answered:

Let Us Pray: Peace & Comfort

 "Dear God, today I come before you with my sisters on my heart. Lord God I ask that you would comfort those who need to feel Your PEACE this morning. Heavenly Father, I ask that you would bless the heart of EVERY woman reading this prayer. God, you know the desires of their hearts and the plans that You have for them. I pray that they would continue to seek You first and that You would direct their paths. Lord God, I pray that they would feel your loving presence in a mighty way today. We know, God, that in YOUR presence is fullness of joy and that is where we desire to remain, in Your presence. Lord God, as my sisters go through their day, let them move in the knowledge that they are loved by You (and me) and let your peace encompass their hearts, your peace which transcends ALL understanding, which transcends ALL situations, which transcends all feelings, Your peace, Lord God. May they cast all their cares on You. And may their quiet strength, be an encouragement to those around them. May the peace you bestow upon them, bring

Let Us Pray: Singles

Dear God,

I love You with all of my heart. I am so thankful to you, for this time as a single woman. I am

thankful for the time to be fully devoted to you and you alone. I am thankful for the opportunity to prepare for my husband and to be the wife that you have purposed me to be. I know that you have a plan for my life that is more than amazing. I pray Lord God, that as you are preparing me and positioning me to become the woman my husband-to-be, needs and deserves, that you are doing the same to him. Lord God, even now, I pray for my  heavenly husband-to-be. I pray that wherever and whoever he is, you are with him and that you are leading and guiding his every step. I pray Lord God, that he would continue to seek you First and acknowledge you in all of his ways. I pray that you would shower your wisdom and vision upon him, that he would not see as the world sees, but through your lens.

God, help me and guide me. My heart's desire is to be pleasing unto you. I present my body as a living sacrifice to you. It is my desire to be a VIRTUOUS woman, and to one day present my body as a gift unto my husband, on our wedding night. I know that as we honor you - before marriage, you will honor and bless our marriage throughout the rest of our lives. I recognize that this sacrifice is