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Our 25th “silver” wedding anniversary

The sterling silver cross necklace gift Ray gave me for our 25th "silver" wedding anniversary

The sterling silver cross necklace gift Ray gave me for our 25th “silver” wedding anniversary

This week, April 11, 2017, Ray and I had our 25th “silver” wedding anniversary. It seems like just two years, and then it also seems like it’s been forever. It has sure been HELL.

But as I pointed out in my Facebook comment, never a dull moment!

Despite our LOUD, INTENSE arguments for 25 years (yes, the WHOLE marriage; we had one tonight!), we’ve been married longer than many of our family members and friends, watching in grief as they divorced…while we have determined to fulfill our covenant with God and each other. It hasn’t been easy, and we’ve had to look to the Cross for help.

Jesus on the cross

Jesus on the cross

We’ve survived unfaithfulness to each other (both of us), bankruptcy, foreclosure of our home, stepfamily conflicts, financial crisis after crisis, multiple moves to new homes/cities, health issues, ministry failures, and much more. 

What is our greatest strength, though? We’ve never quit. Like runners in a sprint or a marathon, you keep moving forward, no matter how tired you are.

sprinters

We’ve never thrown in the towel, although we have both wanted to  many times through the years.

Ray has actually been to divorce attorneys three times because he was so fed up with our marriage! (And I’ve thought about going to one many times!)

Ray & me Holding our "faith" stone, as we wait for final approval of the VA loan for the home we're buying this year

Ray & me
Holding our “faith” stone, as we wait for final approval of the VA loan for the home we’re buying this year

By God’s grace, we’re still together, hopefully until death do us part.

  • Ray can still make me laugh more than anyone else;
  • Every time he prays over me and holds my hand, saying, “It’s going to be okay,” I know it is going to be;
  • He still turns me on;
  • He still cooks the best Cajun grilled chicken I’ve ever tasted;
  • He still loves me–which is quite a feat, considering how I am!

25 years and still going…please pray for us. 

Here’s what we did for our 25th “silver” wedding anniversary. It was a fun date!

Ray bought me a very funny card. It features a married male and female dog couple and says “It’s our anniversary.” The card seemed hand-picked by God, and made me laugh because it was so much like us.

anniversary card

anniversary card

For example, it showed the couple wanting to watch a movie together. The husband dog asked, “How about science fiction?” and the wife dog asked, “How about a love story?” Ray is a sci-fi fan, and of course I love chick flicks! 

Another hilarious thing about the card was that it read, “We still like to write each other little notes…although the subject matter isn’t always love.” It showed a cartoon of the wife posting sticky notes to her husband on a cork board with notes like, “Call the dentist,” “Grocery List,” and “Toilet keeps running.” The husband dog has stooped shoulders, and is looking at the sticky notes with an exasperated , tired expression. (Ray feels this way about my sticky notes!)

Ray said the card “nailed the notes.” (I’m addicted to sticky notes and often leave Ray little notes around the house for his “honey-do’s.”)

sticky note

sticky note

On the card, they were at a drive-through restaurant, with the husband getting the wife some food. He is asking her, “No fries, honey?” and she is saying, “No, just a cheeseburger.” Ironically, a couple of nights before Ray gave me the card, I’d asked him to go get me a Sonic cheeseburger. The card amused us both. 

Ray also gave me a beautiful, sterling silver cross necklace as my gift. Silver for our 25th “silver” wedding anniversary, and a cross as he said it is the foundation of our marriage. Amen! Ray did so good on my card and gift!

necklace

sterling silver cross necklace gift

For part of his present, I bought Ray a straight razor soap cup, that he had been requesting to go with his straight razor I’d bought him.  You put soap in the cup, and whip it to make a  good lather, then apply the soap to the face before shaving. When Ray was a little boy, he used to watch his granddaddy Hutchins shave at the bathroom mirror with a straight razor.

Recently Ray said he wanted a straight razor, from the good memories of his granddad, plus straight razors are supposed to give men a better shave. I didn’t really “get” it, but it’s a guy thing, so I bought him the straight razor, the black strop to sharpen the razor, and the soap cup.

I also have something special to give him for our 25th “silver” wedding anniversary party, which I will blog about soon!

straight razor and brush

straight razor and brush

soap cup

soap cup

For our “silver” wedding anniversary, I bought pretty silver heels for our anniversary date. Love them!

my silver shoes

my silver shoes

Ray wore a silver shirt with a silver pattern tie, black slacks, and his cowboy boots for our anniversary date. Looking good!

Ray in his silver shirt & tie for our "silver" wedding anniversary

Ray in his silver shirt & tie for our “silver” wedding anniversary

Here I am in my black dress, black wrap, the silver shoes, and wearing the sterling silver cross necklace Ray gave me.

me in black dress, black wrap, silver shoes & silver cross necklace for our "silver" anniversary

me in black dress, black wrap, silver shoes & silver cross necklace for our “silver” anniversary

For our 25th “silver” wedding anniversary date, we ate lamb gyro sandwiches with tzatziki sauce (made with cucumber), pita bread with hummus, and dolmades (stuffed grape leaves with rice and beef). Ray also had a Greek salad. It was DELICIOUS!

lamb gyros

lamb gyros

pita bread & hummus

pita bread & hummus

dolmades

dolmades

After our date, we came home and prayed together for our marriage, our children, and our grandchildren, asking God to bless us and our family and for us to walk in obedience to Jesus, and that the latter days would be greater than the former. (Haggai 2:9) It was a great 25th wedding anniversary!

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This book In PRINT at: https://www.createspace.com/6099550

This book In PRINT at: https://www.createspace.com/6099550

If  you are hurting in your marriage and you’d like to read about the 25 difficult years of Ray’s and my marriage, but how with God nothing is impossible,click here.

 

Blog, Faith, Marriage, prayer, Spiritual Gifts, Writing

Free marriage video series

Unhappy couple

Unhappy couple

Do you have a troubled marriage? Are you on the verge of separation or divorce? Or do you feel like running away?

I understand! My husband Ray and I will be married for 23 years on April 11, 2016. We have been through the fire in our marriage. It’s been REALLY hard! But by God’s grace we are still together.

My husband Ray and me

My husband Ray and me

This week I’ve created a FREE MARRIAGE VIDEO SERIES at my Facebook business page here

You can also view each of the videos on my YouTube channel here.

This video training comes from the content in my new book, Stained Glass & Marriage: Reflections of Light & Hope by an Imperfect Wife.

This book In PRINT at: https://www.createspace.com/6099550

This book In PRINT at: https://www.createspace.com/6099550

This book is available for sale as an ebook at Amazon here, an eBook at Barnes & Noble here, and in PRINT (physical copy) here.

If you don’t have a Kindle or Kindle Fire, you can download the Kindle app free of charge here to read on your PC, iPad, or iPod. You can also get the Kindle app for your smart phone here. I have it on both my laptop and my iPhone to read eBooks before I sleep at night. You can download Kindle to read on your Mac here

This book shares about the hard times Ray and I have gone through in our marriage, and compares marriage to the traditional art of making stained glass windows. God wants your marriage to be a beautiful reflection of Christ the Bridegroom and His spotless, radiant Bride, the Church.

The topics include:

  • sex
  • adultery
  • pornography
  • financial crises, including bankruptcy and foreclosure
  • communication
  • and much more. 

Free Marriage Video Series

The first marriage series video can be viewed on my Facebook business page.

Just scroll down the page, and be sure to “like” it while you’re there and share with your family and friends.

Below are the rest of the 5 free marriage videos (6 videos in all), listed separately with their topic:

Video #2: Don’t give up!  https://youtu.be/nN550-C1rOE

Video #3: Do you fight with your spouse? 3 Tips How NOT to! https://youtu.be/d-MnKpt-Roo

Video #4: Communication with your spouse:  https://youtu.be/r2sZSSX1n_U

Video #5: Money, money, money! https://youtu.be/Fi2ig4Fbhhs

Video #6: “Sex is always the answer!” https://youtu.be/6ybrOQJXxrs

What problems are you facing or have you gone through in your marriage? Leave your comments below.

Be sure to share with your family, friends, and peers about this new book and video series here at BethJones.net. 

This book is available for sale as an ebook at Amazon here an eBook at Barnes & Noble here, and in PRINT (physical copy) here.

Blog

When you’ve prayed and prayed for something: My new book on marriage now available in PRINT!

me & Ray

me & my husband Ray

Have you ever prayed and prayed about something, and it seemed like your prayers were just bouncing off the ceiling and weren’t working? That God was too busy, on vacation somewhere, or didn’t care?

That isn’t true, but sometimes when you pray so hard and nothing seems to be happening, that’s how you feel. I have felt that way many times about my marriage of almost 23 years to Ray.

Ray and I have been through so much together. From day one of our marriage, the enemy Satan has tried to destroy it because of the ministry calling of God on our lives.

Here’s just a few of the spiritual battles we’ve faced:

  • Adultery
  • Pornography
  • Financial crises (including our home foreclosing and bankruptcy)
  • Step-family issues
  • Ray’s career problems
  • and much more.

Currently the challenge we’re facing is that we’re trying to buy our rental home. We don’t know if the house loan is going to be approved or not, so we may be moving (again!). We’ve had multiple moves in our marriage, and it’s NOT fun–very stressful. Please keep us in prayer and I will keep you posted!

What are some of the problems you’ve faced–and overcome–in your marriage or in the marriages of those you love? With a frightening statistic of almost 50% of marriages ending in divorce, even for Christian couples, it’s hard sometimes to have faith and hope that your marriage will last “’til death do us part.”

The answer is always JESUS. Don’t stop praying! Being a believer doesn’t guarantee you’ll have an easy, happy marriage, but God can and will help you as you cry out to Him and walk in humble obedience to His word.

He’s able to do the impossible in your marriage, healing and restoring it, and making it resemble a beautiful, stained glass window, a picture of Jesus and His spotless, radiant Bride, the Church. 

Stained Glass & Marriage cover
Here’s a few tips from my new book on marriage, Stained Glass & Marriage: Reflections of Light and Hope by an Imperfect Wife:

  • Forgive daily. This is really hard sometimes, but God has forgiven you and me of so much. We need to extend that love and forgiveness to our spouse. Ask God to help you agape (unconditionally) love your husband or wife, the way God does you. This is a powerful prayer!
  • Pray for each other and with each other. Prayer can help to divorce-proof your marriage. One great resource I recommend isThe Power of a Praying Wife by Stormie Omartian. Often as we pray for others, God changes our own hearts, convicting us of sin. It’s also hard to stay mad at someone that you’re praying for! Your prayers are powerful. (James 5:16) God wants you to have a happy, blessed, fulfilling marriage. 
  • Have fun together. Go on regular dates. When you first met him or her, you did fun things together to get to know each other. After you marry, you both get busy, work, take care of the kids, do chores and errands, etc. Make time with each other–without the kids-a  priority. Dream again. Go have some FUN!
  • Learn to communicate well, not just yell (or ignore each other). Ray and I recently attended a marriage retreat in Kansas City, Kansas, taught by Roger and Laureen Traver of Mountain Top Marriages ministry. In the teaching sessions, they have couples volunteer to demonstrate effective communication versus bad communication. You can use “I feel” statements instead of saying, “You always” or “you never,” or express how you are feeling, without attacking, accusing, or blaming. Listening to your husband or wife is an important key because most spouses don’t really hear each other–the words or especially the HEART message. I encourage you to consider attending the Travers’ marriage retreats. This was our second one and we’d love to attend more.
  • Don’t give up. Satan is attacking Christian marriages hard today because he knows his time is very short and that Jesus is coming soon. What he’s really after is your children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren–your godly seed. (Malachi 2:15) Don’t give Satan or the people giving you ungodly counsel to just go ahead and divorce “to be happy” the satisfaction of your marriage being destroyed. (Even some Christian marriage counselors, family members, or so-called friends will tell you this!) Don’t quit! Too much is at stake spiritually.

These are just a few of the tips I cover in my new marriage book, which compares marriage to the traditional art of making stained glass windows. God wants to make your marriage like beautiful, multi-colored stained glass windows, displaying a picture of Christ and His Bride, the Church.

Stained Glass & Marriage book

I’m so happy to announce that this new book is now in print–a physical copy available for sale for you. You can find it here, and please share with your family and friends: https://www.createspace.com/6099550

This book is also available as an eBook for your Kindle at Amazon here: http://hyperurl.co/j1un48

It’s also available as an eBook for your Nook at Barnes and Noble here: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/stained-glass-marriage-beth-jones/1123488507?ean=2940157802592

Just click below to see the new video trailer for this book! (It’s less than a minute long!)
https://youtu.be/7EEnWmf4GLU