Rebekah Wright Online

How I Intentionally Plan my Week

March 3, 2015 rebekahwrightonline

My family moved to Wales two weeks ago. That is a reality I am still having a hard time grasping. This thing we have been working toward for 4 years is actually happening now. God has worked in some amazing ways and our last 2 months have been crazy good saying good-bye to our life in the US and hello to our new life in the UK.

In the past two weeks we have had an ever-opening door on our apartment as we have invited people over and welcomed in teens that need a place to talk and a willing heart to listen. To add to all that crazy goodness, our baby girl started school for the first time this week! A new routine is starting in our home and a new phase of family life.

This past week has been amazing, but very full. I decided I needed to go out and decompress and just spend some time alone. Brian graciously said, “GO!” (I might be a tad bit hard to live with when I get to this overloaded state)

When I need to get my priorities back in line and organize my life, it usually goes like this:

Go get coffee
Start with a small project that will give me a sense of accomplishment

So that’s what I did. I took a bus ride to Starbucks and started deleting old photos off my phone – tell me I’m not the only one that waits until I my storage is full to finally delete those photos that have already been on my computer for months. Anyway, as I did this I found a screenshot of a quote that spoke to my heart right where it was at this exact moment.

“Guard your time fiercely. Be generous with it. But be intentional about it.”

Generous but intentional. This is my heart right now. I have made “Simplify” my word of 2015. With this I have wanted to be intentional with what I have, spend, eat, and probably most importantly- invest my time in. But I also want to be GENEROUS. Oh, how I want to be generous with my time. It is one of my greatest fears to take this amazing opportunity to live and minister in Wales and live for myself instead of God.

I love my iphone, my laptop, and I love talking- but I think with a pen a paper. So I got out a notebook and got intentional. 6 full pages and a major cramp in my hand later, I had an idea of what guarding my time and being generous would look like.

This was my process:

I wrote “What is Important?” across the top of the first page. I started with God and then moved on to people. Under people I wrote out every name that was important to me. People I wanted to invest time in, people I wanted to impact, people I wanted to get to know better, people I love and people I want God to make me love. Under people came my health, my home, and my personal interests.

After I wrote out everything that I have a desire to spend real time on, I moved on to the next page – “What Do These Priorities Look Like?” The names and things written on the first list were goals, but they weren’t a plan. So on this page I started really dreaming. What would it look like to really put time into these areas? Discipleship, dates, budgeting, letter writing, and many more real tangible ideas.

Then comes the putting it all together step. If I had been at home I probably would have gotten out a wipe off board or some cute post- it notes. But I worked with what I had: paper and pen. So I ripped up little slips of paper and wrote an activity or event on each slip. Then I made a week-long schedule and placed the slips of paper where they fit in the week. I intentionally placed the most important items first and worked through my slips.

Will my week really go as perfectly as I have it laid out right now? Goodness no! But I am taking a step in being intentional but generous with my time.More important than following my schedule, it is my prayer that I let God guide my time this week and make it count. May you have a meaningful week too!

-Rebekah

Home/Family Life, Ministry

Intentional But Generous

March 3, 2015March 3, 2015 rebekahwrightonline

When I need to get my priorities back in line and organize my life, it usually goes like this:

Go get coffee
Start with a small project that will give me a sense of accomplishment

“Guard your time fiercely. Be generous with it. But be intentional about it.”

This was my process:

-Rebekah

Uncategorized

Simplify

January 6, 2015January 2, 2022 rebekahwrightonline

2015 is here. It’s brand new and clean. I love the New Year. To be perfectly honest, I feel a little funny about this new year. My family is preparing to move to Wales in the very near future. I feel like my life is on hold until then. Like, I shouldn’t set any goals for 2015 until we get there and get settled. So I’m changing things up a little bit this time around.

I have a word for 2015: Simplify.

This month we will decide exactly what we want to ship with us overseas and get rid of the rest. Going through a bunch of tubs that have been sitting in storage for 4 years has got me considering what is really needed in my life.

My thought process started with physical things, but I also want to see simplicity spilling over into every area of my life: my schedule, my eating, my communication, my kids lives.

Brian and I spent time on December 31^st talking this over and he suggested we make Hebrews 12:1 our verse for the year.

Hebrews 12:1

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us.

I love it. I love that we have a shared verse of the year. I love that we are on the same page in life right now. I love the imagery this verse has in it. This year I want to “strip off weights” that are only slowing me down.

I’m actually getting really excited thinking about it. But the more excited I get, the more ideas I have and the more complicated things become in my mind. So I know if I am really going to grasp this whole “simple” thing this year, I need to set my focus on the right thing. Which is why verse 2 is such a cool follow up:

We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith.

So that’s what it’s about this year. Keeping my eyes on Jesus. Living simple. But my heart is a list-making heart, so I just couldn’t stop there. I had to sit down and write out some actual goals.

Goal 1: Memorize Hebrews 12:1…like really memorize it. Get it in my heart, head, and throughout my being.

Goal 2: Memorize Hebrews chapter 12. EVERY. WORD. OF. IT.

Goal 3: Focus on EXPERIENCES more than material things. This is kind of abstract and I don’t know exactly how I will measure it- but we’ll see where it goes.

Goal 4: Simple Eating –

More water Less coffee (I type this while sitting in starbucks- this will be a challenge people!)

More fruit Less sugar

More real food Less processed food

More moving Less sitting

Goal 5: Simple Evenings – As much as possible I am going to try to go technology free from 3pm to 8pm. This idea is not original to me, but I love it.

So there it is, my goals I wasn’t going to set. I loved blogging what God taught be about loving people in 2014, and I am so excited to see where this year takes me. I’m excited for the second year of inviting you to experience it with me!

-Rebekah

Uncategorized

The Gospel and Boston

December 23, 2014January 2, 2022 rebekahwrightonline

I completely love the Christmas season. I love shopping, I love gift giving, I love our elf on a shelf “Howie”, I love hot chocolate and twinkly lights. I BIG TIME love all of it! But this week it hit me hard: Christmas is all about the Gospel.

Sure, I’ve known this my whole life. I have made a birthday cake for Jesus since I can remember, read Luke 2 before I open any presents and know that He is the “reason for the season”. But have you ever had a moment where you know something and still feel like you are discovering it for the first time?

This year, I’ve read and heard a lot about keeping the Gospel simple. There is a whole lot of confusing stuff in the Bible. There are many verses that really good people disagree on the meanings of them. But this one essential thing God made extremely clear.

The Gospel is the news that God sent Jesus to this earth to live among us and then die to take on the punishment for our sins. Our part in this whole story is to believe and put our trust in this all-powerful, all-loving, self-sacrificing God. God who was willing to give His very self for us- wants our love and our willingness to enter a relationship with Him. God loved us, He gave us His Son to pay for our sins, We believe Him, We receive eternal life with him. (John 3:16)

While I’ve been trying to grasp the simpleness of God’s plan for all mankind this year, I was completely overlooking the simpleness of the holiday season. It’s all about a baby boy. A baby boy that was born to change the world.

I guess I should have had all these thoughts last year. Last Christmas I had a baby boy. He was tiny and cuddly and fresh. Last year I should have sat in the dim light of the Christmas tree and identified with Mary as she sat in the dim light of the stable and thought of each of us holding such a precious gift from God. That would have been such a good thought and blog to write. The thing is, it’s not hard for me to imagine looking at a sweet little baby and thinking how perfect and wonderful he is, and dreaming of the impact he will make one day. I can see Mary having those loving thoughts that first Christmas.

This year I have a little boy.

He is wiggly, dirty, and LOUD. He has a smile on his face and sparkle in his eye that melts this momma’s heart in an instant. And this week I find myself wondering, “Is this how Mary felt when she looked at Jesus?” Did Jesus make messes everywhere He went, or was he too perfect for that? My boy- he is a MESS MAKER! He amazes me how much he can get into so quickly and look so cute while he does it.

Even in the middle of the messes, when I look at him I think my heart might explode from all the love I feel for him. Could Mary and I have sat down for a cup of coffee and compared our little 1 year olds who had us wrapped around their chubby little fingers?

Sure that first Christmas was amazing and quiet and perfect. What about Jesus’ 1^st birthday? That’s what I want to peek in on. I want to see Jesus getting excited over that new toy and digging in to a cake and making Mary and Joseph belly laugh as he tottered around the room. How many stories does Luke 2:40 hold in its short sentence? (There the child grew up healthy and strong. He was filled with wisdom, and God’s favor was on him.)

The reason I don’t have these answers, is because it is not important. Sure my curious mind would love to hear all the behind the scenes stories. The thing I do know for certain is: Jesus was real. He was God and He came to this earth. And this Christmas, I celebrate that!

Merry Christmas

Rebekah

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Reflections of a 30 Year-Old

November 24, 2014January 2, 2022 rebekahwrightonline

Today I turn 30.

I am not real big about age. But I am real big about goals.

This is what I am realizing right now: I am big about ‘right now’ goals. I make a to-do list almost every day. Each year I make goals for that year. I have a big goal to get to Wales ASAP. But there was never a point in my teens or 20s when I sat down and said, “By the time I’m 30 I hope to…”

How do I know if my life has been successful up to 30 if I don’t have a list to check off? This is a hard question for a list girl. I am reading an awesome book right now and I just read a chapter about setting life goals. So I did. I made a list of 30 life goals. It gets me all excited to pray for and strive to attain these goals. But before I opened that book today, I spent some time in a more important Book defining what success should look like in my life. This is what I came up with:

Don’t just pretend to love others. Really love them. Hate what is wrong. Hold tight to what is good. Romans 12:9

I don’t want to be fake. I really dislike fake. I want genuine in my life. I want a genuine love for others. I also want a genuine love for what is GOOD. Along those same lines, I am praying this:

For you have been called to live in freedom, my brothers and sisters. But don’t use your freedom to satisfy your sinful nature. Instead, use your freedom to serve one another in love. Galatians 5:13

I don’t want to be selfish. I really dislike selfish. I love freedom in Christ, but my desire is to serve others in love. My prayer is that God shows me what this looks like in my life.

Do everything without complaining and arguing. Philippians 2:14

I don’t want to complain. I really dislike complaining. This is one of the first verses I taught my daughter. I have her repeat it to me almost daily. In reality, it is one I should repeat to God daily.

Okay, enough with what I dislike, here is what I love:

These older women must train the younger women to love their husbands and their children. Titus 2:4

I realize I am currently an “older woman” and a “younger woman”. Discipleship and training are big on my heart. I am in no way an expert on loving my family, but I pray God both teaches me and uses me to teach.

You must each decide in your heart how much to give. And don’t give reluctantly or in response to pressure. “for God loves a person who gives cheerfully.” 2 Corinthians 9:7

This year I am finding a new love in giving. One of the goals on my list is for my family to one day give more than we keep. How is this possible? I have no idea, but I love finding joy in giving. I get excited just thinking of what God has in store to teach me in this area.

I could share so many more areas of life I see God pointing at as I look through goal setting from scripture, but this is the one that sums up my cry to God this morning:

And may the Lord our God show us his approval and make our efforts successful. Yes, make our efforts successful! Psalms 90:7

Today I made a list of 30 life-time goals. My prayer over those 30 goals is that God makes my efforts successful. But my prayer over my life is that God shows me His approval.
Bring on the next 30 years…

Rebekah

Home/Family Life, Lessons Learned, Ministry

Getting Away

September 30, 2014November 24, 2014 rebekahwrightonline

There is a difference between getting away and running away.

I love to “get away” for a little while. My love language is an afternoon at a coffee shop with praise music and my laptop. Most of the time after 3 hours reading, praying, and writing I feel refreshed and ready to face another week of real life. But there are times when that refreshment I feel only lasts the 20 minutes it takes me to get back home. As soon as I walk in the door I am mom and wife and everything else again. Lately I have just wanted more time, just more time away, more time to refresh, more time to refill my soul. I have struggled with guilt that I should cherish time with my family. I should be thankful for the ministry opportunities God has given me. I should be able to manage my time better to fit refreshment into my day without having to go away to get it. I do cherish my family, I am thankful for opportunities, I do “fit some God time” into my everyday life. But what about when that ache in my soul still says “I’m tired”. What about when at the end of my 3 hours away I’m not ready to go back home yet.

If I am going to get so honest about how I feel lately, I need to get honest with what God is speaking to me about lately as well.

In my quest for more time away, more time to refresh, I have become extremely self-focused. Ouch. I recently heard, “Where you stare you will steer”. I have been staring at myself lately. I have been staring at my lack of free time, my desires, my problems. Because my focus has been on my lack, my soul has ached for what I don’t have.

I’m not saying a time of refreshment is bad or that taking time out is selfish. This is what I am saying – If I focus on myself during that time of refreshment, I will walk out feeling exactly as I felt when I entered it. When I get away simply to forget my problems for a little while- I am running away.

If I focus on God and His Strength, His agenda, His plan – I will walk out refreshed and ready to face the world. I am no longer running away from the situation, I am getting away to get better perspective and a renewed energy to face what is ahead.

This weekend I heard someone speak on “What do you do when you don’t know what to do?” The basic answer she gave- Love God. Love People. Well, 2014, you have clearly spoken again. My goal I made to love people more this year just keeps coming back to me. It seems each time it comes up there is a different area that I am challenged in. This time I realize, I don’t have the time or energy to love people like I want to. There I said it, loving people is something I just can’t do in my own strength.

If I want to really love people as 1 Peter 4:8 says, [Most important of all, continue to show deep love for each other, for love covers a multitude of sins.] I have to first focus on God. It’s not about loving myself before I can love others, it’s about loving God and the things He loves.

Today I am at the end of 4 days away from my husband and beautiful children. I finally got my time away to refresh and rest my weary soul. It was needed time and I highly recommend everyone take some regular time away. But don’t just take the time to run away from “real life”. Take the time to refocus your life on the One who life is really all about. In a few hours when Brian picks me up, I’m sure it won’t take long for my focus to quickly shift back to myself. This battle to focus on Christ is a daily one. Thankfully, it is also one that is wrapped in His grace.

Thank you God for not demanding perfection out of me. Help me to daily remember to love You and love others.

Rebekah

Lessons Learned

It’s Time

August 27, 2014 rebekahwrightonline

For the past 90 days, my family has been living and doing ministry in North Wales. At the start of summer Brian made the comment to me that he wanted to be intentional about our experiences here. We didn’t want to get to the end of summer and think, were did all our time go? We wanted to know that our time here was used wisely and that it accomplished something.

Well, we are at the end of the summer and we are saying, “Where did the time go?” We have had some awesome experiences and truly loved our time here, but it has gone so fast and we still have so much we would love to do.

I am starting to develop a strong dislike for time. This week I made a list of all the dreams I would love to accomplish if time and money were not an obstacle. I wasn’t sure what I was trying to learn from the exercise, but when I got to the end I noticed one glaring truth. Almost all of the items on my list were time related instead of money related.

I try so hard to be organized with my time. I make weekly spreadsheets of our families schedule, I make daily to-do lists, and I try to establish routines. Do I waste time? Oh yeah, I can be really good at wasting time. But for the most part, I try to use my time wisely. So why is there never enough time to do all that I want to do?

I’m coming to realize something about planning my time. It’s not so much making our moments worth something by planning them out, as giving our moments to God and letting Him make them worth something. The items on my list revolved around my husband, kids, and ministry. They weren’t bad things at all. But they were my things. I am now laying that list of goals I made out before God and praying for Him to direct me to which ideas of my own are worth pursuing.

On the way to camp at the beginning of the month, our bus full of 40 teenagers and counselors witnessed a man jump off a bridge and take his own life. As a mother I have had the awesome privilege to witness life come into the world on two different occasions. Birth is such a beautiful reminder of how precious and special life is. Death is different. Death is a reminder as well. Death is a reminder that this precious and beautiful life has numbered days.

I feel so honored that God has allowed our family to spend the past 90 of those numbered days in the beautiful country of Wales doing ministry. I have lost count of the times Brian and I have looked over at each other and said in awe, “This is real life, we actually live here!” God has given us amazing opportunities to impact eternity while we have been here. He has given us precious family time and irreplaceable memories. Our prayer is now that we will be able to come back quickly and with long-term visas. If I know one thing about time though, it’s that I’m not in control of it. So before I get carried away with my plans, I will take time to remind myself to give them over to The One who is in control.

Rebekah

Ministry

Youth Ministry & Ice Cream

August 2, 2014 rebekahwrightonline

In two days, I leave for the greatest place on earth – Church Camp. Five glorious days of not being “mommy”, no cooking, no housework, no wi-fi, no social media distractions, and most importantly 5 days of watching God work in young people’s lives. I’ve been to Disney World, and trust me camp is better!

Not only am I going to church camp, I am going to church camp in Wales. I am going to church camp in Wales with an amazing group of teenagers. These kids really are special. They love God and they want to see Him work in their lives and their friends’ lives. Do they do dumb things sometimes? Of course, they are teenagers. Do they do things that disappoint me? Of course, they are human. Regardless of any of that, I love their hearts and I love their passion.

Passion is something you cannot fake. I love seeing a person’s eyes come alive when they start talking about something they love. Brian and I have a name for this, we call it the person’s “Youth ministry and Ice Cream”. When we were first married and starting our very first job in ministry we loved to brainstorm and talk about ideas to do with our group. One day as we were talking, we happened to walk into a little ice cream shop with homemade ice cream AND fresh homemade waffle cones. My husband loves teenagers, but my husband LOVES good ice cream. The speed at which he was talking and the lights in his eyes were remarkable. He was in his “happy place” as some would call it. Since that day when we see someone get really excited about a topic we call it their “youth ministry and ice cream” reaction.

Why are we passionate about youth ministry? The teenage years are such a pivotal time in life. For any of us past those years, we can probably look back and see at least one decision we made during that time that has had a lasting impact on our entire life. Teenage years are hard. There are so many questions about the future, friends, relationships, self worth, and just life in general. Problems and real life don’t wait until you are all grown-up to start.

Another thing that doesn’t wait until you are grown-up to start: God’s Love. I love teenagers because God loves teenagers. I love telling young people that God loves them, because it is the only answer that will make a real difference in their life.

When I see a young person who truly grasps this — that understands that God loves them and that is the most important relationship in their life — I get excited. This group of teenagers at Libanus excites me. And I get to spend a whole week with them!

Of course there will be other teenagers there that don’t “get this” yet, and I pray I get to be a witness as they begin to hear about and understand God’s love for the first time. I love being a mom and I will miss my babies like CRAZY, but the only thing that would make me leave them for an entire week is the anticipation of seeing God work in and through lives in a mighty way.

Just in case you think I abandoned my “Top 5” series, I didn’t. There is no way to do the Top 5 Things I Love about Ministry in one post. So consider this a start —

Top 5 Reasons I Love This Ministry:

1. THE YOUTH

Their passion.

Their talent! (This is a crazy talented group of kids we are working with in so many different areas)

Their ability to have fun anytime, anywhere.

Their desire to see others come to know, love, and follow God.

Their own love for God.

The group of kids we have right now are not perfect, they really are not even close to perfect. But God loves them, (He loved them so much He sent His Son to die for them!) So I love them. I love them when they disappoint me. I love them when they do stupid things. I love them when they say stupid things. I love them when they are mean. I also love them when they just “get it”. I love them when they reach out to others. I love them when they display humility. I love them when they make me proud.

God, Thank you for this wonderful opportunity to spend an entire week investing in some ordinary kids made extraordinary by Your Love.

-Rebekah

Uncategorized

The Green Eyed Monster

April 25, 2014January 2, 2022 rebekahwrightonline

I had a moment of jealousy. Okay, more than a moment. I had a little pity party. I camped out there for a while and even invited God along. I told God all about how unfair it was that someone had more than me, got what I wanted, did what I wanted to do, looked like I wanted to look, my list could go on. This party, it wasn’t just a one night thing, I loved to revisit it and quite honestly sometimes I think I lived there. Then God whispered to me in the middle of my rant: Love People.

Back to this again.

I came across the question recently, “Why is it so difficult to celebrate other’s success?” That’s a hard question to answer. It’s not that I don’t know the answer; it’s that I don’t like the answer. I think it all stems down to jealousy. And who wants to consider themselves a jealous person?

When I looked up the definition of Jealous this is what I found: resentment against a person enjoying success. Here’s the thing I find to be true about jealousy: when I feel resentment against someone enjoying a success, it is impossible for me to be truly happy for them in that success. And let me just be clear, I WANT to be happy for others. As I have struggled with this God has made 2 things overwhelmingly clear to me.

God does not have a blessing bucket. I don’t know why it is so easy to think if someone else receives a blessing from God there will be nothing left for me. Ridiculous when you actually say it out loud, but so tempting to believe when you see someone else get what you want. My God is able to do infinitely more than I could ever ask or even think (Ephesians 3:20). God will never run out of resources – it is just not going to happen.

To avoid jealousy, I need to be generous. I have had the other statement in my head for a while, but once God unlocked this in me everything has clicked. When I am investing in others – time, prayer, resources- I am genuinely happy at their success. It’s crazy how that works! I mean to think that when it says in the Bible, “It is more blessed to give than receive” (Act 20:35) it is TRUE!

God has done such a work in my heart to clean out jealousy and resentment that I have ignored or justified for a long time. But before I close this post and consider it done, I have to look at a second definition of Jealousy that I read.

Jealousy: vigilance in maintaining or guarding something.

So in complete opposition to everything I just wrote- I am now striving to be MORE of a jealous person. As I prepare to physically leave this country and my family and friends, I want to have vigilance in maintaining and guarding my relationships. As I strive to love deeply this year I know one thing for sure, deep love takes time and effort. Loving people is work – but it’s worth it.

-Rebekah

Uncategorized

I like my husband.

February 13, 2014January 2, 2022 rebekahwrightonline

Sharing a drink with my friend, Brian Wright, at Taco Bell on Valentine’s Day 2005
(2 years before we had our first Valentine’s Day as an actual couple)

It’s Valentine’s day, so I feel it’s appropriate to take this time to say, I like my husband.

With our not quite normal life on the road, there are many times when Brian and I are together ALL. THE. TIME. A few weeks ago my mother-in-law even asked, “Don’t you two ever get sick of each other?” Um, yes. Yes, there are times when we both crave personal space and time alone. But for the most part we really do love spending time with each other and the abundance of family time is one of the things we love most about deputation.

I said before I’m not an overly emotional person. In our first years of marriage when Brian would know I was upset about something he would always ask, “You don’t like me right now do you?” I would answer with, “I love you” and he would fill in the blanks with, “But you don’t like me right now.”

In my mind I was supposed to love my husband. That’s what the Bible taught and that’s what people always said. But I was allowed to not always like him, wasn’t I? I mean nobody always likes their spouse.

There is a verse in the Bible where Paul tells the older women in the church to teach the younger women to love their husbands (Titus 2:4). It always seemed self-explanatory to me until I read a little deeper into it a few years ago.

In the Greek language there are different types of love. What I always assumed Paul meant here was to love my husband with agape love. That’s the self-sacrificing, I love you more than myself, kind of love that we always hear about with marriage. In reality Paul used the word phileo here. This type of love is a friendship love. Why would Paul, inspired by God, say to teach women friendship love?

Because, speaking as a woman, I know I can do sacrificial love.

I can do a whole lot for my husband—laundry (even fold it and put it away), clean up the house so it looks nice when he comes home, take care of the kids, cook his favourite meals and let him hold the remote or pick the restaurant!

I can do sacrificial love. . . all without actually liking my husband.

When I read Paul telling the women to teach this kind of friendship love it makes me believe I am not alone. In fact, the need for God to address it in His Word lets me know it is a weakness we might all struggle with. Maybe you don’t have a husband but you can see this in your relationship with a parent, close friend, or even your kids.

When it comes to phileo love, it involves our emotions. More importantly, it involves controlling our emotions. I would make the connection that controlling our emotions is tied very closing to controlling our thought life. And Paul has another great verse for that as well. Philippians 4:8 tells us to think on things that are true. The truth is, I am a sinner just like Brian. Before I hold his sins against him, I need to remember that God doesn’t hold mine against me.

Instead of thinking of myself as a martyr by serving my husband even when I don’t “feel” like it, I have instead tried to learn to love him with a phileo love. It’s a love that is kind and attentive, not because it has to be, but because it wants to be. When I realize my emotions and thoughts are not going in the same direction as my self-sacrificing love, I can go through a list of questions in my mind: Am I focusing on what is true? Am I loving my current circumstances or spending my time dreaming of better? Am I loving the person I am committed to loving, or dreaming of a different scenario? Have I tried to see this situation from his point of view? The questions to ask yourself are personal to you, but chances are you know what they are.

It’s been about a year since I read this truth about the verse, and I would love to say I have learned my lesson. But there are still times Brian turns to me at the end of a long day and says, “You don’t like me right now do you?” The change is that I no longer take this as an opportunity to let him know what a saint I am for still sacrificially loving him. I now realize that it is proof that I am not making the effort and time to love my husband as a friend.

So today we will let that mother-in-law that thinks we are weird watch our two kids and I will go out on a date with the guy that I have been friends with for 10 years. We will probably just eat lunch, drink coffee/Dr. Pepper and laugh together. We will work at this thing we call our marriage because at the end of the day I want to be able to look over at him and say,

I like my husband.

-Rebekah