refocus and delight

STRUGGLES, SCRABBLE, AND SCRIPTURE. When acquaintances ask us what keeps our marriage intact, we respond by saying we put God first place in our lives. We try hard to put him first and we know when we don't. This pandemic was a true test of our faith and hope. Our medical conditions have set the tone for strict isolation that eventually led to spending time together 24/7. The conflict began and continued for a few days. The unsettling feeling was all too familiar with the enemy's attack. We knew the chains need to be broken and asked God to do so. We also knew that with prayer comes responsibility.

Our responsibility called for doing the best of everything we do and letting God do the rest. We started with active engagement while reading the YouVersion Bible Plan 4 Habits of a Joy-Filled Marriage and ended with a decision to do a fun activity together. Deciding on a fun activity was a challenge. He likes playing video games and watching movies. I can't sit still while watching a movie. I iron clothes when watching Hallmark movies. After a process of elimination, we remembered how we used to love playing scrabble. We loved it so much that after Hurricane Ike left us with no electricity for days, we would play in our outdoor patio until mosquitoes and darkness got in the way of a fun, competitive game.

So now we play scrabble every night except on Thursday evenings when we have a bible study that usually lasts for 2 hours (because we're having dynamic fellowship on Zoom!) to avoid staying up late when the game can drag on for hours. The reason? Fierce competition. I still believe that even with competitiveness between us, scrabble brings us closer together. We are grateful to our friend, Shawn, who gave us this vintage bookshelf edition.

My first ever "scrabble" word😊

The same time we were going through our struggles, our small group (bible study group) was discussing Philippians Chapter Four, How God Gives You Joy. For session 3, we had to memorize Philippians 4:8:

Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable-if anything is excellent or praiseworthy-think about such things.

What a timely reminder!