I know...This blog is typically written for you three, Ali, Greg and Nick. Today, with Jessi (who we have known longer than she has known herself) and Josh's wedding right around the corner, I thought I'd share with Jessi my prayer for her as she is about to become Jessi Agadoni...
So, Jessi, you went from being Josh's friend, to his girlfriend, and now his fiance, and on Saturday, his wife! Greg and I have loved the times we have been together with you two!
Jessi, God has given you a wonderful, good, strong, hard working, intelligent, loyal, family-oriented, Jesus-focused, and, by the way, a very good looking man to be your husband...the person with whom you get to do life!
My prayer for you, Jess, is that after you become Mrs. Agadoni, you will daily remember that you are Josh's friend. But more importantly, you are and always will be his girlfriend! I pray that you will act like his girlfriend! Brag to your friends about him, flirt with him, smile around him, joke with him, hold his hand, stop what you are doing when he walks through the door, or when you walk through the door, (or just any old time) wrap your arms around him, and give him a kiss! (And, enjoy those added benefits of being his wife!) Leave the changing in Josh's life to the Holy Spirit. That's not your responsibility. Yay! You get to be his wife, his friend, his biggest supporter... his girlfriend!
Jessi, I love your tender heart and your teachable spirit! I pray that you will always seek to know what God wants for you...what He wants to teach you...how He wants you to look to Him, to be dependent on Him, to desire Him as your very Life!
So, almost-Mrs. Agadoni, I pray for you...Jesus! (You know me...it all funnels down to being about Jesus!) As your Enough! As your Love! As your Strength! And, as you look to Him, He gives you His love, His strength, His tenderness, His compassion, His patience to be the best lifelong girlfriend Josh could ever desire!
You are going to be a beautiful bride! Can't wait for Saturday!
oxo-Alisa
"An excellent wife, who can find? For her worth is far above jewels. The heart of her husband trusts in her, and he will have no lack of gain. She does him good and not evil all the days of her life."~Proverbs 31:10-12
Thursday, September 29, 2011
Wednesday, September 21, 2011
Funnel
"You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; it is these that testify about Me; and you are unwilling to come to Me so that you may have life."~Jesus Christ (John 5:39,40)
I love how our Bible is a book that reveals the Lord Jesus Christ to us! Kind of like a funnel...All flows down (and points to) Jesus, Holy Spirit, our Father!
While journaling awhile back, these were my thoughts on Paul's letter to the Ephesians, chapter 6, verses 14 to 17:
"Stand firm therefore, having girded your loins with truth..."
~"I am the Way, and the Truth, and the Life; no one comes to the Father but through Me."-John 14:5
Truth=Jesus!
"and having put on the breastplate of righteousness,"
~"But by His doing you are in Christ Jesus, who be
Righteousness=Jesus!
"and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace;"
~"For He Himself is our peace..."-Ephesians 2:14
Peace=Jesus!
"in addition to all, taking up the shield of faith with which you will be able to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one."
~"...fixing our eyes on Jesus, the Author and Perfecter of our faith..."-Hebrews 12:2
Leader and Source of our faith (Amplified version)=Jesus!
"and taking the helmet of salvation..."
~"The Lord is my Light and my Salvation; Whom shall I fear?"-Psalm 27:1
My Salvation=The Lord!
"...and the Sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God."
~"He is clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called The Word of God."-Revelation 19:13
The Word of God=Jesus!
So, seems to me that putting on the full armor of God is JESUS!
"But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh in regard to its lusts."~Romans 13:14.
"For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ."~Galatians 3:27
Ali, Greg and Nick, my prayer for you today and always is that you daily put on Jesus Christ, that you are clothed in Him...And, I thank Him that you three have come to Him to have life, to know Him as your Life!
oxo-Mom
Ali~Tomorrow!!! NYC here I come!!!
Greg~Looks and sounds like you are having a blast in Colorado with Dad! Can't wait to hear more about your trip!
Nick~Thanks for staying over last Saturday night to protect me! Hope your week is going well! Yay, Organic Chemistry!
I love how our Bible is a book that reveals the Lord Jesus Christ to us! Kind of like a funnel...All flows down (and points to) Jesus, Holy Spirit, our Father!
While journaling awhile back, these were my thoughts on Paul's letter to the Ephesians, chapter 6, verses 14 to 17:
"Stand firm therefore, having girded your loins with truth..."
~"I am the Way, and the Truth, and the Life; no one comes to the Father but through Me."-John 14:5
Truth=Jesus!
"and having put on the breastplate of righteousness,"
~"But by His doing you are in Christ Jesus, who be
Righteousness=Jesus!
"and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace;"
~"For He Himself is our peace..."-Ephesians 2:14
Peace=Jesus!
"in addition to all, taking up the shield of faith with which you will be able to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one."
~"...fixing our eyes on Jesus, the Author and Perfecter of our faith..."-Hebrews 12:2
Leader and Source of our faith (Amplified version)=Jesus!
"and taking the helmet of salvation..."
~"The Lord is my Light and my Salvation; Whom shall I fear?"-Psalm 27:1
My Salvation=The Lord!
"...and the Sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God."
~"He is clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called The Word of God."-Revelation 19:13
The Word of God=Jesus!
So, seems to me that putting on the full armor of God is JESUS!
"But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh in regard to its lusts."~Romans 13:14.
"For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ."~Galatians 3:27
Ali, Greg and Nick, my prayer for you today and always is that you daily put on Jesus Christ, that you are clothed in Him...And, I thank Him that you three have come to Him to have life, to know Him as your Life!
oxo-Mom
Ali~Tomorrow!!! NYC here I come!!!
Greg~Looks and sounds like you are having a blast in Colorado with Dad! Can't wait to hear more about your trip!
Nick~Thanks for staying over last Saturday night to protect me! Hope your week is going well! Yay, Organic Chemistry!
Saturday, September 3, 2011
I'm Going to be a Mother-In-Law!
Hopefully...Maybe...Someday...
Nick and Greg, this one's for you...
Thinking about, dreaming about, praying about the type of spouses our children will one day marry is, I think, a common mom thing. Even I do that...
Later, I will share more about the type of husbands I pray that YOU will be. Right now, I am going to share my mother's heart about my desires concerning the wives you will one day marry.
First, I hope my future daughters will love your mother and love to be with our family! (Not really the top priority, but I thought I might forget to mention it if I wait until the end.)
We have talked about this often. My prayer is that you both choose women that love Jesus Christ passionately! Believing in, trusting in, and relying on Jesus Christ makes a huge difference in how you view life, how you handle difficulties, your perspective on "happiness", and, most importantly, where you spend eternity. Choose wisely!
You already know this, but, in my opinion, the second most important thing is being teachable, a willingness to learn, the opposite of "this is how I am, so you better just accept it" attitude. God is always at work in us, growing us, changing us. I pray that you have wives that are sensitive to the Spirit's working in their lives, yielded to Him, growing deeper into the love of Jesus!
My "internship" in marriage was not good. I was modeled some bad habits. I carried those bad habits into my marriage. Your dad was patient. God was good. The Holy Spirit used that bad to work together for His good. Thank you, Jesus! So, if you are considering a woman whose "internship" was rocky, God can redeem that, if, going back to my last point, the woman is surrendered to Jesus. Yes, it really boils down to that!
Common interests are a great, added bonus! Your dad and I love so many of the same things. We love taking major long walks, stopping along the way for dinner or rehydration. I have learned to really enjoy skiing. And, I even tried fly fishing. We love to swim, hike and bike together! Traveling together is a blast! A side note: I have friends that married mostly because of their common interest who have struggled greatly in their marriages. And, I have friends that have very different interests than their spouses, yet have fabulous marriages. So this, like I said, can be an added bonus, but not a deal breaker.
A few issues I hope you do not have to deal with...A nagging spouse. (Sometimes we women think we are so smart and together, that we don't call it nagging.) Also, a wife who treats you more like a child than a spouse. (We get use to being a mom, and that can spill over into how we treat our husbands.) Also, a wife who treats her children better and of greater importance than you. (An accepted trend is to think that our children are our number 1 priority, over and above our husbands.) A materialistic person. A disrespectful wife. A controlling wife. A wife who feels it is her duty to be the Holy Spirit in your life, instead of trusting Him to do the work. Wow...that's a long list...
Basically, what I hope for you is a wife who habitually walks in the Spirit! Content, joy-filled, crazy about you! Yeah, that's it in a nutshell!
I have observed that there are two things going on when people originally connect. There is this objective list of what each is looking for in the person they hope to share their life with. That's good. But, also, something that cannot be ignored is that "spark", that feeling, that connection. For some people this comes quickly. My first day at Westmont, I saw your dad, and I got that "spark". Actually, it's much stronger now, 33 years later! Sometimes I get this "butterflies in my stomach" feeling, a funny feeling for which I do not want a cure! :-) For others, this feeling can develop slowly. Very slowly. Five years after we met, five years of a pretty close friendship, your dad got the "spark" for me! Yay!
Many other things come into consideration when choosing that special person. The most important advice I can give you is to be chatting with God about this. He will lead you. He will guide you. He will speak to you. He, after all, knows best! My prayers have shifted from giving Him my list (kind of like the one I just gave you) in regards to your future wives (my future daughters...yay!), to thanking Him for who He has picked out for you!
oxo-Mom
ps~Ali, I KNOW that you will be this type of wife for some lucky guy some day!!! And, you will make amazing, healthy meals and keep him laughing at your cute "Ali-isms" and challenge him spiritually and intellectually (in a good way) and have a warm, cozy, neat and tidy home and surf with him and hike with him and travel with him! Lucky guy!
Nick and Greg, this one's for you...
Thinking about, dreaming about, praying about the type of spouses our children will one day marry is, I think, a common mom thing. Even I do that...
Later, I will share more about the type of husbands I pray that YOU will be. Right now, I am going to share my mother's heart about my desires concerning the wives you will one day marry.
First, I hope my future daughters will love your mother and love to be with our family! (Not really the top priority, but I thought I might forget to mention it if I wait until the end.)
We have talked about this often. My prayer is that you both choose women that love Jesus Christ passionately! Believing in, trusting in, and relying on Jesus Christ makes a huge difference in how you view life, how you handle difficulties, your perspective on "happiness", and, most importantly, where you spend eternity. Choose wisely!
You already know this, but, in my opinion, the second most important thing is being teachable, a willingness to learn, the opposite of "this is how I am, so you better just accept it" attitude. God is always at work in us, growing us, changing us. I pray that you have wives that are sensitive to the Spirit's working in their lives, yielded to Him, growing deeper into the love of Jesus!
My "internship" in marriage was not good. I was modeled some bad habits. I carried those bad habits into my marriage. Your dad was patient. God was good. The Holy Spirit used that bad to work together for His good. Thank you, Jesus! So, if you are considering a woman whose "internship" was rocky, God can redeem that, if, going back to my last point, the woman is surrendered to Jesus. Yes, it really boils down to that!
Common interests are a great, added bonus! Your dad and I love so many of the same things. We love taking major long walks, stopping along the way for dinner or rehydration. I have learned to really enjoy skiing. And, I even tried fly fishing. We love to swim, hike and bike together! Traveling together is a blast! A side note: I have friends that married mostly because of their common interest who have struggled greatly in their marriages. And, I have friends that have very different interests than their spouses, yet have fabulous marriages. So this, like I said, can be an added bonus, but not a deal breaker.
A few issues I hope you do not have to deal with...A nagging spouse. (Sometimes we women think we are so smart and together, that we don't call it nagging.) Also, a wife who treats you more like a child than a spouse. (We get use to being a mom, and that can spill over into how we treat our husbands.) Also, a wife who treats her children better and of greater importance than you. (An accepted trend is to think that our children are our number 1 priority, over and above our husbands.) A materialistic person. A disrespectful wife. A controlling wife. A wife who feels it is her duty to be the Holy Spirit in your life, instead of trusting Him to do the work. Wow...that's a long list...
Basically, what I hope for you is a wife who habitually walks in the Spirit! Content, joy-filled, crazy about you! Yeah, that's it in a nutshell!
I have observed that there are two things going on when people originally connect. There is this objective list of what each is looking for in the person they hope to share their life with. That's good. But, also, something that cannot be ignored is that "spark", that feeling, that connection. For some people this comes quickly. My first day at Westmont, I saw your dad, and I got that "spark". Actually, it's much stronger now, 33 years later! Sometimes I get this "butterflies in my stomach" feeling, a funny feeling for which I do not want a cure! :-) For others, this feeling can develop slowly. Very slowly. Five years after we met, five years of a pretty close friendship, your dad got the "spark" for me! Yay!
Many other things come into consideration when choosing that special person. The most important advice I can give you is to be chatting with God about this. He will lead you. He will guide you. He will speak to you. He, after all, knows best! My prayers have shifted from giving Him my list (kind of like the one I just gave you) in regards to your future wives (my future daughters...yay!), to thanking Him for who He has picked out for you!
oxo-Mom
ps~Ali, I KNOW that you will be this type of wife for some lucky guy some day!!! And, you will make amazing, healthy meals and keep him laughing at your cute "Ali-isms" and challenge him spiritually and intellectually (in a good way) and have a warm, cozy, neat and tidy home and surf with him and hike with him and travel with him! Lucky guy!
Thursday, September 1, 2011
Between the Lines
You three know how much Dad and I love having you around...Our house full of laughter, your friends, mess, noise. We love that!
It's a good skill to learn to read between the lines...
_________________________________
this empty-nest thing is okay....
_________________________________
actually, we're having a blast!
_________________________________
please warn us when you will be coming home...
_________________________________
we may be playing ping pong or something...
_________________________________
Love and miss you!
oxo-Mom
It's a good skill to learn to read between the lines...
_________________________________
this empty-nest thing is okay....
_________________________________
actually, we're having a blast!
_________________________________
please warn us when you will be coming home...
_________________________________
we may be playing ping pong or something...
_________________________________
Love and miss you!
oxo-Mom
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