3 Essentials To Live Out Love

3 essentialsto live out love

by pam farrel — WWW.LOVE-WISE.COM

PEOPLE OFTEN ASK BILL ANDME HOW WE CAN WORK TO-GETHER, MINISTER TOGETHER

AND STAY MARRIED. This with each other 24/7 living can seem intimidating or intense to some couples However, we have created some core habits and tools that weave our hearts and lives together and bring intimacy:

PICK ONE WORD: We set goals together each New Year. I have selected a word and a verse for the year each January since I was 19. When Bill and I got married at age 20, we continued this tradition — this year is 39 years! Selecting a Word for the Year, a verse, a theme and a clarifying question helps us focus our energy.

Here’s an example. During the fall of 2010, I began to experience some physical issues. In January 2011, at a Christian Wellness week sponsored by First Place 4 Health, I received some test results that slapped me in the face with the reality that my health was at risk unless something changed!

I knew I wanted to live long and strong for God. I also knew one of my books was going to be rereleased under the new title 10 Secrets To Living Smart, Savvy and Strong. I felt like none of that was true of me at that moment. Knowing only God has the answers, I picked up my Bible and scanned for verses on being STRONG! When I read this familiar passage, it brought great comfort:

“Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go” (Joshua 1:9, NIV).

Joshua, too, was discouraged, looking for help and hope. I felt I had found a comrade in arms!

I phoned Bill, and together we elected to use STRONG as our Word for the Year. We also chose Joshua 1:9 as our verse because Bill wanted to see strength increase in many areas of his life as well.

We decided to ask a clarifying question before each decision: “Will this make me STRONGER? Us STRONGER? Our health STRONGER? Our finances STRONGER? Our ministry STRONGER? Our love and marriage STRONGER? Our family and friendships STRONGER?

The results? I grew in strength! I shed over 50 pounds; I went from walking to running; I moved from health risk to health strength. Bill made new strides in his career and his health as well.

In what area of life do you need God to make you strong? What is the One Word you can use to focus your life? What One Word can you hang your heart on to hang on to hope? In 7 Simple Skills for Every Woman, I walk women through how to choose and then walk out their Word for the Year. On our Love-Wise ministry website we have Word of the Year Worksheets.

PRAY GOD’S POWER: A new habit I have integrated into my life the past few years is to pray Ephesians 3:20 over our life and our world each day at 3:20. I am fond of the Amplified translation as it expands to include hopes, prayers, dreams — those seedlings of a calling God is whispering to each of our souls:

“Now to Him who is able to [carry out His purpose and] do superabundantly more than all that we dare ask or think [infinitely beyond our greatest prayers, hopes, or dreams], according to His power that is at work within us” (Ephesians 3:20, Amplified).

I pray Ephesians 3:20 with Bill on days we are together. Some days I pray it with our grown sons, daughters-in-law and grandkids. Other days, I pray it with whomever I am with! I have prayed it with postal workers, ministry friends, grocery clerks, hotel desk agents, coffee baristas, flight attendants, sales representatives.

If I am alone, I pray it for my own family and whoever sent me the last email or social media post before the phone alarm rang at 3:20. Some may see it as a rote prayer, but it isn’t at all that to me. It is a reminder that God is in charge, and He is my Abba Father who bestows good gifts.

PLAN AS A TEAM: Each Monday, Bill and I have a Marriage Meeting where we pray over each other and plan for the week ahead. It has been the super glue to hold us together through some serious life storms.

Two years ago, my Word for the Year was Adventure. As it turned out our “adventure” was selling our home and office and selling or giving away 90 percent of our belongings. Our move was motivated by our need to relocate to be caregivers to Bill’s 88-year-old parents while running our

Love-Wise ministry. The following year, my Word for the Year was BLESSING — with the goals of counting my blessings, being a blessing and praying God would restore and send His blessings! After we moved from our home, we lived on our extended family’s vineyard for six months while searching for the perfect (affordable) live-aboard boat. We eventually found it, bought it and moved aboard. Living on the ocean has been a renewing and rejuvenating blessing!

With so many transitions these past two years, it has felt like one challenge after another. This kind of stress can easily pull couples apart, but because of our Monday morning Marriage Meeting, God intertwined our hearts and lives tighter and closer. Because so many couples have shown interest in how we navigate these meetings, we have created Your 3:20 Life: Breakthrough to Blessing. It includes Marriage Meeting worksheets for 52 weeks of the year and many other life-building, love-protecting tools..

If you want to live out God’s purpose, it is vital to discover it first. Then work together to live it out in unity, being careful to PULL TOGETHER so life doesn’t PULL you two APART.