“O Lord, our Lord,
how
majestic is your name in all the earth!”
Psalm 8:1
I just realized that it has been a few weeks since my last
post. I apologize for the delay in
posting, but it sure has been a wonderful few weeks of time with the Lord! He
is so good and he never ceases to amaze me with such wonderful teachable
moments!
Matt and I celebrated our 20th anniversary on
February 8, and as a gift to each other, decided to embark on our very first
cruise. I have to admit that I was a
little nervous to go on a cruise. As
someone who is prone to motion sickness the thought of being on a big ship for
several days with seasickness didn’t sound like a lot of fun, but then on the
flip side, the thought of being on a big ship with the love of my life for several
days out in the Caribbean sea, spending lots of time in the Word, visiting
tropical destinations, and having people wait on you hand and foot really
sounded quite appealing. So guess what
won? That’s right!!! We went cruising!
I had lot of advice from friends who had been cruising
before with all the different remedies to make sure that I didn’t get
sick. My doctor had prescribed me those
patches that you wear behind your ear for motion sickness, and at $60, I
thought those things should work. So, on
April 23, Matt and I boarded the big “Monarch of the Seas” with my “first aid”
kit well stocked with prescription patches, sea bands, and Dramamine. I was armed and ready for our trek at sea!
When we boarded the ship, you could tell this was our first
cruise! We were early so we could get accustomed to where everything was and
see what we were in for. By that
morning, I was so excited I could hardly stand it. I actually told Matt as we were heading to
the port, that I had such a peace that I wasn’t going to get sick. (I know he was relieved to hear that! Lol!)
So, we made our way through each deck of the ship taking pictures and getting
more and more excited about our adventure!
Our room was not ready yet so we just kept exploring. There were game rooms, pools, a spa, a whole
floor with shops, a coffee shop (not Starbucks, but will do), an ice cream
parlor and much more. Okay, this was
getting better and better! Once our room
was ready, we headed that way and were so excited to find that they had decorated
our room for our anniversary! Everything
seemed perfect!
Finally around 4:30 in the afternoon, it was time to set
sail! Everyone headed up to the pool
deck for the big “Bon Voyage” party! How
fun! The music was playing, people were
dancing, and the weather was beautiful!
It was actually a little cool from the cold front that moved in the
night before and caused the water to be a little bit choppy. I was texting my family and talking to the
kids as we pulled away from the dock and everyone was wishing us farewell! It was so much fun! About 10 minutes out and I was already
getting texts from my family asking how I was feeling! Haha! I had everyone praying that I wouldn’t get
sick! That first night was a little
bumpy and I could feel it, but I am so glad to report, that I didn’t feel sick
at all! Woohoo! I had a wonderful time at sea and never
experienced seasickness! All that money
I spent on my arsenal of motion sickness medication went down the drain! Lol!
But at least I had it in case. So you know what that means…that’s right, it’s
time to start planning the next cruise!
Aside from all the talk of seasickness, this really was a
beautiful vacation! Matt and I didn’t
have much of a honeymoon 20 years ago, as my grandfather died suddenly of a
heart attack two days after our wedding and we spent that extremely difficult
week with our family! But 20 years later,
God granted us this beautiful opportunity to have a wonderful honeymoon! Matt has always been my best friend and after
these last 20 years still remains that way.
For those of you reading this that are newly married or engaged, you
will hear a lot of things about marriage.
I know where you are as far as feeling like you could never love this
person more than you do right now and that things are so great right now that
you don’t know how it can get any better.
Well, I’m here to tell you it DOES!
After 20 years of marriage, three kids, and many trials, our love is so
much stronger than ever and even better than it was at the beginning! I felt the same way and people used to tell
me that the longer you were married the more boring things got, but it doesn’t
have to be that way. Put Christ first in
your marriage, always, and the love for each other grows sweeter and stronger
every day! For those of you reading this
that have been married for a long time and don’t experience those feeling, I
urge you to look at the priorities in your life and commit to make your
marriage the beautiful blessing God intended it to be.
Matt and I have been through a lot over our 20 years of
marriage, and having that week together to reminisce on the ways God grew us
through our trials and sufferings was beautiful. Spending time in God’s Word over the open sea
was almost more than I could bear sometimes.
Just the splendor of God’s miraculous creation was a sight to
behold! I felt like the God of the
universe paused just for us that week, to remind us of his love and power, the
blessing of marriage, and the beauty of his creation. And in those moments, we took it all in! In utter abandon we surrendered to our God
the next 20 years of our marriage and our lives to his will. Apart from him we are nothing! Our desire is to serve and honor him no
matter the cost! There is so much about
our trip that I will share with you in time.
But as I type this, my heart is so full reliving those quiet moments
with my God that I feel like I need to stop here today.
You know, I am no great scholar or theologian. I don’t always know the exact scripture
reference without looking it up or have the knowledge of a seminary grad. I am just a simple “Jesus girl” who loves her
God so much because of what he has done in my life and I’m here to urge you to
surrender your life to him. There is so
much joy being in the center of his will and living a life sold out for
him! Maybe you have accepted him as your
Savior but you aren’t living your life for him.
The time has come to stop playing around. You have one life to live, and the life lived
for him far outweighs anything you could ever imagine! Let this be the day! Please know that I am praying today for
you! If I can help you or pray for you
please contact me, it would be my honor to lift you up to our Father!
Joshua 24:15 “choose you this day
whom ye will serve;”
Choosing HIM,
Allison
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