#178 - JOY!

Good morning! It's a nice morning here, a bit of a cool morning, but I anticipate it will turn into a warm day. The joys of living in the south! :)

Let's get started:

Psalm 30:5b - Weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning.

As I was reading through Proverbs 5 this morning... the verses that really jumped out at me were Proverbs 5:21 & 23. Proverbs 5:23 went on to say, "He will die for lack of discipline & instruction..." As I read that, even though it was the main scripture that jumped out... as I took some time to just listen to the Voice of the Holy Spirit, I just kept hearing, "Joy comes in the morning. Joy. Joy. Joy comes in the morning." The phrase repeated in my ears.

I sat on this subject of "joy," I took some time to reflect on what all I have to be joyful about. An amazing husband, an awesome, funny son, a baby on the way (Trin), a home to live in, an awesome family, a business, the ability to stay home with Tyler Jr, God as my Provider.... I have so much to be joyful about. Just last night before going to bed, I was reading and read an excerpt about a man complaining about having no shoes until he beheld a man on the street with no feet.

Have you felt like weeping has endured long enough? The night has seemed to drag on, the weeping, exhausting? Joy comes in the morning. Allow today to be the day for joy. Allow today to be the day where you just let your hair down. I envision cranking up your favorite CD in the car with your favorite happy song on, putting the windows down and just driving. Singing. Belting out the lyrics, tune of no importance. Just finding that place of joy. Being spontaneous. Stopping to get your favorite ice cream... a cone, or blizzard, a yummy McFlurry. Whatever it is, allowing it to be a spontaneous day. If it can't be a day.... maybe it's just a spontaneous stop, or spontaneous hour. Taking a long lunch break to catch a matinee, a fun afternoon movie!

Joy comes in the morning. I am praying that today would be your morning. It would be the morning YOUR joy comes. Weeping has endured too long. We only have today, today. We are creating our story, creating our legacy now, we may as well enjoy the journey & do it with joy.

May today you experience your joy!

#162 - Steer Clear!

EXITING NEWS! TO READ THESE DEVOTIONS, YOU CAN NOW ALSO GO TOO:

www.amyjmccart.com

GOOD MORNING! Man, what a blessing! Do you ever just reflect & think, "Wow! This is awesome!" "THIS" meaning, your life. That you are operating in your gift, you are following your calling, you are excited to be doing what you love, you are fulfilled. That is how I feel this morning! :)
So, yesterday, I picked up my book again. The draft of "Fairytales Do Come True" is completed. I got the "go-ahead" yesterday to dive back in and begin the editing process. The book is right over 74,000 words, I read & edited the first 5 chapters yesterday. Wow! It's so fun! If I could ask you to pray about a few things for me... that would be awesome!

1. I'm thanking God for the Provision & Favor to go to a Conference in July. It's called SheSpeaks, put on by Proverbs31.org. The cool thing about this conference is that it will allow me the opportunity to meet with Christian publishers, bring my book, as well as some of the top Blog posts. It will be a big opportunity for me! If you want to check out the conference details... check out the website... I will be taking the Writers Track (there is also a Speakers Track & Leadership Track). Here's info about what to expect. My goal is to apply before April 15th. 
2. Please pray for me as I am in the editing process of my book. Some key areas of prayer... since it is my testimony, I have changed some names in the book of people who may not want their names shared. Please pray that God gives me wisdom about how to go about it. A few of the main characters played a major hindrance in my life. So what if they ever read this book? I've changed their names... but the role they played, is still the role they played. Please just pray that I would have Wisdom. 

Thank you! :) If you want to read a quick "snap-shot" on the book, I did write a devotion on it: Fairytales Do Come True

OK, lets get going! 

Proverbs 5:4 - But in the end she is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a two-edged and devouring sword.

Hebrews 4:12 - For the Word that God speaks is alive and full of power [making it active, operative, energizing, and effective]; it is sharper than any two-edged sword, penetrating to the dividing line of the breath of life (soul) and [the immortal] spirit, and of joints and marrow [of the deepest parts of our nature], exposing and sifting and analyzing and judging the very thoughts and purposes of the heart.

Proverbs 5 is our classic... it talks about the "loose woman." How God amazes me even this morning, that He can continue to bring NEW things out of His Word! Praise the Lord! Proverbs 5:4 is describing a bit of who the "Loose Woman" is... her characteristics and the deadly role she can play in ones life, IF one lets her! As we skip on to Hebrews 4:12... we also see something else that is described as a TWO-EDGED SWORD! Here we have 2 very opposite examples, ONE bringing DEATH, the other with the ability to bring LIFE! Hebrews 4:12 is talking about how God's WORD is SHARPER than ANY two-edged sword. ANY! Including the loose woman. How the WORD OF GOD has more power than the SHARPEST two-edged sword, that the WORD OF GOD has the power to penetrate. The Word has power to expose us, reveal us, show our hearts and our true deep desires. I believe that EVERY Christian has a deep desire to please God. That deep down, no matter what you're doing in life, whether you are living a life with reckless abandon to loving and serving your King, or whether you are living a life cussing, drinking, or running from God. I believe that IF a person has made a decision to accept Jesus as their Savior, deep down they have this INNATE desire to serve Him, to please Him, to make Him proud. Even amongst the yelling, the arguing, the countless beers, the revealing clothes, the wrong association, that DEEP down even this person has a DESIRE to please our Father! It's there, deep in their heart, a longing, a passion, a drawing to - like a magnet - the King of Kings. Christians have a desire, a longing to be close to the Father!

Something extremely cool about that.... is SURE... here in Proverbs 5:4, the loose woman is luring people in and she is like a two-edged sword. She = "sin", "the World", "bad association", "Wrong motives".... you may not be drawn into what the "outset" of Proverbs 5 looks like... when we just read the words for what they say, many of us think, "This doesn't apply to me, this is talking about a prostitute on the streets trying to lure men in to have sex." But, if you REALLY look a little deeper, SHE is any area that is trying to draw us away.

An awesome thing? Hebrews 4:12 tells us that the WORD is SHARPER than ANY two-edged sword! Including the loose woman! Including sin, temptation, sluggishness, lack of desire, procrastination, lack of motivation.... the WORD is MORE powerful than ANY of that! The WORD has the POWER to PENETRATE! It has the power to get you right in the heart and CHANGE YOUR LIFE!!! When we read further down in Hebrews, the last verse in chapter 4, tells us additional good news.... let's check it out....

Hebrews 4:16 - Let us then fearlessly and confidently and boldly draw near to the throne of grace (the throne of God's unmerited favor to us sinners), that we may receive mercy [for our failures] and find grace to help in good time for every need [appropriate help and well-timed help, coming just when we need it].

HALLELUYAH! That is good news! Even if you have messed up, fallen short, run from God, avoided Him... that it says EVEN YOU can come CONFIDENTLY and BOLDLY to His throne! That even YOU will receive mercy for your failures, your mess-ups, where you've fallen short. And PRAISE THE LORD, that HIS help will be well-timed, coming just when we need it!

UNMERITED FAVOR is favor that is undeserved! You did not earn it. You just receive it. Because Jesus went to the cross for you, died for YOUR sins, and here you have it... YOU are receiving UNMERITED, UNEXPLAINABLE, UNDESERVED FAVOR! A promotion why? Because of favor! Increase why? Because of favor! A compliment from someone un-expecting why? Because of favor! Forgiveness for screwing something up why? Because of favor!

Just a reminder... STEER clear of the loose woman... and ALL she represents. Bad association. Are there certain people that pull you down, draw you away from a relationship with Jesus? THEY are the "loose woman" in your life. STEER CLEAR of them! It may just be for a season.... but the loose woman is the enemy to us drawing near in a relationship with Jesus. 1 Peter 5:8... be vigilant and cautious at all times; for that enemy of yours, the devil, roams around like a lion roaring [^[a]in fierce hunger], seeking someone to seize upon and devour. 


Steer clear and CONFIDENTLY press in to the THRONE OF GRACE! Everything you desire is at that throne! Your dreams, they are there. Your desires, they are there. Your answers, they are there!

#80 - Year of FAVOR.

HELLO! Ok.... I'm about to show my age! So... I was sitting out on the porch and reading my Bible... a bit cool, fall is definitely here. Well, I listen into the kitchen and this is what I hear, "Cotton Candy, sweet and low, let me see that tootsee roll..." Yes... bustin' out with a little 1994 tunes! Whoa! Is that aging me?? Lol! And another hearty "Yes"... Tyler and I still bust out around the house in a bit of some dance groove. (I would say "booty" music, but since this is a Christian blog, I'll keep that thought to myself!)


Ok... I'm over the tunes... I'm ready to get started!! 

Proverbs 5:8b-9 - ...come not near the door of her house [avoid the very scenes of temptation]. Lest you give your honor to others and your years to those without mercy. 

Psalm 35:12-14 - They reward me evil for good to my personal bereavement. But as for me, when THEY were sick, my clothing was sackcloth; I afflicted myself with fasting, and I prayed with head bowed on my breast. I behaved as if grieving for my friend or my brother; I bowed down in sorrow, as one who bewails his mother. 

Psalm 65:11 - You crown the year with Your bounty and goodness, and the tracks of Your [chariot wheels] drip with fatness. 

Proverbs 31:21 - She fears not the snow for her family, for all her household are doubly clothed in scarlet. 

What's our overall take-away of the above verses? In walking as the righteous, in avoiding the scenes of evil, you may not immediately be rewarded with good. It actually may seem like the unfair is taking place, that you are being put in an unfavorable position by not doing things as the "world" does them. But FEAR NOT! The YEAR of God's favor WILL BE UPON YOU! The RIGHTEOUS WILL BE Blessed! God will not let you go without being blessed for your righteousness! If initially people are bestowing "evil" upon you, FEAR NOT. If you are being treated unfairly, FEAR NOT! Your God will avenge you. God will lift you up! How would you rather be raised up? By your OWN doing, or by GOD doing it? If I were a betting woman, I would bet that GOD will lift you up in a far superior light than what you could do yourself!!


A few things come to mind here. 


Avoiding the Appearance of Evil: Tyler and I have had something that we have always done to avoid the appearance of evil. When I worked in Corporate America, I often had the opportunity to ride to appointments with other Business Bankers. Instead of riding with them, I would ask them if I could just meet them there. And Tyler does the same. It sometimes seems inconvenient. People think that it is weird. "Why would you want to meet us there? Don't you want to save gas and just ride with me?" Well.... the answer was, No. No, I don't want to "save gas" and meet you there. What I want to do is AVOID the appearance of evil. Avoid the question that could raise in someone's mind if they saw me in a car with another man. "Humm.... That is Tyler's wife. I wonder why she is with that other man. He's attractive. Hum. I wonder where they are going?" We heard Billy Graham once say that he had a glass office. It was glass so that any time during any meeting, he completely avoided the appearance of evil. Anyone could see into his office and always know that things were in the "open" and above board. If he was on an elevator alone, and a woman got on the elevator, he would get off so he wouldn't be on an elevator alone with another woman. Inconvenient, sure. But.... he avoided the appearance of evil and to this day, Billy Graham is esteemed as one of the most godly men in history. 


Being Rewarded with Evil: This doesn't seem like a fun topic. When I re-read over this section in Psalm 35, I was a bit astounded by the humility of a man and how he would treat an enemy. Someone who treated him so poorly. But what a true showing of a Christian. Like what it talks about in the Sermon on the Mount, 'love your enemies.' The gist of it saying, what more are you if you love those who love you, don't even sinners do that? But, love your ENEMIES, those who persecute you. That is different! 


I was at a funeral this weekend. The minister told a story about a man back in the 1400's. A man was on trial and was going to be killed. Another man, hearing about the man, decided to walk 70 miles to pleed for his life. To beg for the man to be able to live. As he arrives after hours and hours of walking, he gets before the king or magistrate and begins to pleed for the mans life. The King states, "NO. He will be hung. He will not live. Any friend or family would most assuredly come this far to try to get me to spare his life, NO! He will die." The man who traveled such a long way on foot responded, "But sir, he is not family, nor is he my friend, he is my greatest enemy." The King responded back, "Well, with that being the case, if you would travel that far for your enemy, I will pardon his life. He will live." 


Wow! But, that in essence is what it was saying above, in Psalm 35. If you read the whole Psalm, you will hear that. Where the Psalmist was repaid with evil, he mourned and wept for his enemies. He repaid them with kindness, with love. 


The YEAR of BOUNTY: What a great reward to look forward too! This is something that I am going to claim for the NOW. That NOW, this year will be the "Year of God's BOUNTY and goodness!" That as the RIGHTEOUS, we can believe for the goodness of God to shine in our life. Sure, maybe sometimes by living as the righteous, we may be treated unfairly. As we live above reproach, things may sometimes seem unfair and not to be going in our favor. BUT, I am reminded recently by a revelation that Tyler received. What is a PMA? What is a Positive Mental Attitude? I have always thought that I was pretty optimistic, that I had a pretty good attitude. What what is a TRUE PMA? A TRUE PMA? A true PMA, no matter WHAT the situation or circumstance says, "I know that things are going to turn in my favor. I know that EVERYTHING works out in my favor. I didn't get this deal? I didn't get this sale? No biggie. I know that EVERYTHING works out in MY favor because I am a child of God." 


I had a true encounter with that this morning. Someone replaced our facet in our sink yesterday. Well.... I have run the dishwasher twice since then. And... couldn't figure out why the dish detergent was left in the dishwasher. Then I noticed that a lot of the things in the dishwasher were ruined. Cups were disfigured, some of the boys spoons were disfigured... my Camelbak water bottle- disfigured... and other things too. I was so sad. :( Then, I realized that water wasn't getting into the dishwasher. I called the man who fixed it, he told me how to turn it on, so I did. And, Wha-La, fixed. Well.... in the meantime, things are ruined. I asked Tyler, if I should ask for money to replace what was ruined, he said No. He said, what does a PMA say? I didn't answer. Partly because I was standing there pouting. Bummed about my Camelbak. :( I didn't know what a PMA would say, I was just bummed. He said, "It will all work out in your favor. You will get something even better. You'll get to pick the color. Or, you'll just get something you like better!"


Ok. 


Well. Bless your enemies. Evaluate, do you REALLY have a PMA? Expect GOD. Expect that THIS will be YOUR YEAR of BOUNTY and goodness!! 


Have a blessed day! :)  

#46 - Keep on your Lamp!

Wow! Can I just say PRAISE THE LORD! Tyler just called me. He was downtown and had to go into a building. Outside the building there was a fenced in "play area" with toys, it was obviously a daycare outside of his high rise building. I know exactly where it is. There was a section with kids that were toddlers and walking. Those kids were just playing. Then there was another fenced in area with babies who couldn't walk. Babies from 6 weeks old.... babies Tyler Jr's age. Tyler told me that as he walked past, he saw a quick glimpse of a scenario. He saw a baby, about Tyler Jr's age laying on the floor crying. His pacifier was laying on the floor and had fallen out of his mouth. He laid there and just cried. The day care worker, with another baby in her arms, walked over to the crying baby and put the pacifier back in his mouth. It had been on the dirty floor, people's shoes tracking through the area. Clean, right!?! Yah! Tyler said he walked into the building and just started crying. When he called me, I just started crying too as he painted the picture of what had happened. As Tyler cried in the building, he just thanked God, "Not my boy. Not my boy." That Tyler Jr doesn't ever cry for too long without his mama coming to him to love on him. It just gave me a more clear why! Yes, we own our own business, and it has afforded me the privilege and the blessing to stay home. To be a wife & mama. It just reminded me of one of my "WHY's". I know there are other Mama's out there who don't want to be at work. They want to be a Mama! They don't want to leave their child at the day care. They would cry to see their child laying on the floor, crying, with no arms to pick them up. Or behind bars of a play yard. 

Sure, not all parents have a desire to stay home and raise there kids, and that is OK. But for those that do, it reminds me of my Why. Why we have a business. To help & serve people. To help Mama's come home to do what I believe has been the most important thing I have done, raise up a godly Warrior who will usher the next generation of Christian leaders! To help daddy's come home from corporate America to be daddy's. Praise the LORD! If I could go pick up that baby on the floor, I would just want to pick him up and hold him. Stop his cry. Make his tears go away. And if or when I meet his mommy or daddy, I'm going to offer them an opportunity. A solution to not having to leave their son there. How your heart changes when you have children. Tyler Jr has made my heart so much bigger. So much more full of love. 


Well... with that long intro, let's get started....

Proverbs 5:6 - She loses sight of and walks not in the path of life; her ways wind about aimlessly, and you cannot know them.

Proverbs 31:18 (NIV) - She sees that her trading is profitable, and her lamp does not go out at night.

So, Proverbs 5 talks about the loose woman. The woman, quite opposite from our Proverbs 31 friend. Today, I saw something that I never have seen before. WOW! "She loses sight of and walks not in the path of life..." This leads me to believe that at one point in time, this "loose woman" may actually been on the path of life! She may actually have had SIGHT. Real, true sight! Without blinders, without scales. But true sight that revealed the one, true way of Jesus Christ. But, her life took a turn, and now her way is winding and she is going about aimlessly. 


Lamp. What do we know of the word "lamp" in the Bible. What are some of the spiritual connotations or references for this word? The first we probably think of is this: The Word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path. (Ps 119:105) We think of the Word "lamp" and we automatically think: Word of God, Bible, something that gives light, direction, vision. 


SOOOOO..... if the loose woman... who at one point has seen the light, has lost SIGHT, what has happened? The LAMP is no longer in front of her. The Bible, the Word has passed from her life. The Word is no longer in front of her, guiding her. If she once was reading it daily, things have gotten in the way. One day of missing the Word, led to 2 days, which led to "I'll get to it tomorrow." Then, tomorrow, led to tomorrow. Then that tomorrow led to, "I'll do it one day when I get time." Then that "one day" never came and the lamp got further and further away. Subtle other things began to draw attention. Subtle other things became fun, or felt good. Things slowly drawing her away from the lamp, the Word of God. What she one day SAW (because it refers to her LOSING SIGHT, so we know she at one point SAW it), has now faded into the dark distance. She got away from the Word. Her daily study, her quiet time has slipped away and we see what happens in Proverbs 5:23: He/she will die for lack of discipline & instruction, and in the greatness of his/her folly he/she will go astray and be lost.


She has strayed from the light. The result of sin is death. In this case, the result of lack of discipline is death. The loose woman has left a life of discipline.


The Proverbs 31 woman KEEPS the LAMP, KEEPS the WORD in front of her at ALL times! It says that her LAMP does not go out. She is steady. She is disciplined. She is not going to steer of the path that leads to aimlessness. To wandering with no cause or direction. Our Proverbs 31 friend is not walking down the road that leads to death. THE LAMP IS ON and the LAMP IS HER GUIDE! ALWAYS! 


What does that mean to you? What does that mean to me? Well... I have to admit, I recently just dropped the ball on this! Granted, I pray and talk to the Holy Spirit a lot throughout my day. But when we were in Hilton Head, I went THREE days without being in the Word! I went THREE days without seeking out God's Word! I could come up with many excuses, but there are none that are good enough to allow myself to slowly stray from the LAMP, from the Word. 


When is it MOST important to be on your guard? When is it EASIEST to stray from your LAMP? During a time of CHANGE. Are you going on vacation? Are you moving? Are you changing jobs? Are you changing schedules at work? Are you changing school schedules? Did you just begin a new activity? Do you have out of town guests coming in? Is it a Holiday? Times of CHANGE invite a perfect opportunity for the enemy to come in and cause a distraction, a diversion, the ability to get you away from the Word. To begin that process of "straying" from the LAMP. 


Is change getting ready to occur in your life? BE ON GUARD! Are there any "subtle things" in your life that are creeping in like what happened to the loose woman? Are there "subtle things"?


Let's make a resolution to be consistent. To be in the Word. To not miss our Quiet Time! Not even for one day. Like the Proverbs 31 woman, let's keep the LAMP, the WORD on ALL THE TIME!

#28 - The 72 Hour Rule *(kid censored)*

Good morning all! How are you?? I am enjoying a watermelon smoothie this morning, finishing off cup of coffee #2, and the boy has gotten a bottle and is probably tapped it off and snoozin by now. I am so excited you have joined me today in reading this post: "The 72 Hour Rule." Should be quite an interesting post.... I will be interested in hearing your thoughts and feedback. :) Some eye-brows may be raised during this one! :) Did you read the post from Friday? "Proverbs 31: The 'How To'"- What were your thoughts on it?? - If you did.... and if you've been following, you will know that today we are going to touch on Proverbs 5 and a verse from Proverbs 31:10-31. What verses do you think we are going to choose?? Well... let's roll on into things. :) 

Proverbs 31:12 - She comforts, encourages, and does him only good as long as there is life within her. 

Proverbs 5:19 (KJV) - Let her be as the loving hind and pleasant roe; let her breasts satisfy thee at all times; and be thou ravished always with her love.

Whoa! Proverbs 5:19 has always been one of my husbands favorite verses. (LOL) I'm sure he'll be real thrilled that I let you know that! But, there it is, in black and white. The bible talks about boobs! Whoa! May be a shocker to some. The Bible talks about a lot of pretty interesting stuff. For those people into the "romance novels", the sex, love, adultery, lying, cheating, killing, prostitutes.... wow, the Bible has it all! Definitely a great book to read if you are interested in it all! Proverbs 5 has been one chapter that I always think about when I am thinking about who is the OPPOSITE of our Proverbs 31 friend. What would be a polar opposite? The loose woman. Proverbs 5:3-10 gives a good breakdown of this "loose woman." Then, when we continue reading, we come across the call to faithfulness in Proverbs 5:15-20. A call to fidelity. A call to faithfulness. A call to one man being with one woman and not straying from his marriage bed. A call to children from one wife or one husband. A call to love and delighting in the physical passions between a married couple. Staying away from the "outsiders" of the world. Staying away from the seductive smile's of the man or woman at the office with the luring words. From real and costly experience, from the actual sin and lust, the adultery that David committed with Bathsheba, he gives a call, a cry out to his son to be faithful. After committing adultery, having Bathsheba's husband killed, her giving birth to their son conceived through their adulterous relationship, David speaks from the hardship of death. The baby, 7 days old, dying because of their sin. David is speaking in chapter 5 from the experience of sin and the loss sin has brought.


The Proverbs 31 woman.... she comforts, encourages & does her husband only good as long as there is life within her. Sex. That's our topic. Studies have shown that most men need to experience a release about every 72 hours. Therefore, in our house, Tyler & I have a 72 hour rule (applied when needed!) The "72 hour rule" is also accompanied with a "No-No" rule. Part of my call as a wife is to comfort my husband, to do him only good. Sex is part of comforting him. It allows him to have a release in what is pent up inside of him. Fulfilling his sexual needs is part of "doing him only good." A lot of our friends operate on the same "72 hour rule"... but those friends of Tyler's who do not and find out about it immediately have their mouth hanging agape. They are freaking out! "MAN! I wish my wife would agree to that! OH MAN! That would be SOOO awesome!" They frequently open up to Tyler and tell him how IN-frequently they have sex with their wife, and some of the things they have to do to release what their body makes. Right or wrong, men do what they feel they have too if their needs are not being met. 


Getting a bit personal here.... whoa! We implemented the 72 hour rule very early on in our marriage. The infamous question, "Do I need the 72 hour rule for myself?" Like most women, absolutely not! I could go for quite awhile and be fine. Do I feel obligated to climax every time I am "assisting" my husband? No. I am fulfilling a need. I am bringing comfort to him. I am doing him good. I must say that the "No-No" policy does come in pretty handy. What does that mean? We have a "No-No" policy. If one of us really needs "help", if we ask for "help", the other person can not say "No." Believe it or not, that really does even line up with the Word:

1 Corinthians 7:3-5 - For the wife does not have [exclusive] authority and control over her own body, but the husband [has his rights]; likewise also the husband does not have [exclusive] authority and control over his body, but the wife [has her rights]. Do not refuse and deprive and defraud each other [of your due marital rights], except perhaps by mutual consent for a time, so that you may devote yourselves unhindered to prayer. But afterwards resume marital relations, lest Satan tempt you [to sin] through your lack of restraint of sexual desire.

My body is not my own, it is my husbands. Once married, part of my marital obligation and responsibility is to fulfill his sexual needs. AND the road goes both ways, his marital responsibility is to fulfill my sexual needs.


THE LOOSE WOMAN IS OUT THERE! - IF I decide I don't want too or don't feel like it... there are repercussions. My husband and myself both having "physical touch" needs.... even in 1 Corinthians 7, it talks about SATAN coming to tempt you because our inability to restrain from sexual temptation. I KNOW that the LOOSE WOMAN IS OUT THERE! So, as a wife, if you/we chose NOT to meet our husbands sexual needs... NEEDS, their body, their physical make-up creates sperm, it has to come out sometime..... so IF us wives do not meet their needs, there are several options for them .... and let me point out, they are not good options. Options that I would prefer NOT to happen. For the FEW - options to abstain may work for awhile. Otherwise, they could find release through masturbation. They could find it through pornography. And then there is the LOOSE WOMAN. Because as we read in Proverbs 5, she is out there! So the cute little secretary at work, not a picture of our Proverbs 31 woman, begins telling him how nice he looks. She makes sure to bend over the copy machine right when she knows he's looking. She wears lower cut blouses than normal to draw attention to him. Meanwhile, his appetite is large! His hormones are heightened because of his lack of "action from his wife." Often, that is when affairs begin. Is it completely HIS fault. NO. It is often almost equally the wife's fault for refusing or depriving her husband from sex. When the husband who is fulfilled at home, the wife is applying the 72 hour rule.... he walks right past the cute secretary who is bending over the copy machine, he doesn't even notice it. He avoids her. His hormones are not heightened to a state of NEED, that he is able to avoid the LOOSE WOMAN who is trying to lure him in to an affair.


So for my husband, may MY breasts satisfy him always. May I comfort and do him good ALWAYS! 


And what is good about the "No-No" Policy? Well.... if you are anything like me.... I do not know when I am going to be "in the mood." It could be at a pretty inconvenient time... but if it has been 2 weeks, and it's not at an opportune time.... IF Tyler said "No"....once the mood was gone, it could be another week or two weeks.... or the LOOSE MAN could come into the picture. The same thing applies to us women. We need our needs met too. When our needs are met at the time that we need them met, masturbation, pornography, or the "hot man at the office" isn't as much of a temptation for women either. In today's world with pornography so easily accessible, it should not be cast aside as something that someone in your house would not consider. If there are children in the house, teenagers....or even if it is just the husband and wife. There are too many sites available to provide a negative source of relief. What used to be a bit harder to come by, now is readily available.


There are also a lot of great web-sites out there that provide accountability or restrictions. Covenant Eyes is a great website that will email weekly updates and rate the websites that have been visited. They will also notify you on any sites that have been blocked. It is a priceless feature to cut down or eliminate the temptation that is available through the internet. Some staggering stats? (http://www.safefamilies.org/sfStats.php) Check this out and then tell me if a "control" wouldn't be helpful:

• 9 out of 10 children ages 8-16 have viewed pornography on the internet (many cases accidental).
• There were 1.3 million pornographic websites in 2003 (It's 2010 now! Has that number doubled? Tripled? Quadrupled by now?)
• 70% of men from 18-34 have visited a pornography website within the last month.
• 34% of FEMALE readers of Today's Christian Woman admitted to intentially accessing an Internet porn site.
• 47% of families say that pornography is a problem in their home! That is almost 1 out of 2 families!!! (Focus on the Family)
• 51% of pastors say that cyber-porn COULD BE a possible temptation.

SO, WHOA! Yah! I know, they are pretty gross statistics, but they are nonetheless a reality. 

Wives, Husbands.... meet the needs of your spouse. Don't refuse your spouse when they ask for help. As strong of a person as they may be, you may be turning them away, in their time of weakness to be one of these statistics. 

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As a PS - Husbands.... wives.... if you are going to apply the "No-No" Rule or the "72 hour Rule", do you think you are always going to be in the mood? Save yourself some trouble, NO you won't be. But... look at the benefits... by you serving your spouse in this area of marriage, you are helping save them from possible sin, from possible infidelity, from possible pain in your relationship. It is definitely a way you can serve your spouse! Blessing you with many happy years til "death do you part."

#10 - BONUS SATURDAY: Red Handed

Wow...what good stuff this morning! My goal is to be predictable in my posts, so my "plan" is to post Monday-Friday and take the weekends off.... but I just can't help to not post this one.... Some really good stuff this morning. 


So being that it is the 5th, we are taking text from Proverbs 5....as I read the chapter, there are SOOO many ways to go: the loose woman, the faithful woman... and really go into depth there. But honestly, this morning after reading, I couldn't get past the first verse! 


Let's take a look:

Proverbs 5:1 - MY SON, be attentive to my Wisdom [godly Wisdom learned by actual and costly experience], and incline your ear to my understanding [of what is becoming and prudent for you]...

Wow! So, let's discover who is talking here. Like we found in earlier in Proverbs 4:3 it says, When I (Solomon) was a son with my father (David).... he taught me and said to me...
So, we can assume David continues teaching Solomon in Proverbs 5:1 as he begins with MY SON. What I really thought was interesting was this... be attentive to my Wisdom. 
What is the best way to learn? We often hear, "through other people's experience"! I can hear David saying to his son, "Son, listen to my Wisdom, it has come through actual experience! Costly Experience!" Which makes me then want to look back on the story to see what David is talking about. 
What was "costly" about David's experience? DEATH! DEATH is what was greatly costly. It cost the life of David's seven day old son. 
Let's re-cap the story. About 10 months earlier David writes Joab, a military leader, a letter saying, "Put Uriah in the front line of the heaviest fighting and withdraw from him, that he may be struck down and die." (2 Sam. 11:15) Bathsheba mourned her husband, and when she was done mourning him, David brought her in, made her his wife and she bore him a son. (2 Sam 11:27).


So... here's where it gets interesting. Over the next 9-10 months, David enjoys life with his new, beautiful wife. Her belly grows, she looks radiant and pregnant. At dinner, they likely talk about this new baby. They dream about what he or she may be, hoping it will be a boy to carry on the name. They begin to love this child before it is even born. All the while, David knowing his sin, pushes it further and further under the rug. Isn't that true though. If or when you have sinned, haven't you just had the times where you hope no one finds out. The longer it goes with no one knowing, we take on the attitude of: "What sin.... it's been so long ago, does it really even count..." or we begin to convince ourselves that it didn't even really happen because we have gotten away with it for so long. 
Well, that is when the man of God, Nathan appears. Nathan tells King David of a story of a poor and rich man. How the poor man had ONE lamb, he coddled and raised up this little lamb from infancy, he practically fed it out of his very own hand. In the meantime, a traveler is coming through, and the rich man not wanting to take from his own large flock, takes from the poor man, takes all that the poor man has. Takes the one lamb belonging to the poor man. David gets furious, says, "Surely this man should die!"
Nathan announces, "This man is you!"
Imagine the immediate sinking in the heart of David. He is caught..... red-handed. His sin has been found out. Think of how David must have felt, or how you have felt when you are caught in a sin, the shame that rises from your heart. The warm heat on your cheeks. The agony and disgust you feel in yourself. You just want to get on your knees and cry. I believe, this must have been how David felt. Pain, disgust & sorrow. 
So, his now wife is getting ready to have a baby and Nathan announces that the baby will surely die. On top of the disgust and sorrow, this child that has been growing in David's wife's stomach, this child that they have already begun to love, will die. All due to the sin that David has committed. David pleads with the Lord, weeps and cries before the Lord to spare his Son. He won't eat anything or drink anything. David cries out to the Lord... but after 7 days, the son of David & Bathsheba dies.
David was guilty, but did receive mercy on his life as Nathan told him, "The Lord has put away your sin; you shall not die." 


In Proverbs 5:1, David is speaking from actual & costly experience. We can read in Romans that sin leads to death. If we continued on the road of sin, death is the outcome, their are consequences to sin. 


I think, how many times have I sinned and felt utterly ashamed. Where I just wanted to run and hide from God and hide from my sin. Pull the covers up over my head and hide. But praise God.... though we are often found guilty, though the cost of our sin could and should be our life, he often pardons our sin and forgives. 


The following video shows is just a clip of an amazing video LUMP. It portrays the shame of sin.... the ending, not shown in this clip, shows a father... loving & hugging his boy who dripping in sweat, running from fear & shame is forgiven.