Random and With Purpose

Hello Everyone,

Now that we have finished our series, Out-Love Your Spouse, Dineen and I will return to random posting. I am always surprised that God leads me to new discoveries and allows me to experience His unending love, grace and adventure and more amazing is I get to share them with you. So stay tuned as we adventure through the Holiday months of November and December. We have some great stuff coming up.

Soon, I will be sharing a video I recorded with a friend of mine that address a serious topic, childhood sexual abuse. This interview is not about the abuse but about how God has worked through this woman. And it all came about when she went to report for Jury Duty. You don't want to miss it. 

HALLOWEEN - What Do We Do With Halloween?  Link to the post I wrote last year.

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On another holiday note....

I also want to collect some of your stories to share in later in the holiday season. 

RANDOM ACTS OF KINDNESS ~ GIFTING MY GRATITUDE  

I share one of my random acts of kindness stories here, Gifting My Gratitude. If you have initiated, been the recipient of, or have witnessed one of these amazing displays of love, click here and share your story (This is our contact page at Winning Him Without Words). I find these are some of the most inspiring true stories of the goodness of mankind and the greatness of God.

I have gathered a few already and they will lift your spirits so that you soar above the clouds this holiday season. Please take 10 minutes and share with me your story or create your random story and then share.

I pray you are filled with the Holy Spirit this week and that you witness the outrageous, vibrant, passionate love of our Savior in wave after wave. Hugs, Lynn

I Bet You Didn't Know This

Here is a small factoid I bet you didn't know about Dineen and I (Lynn). 

This blog was launched in May of 2006. Dineen was one of the first readers and she and I became fast friends. Within six months she and I became a team and have been writing and serving Jesus together ever since.

We talk via email, daily. And, I do mean daily. Sometimes more than 10 emails will fly between us. We also chat on the phone several days each week and we pray together over the phone.

We brain storm our ideas and share what the Lord is speaking to us on a given day. We agonize and pray together over the emails that arrive from people who are in crisis in their marriage and we celebrate with those who find healing in their hearts and marriages through the power and love our our Jesus.

We are best friends.

But up until today, Dineen and I have only met face-to-face for less than two minutes.

We connected at a Deeper Still Conference in San Francisco for only two minutes. Other than that we have never spent any significant time in the same room. 

Now think about this. We have written together here at SUM for four years and have even written a book together.

Do you find this fact as uncanny as I do????

Well, think it's just like our Lord to do something this different just so He can display the power of His will in the lives of two ordinary women.

But today, as you read this I am on my way to pick Dineen up from the airport and we are then off to spend time with our Acquisitions Editor, Kim. Kim is awesome and we both have a wonderful friendship with her. 

We will also meet some of the team at Regal Books, our publisher.  

So today Dineen and I are asking all of you our friends, to rejoice over this amazing reunion and to pray for us.

Please ask our Lord Jesus to bless our time together as we are going to plan our first broadcast for The Intentional Marriage, to be aired next Friday. Please pray for safety as we will spend some hours on the LA freeways. Yikes!

Pray we remain humble and only seek to glorify the name of Jesus.

Thank you all of our friends. You can bet your names will be chatted about as we talk about all of our online friendships. We will thank Jesus for you.

Also, I plan to Twitter @LynnDonovan and Facebook (Lynn Donovan) about our adventure. Tune in and see a few photos and follow us as we journey with the Lord to serve His Kingdom.

Be blessed, Lynn

Hallmark Holiday

I originally posted this last year but I find it needs a re-read by me and I hope you will enjoy it again this year. I pray it helps and encourages many of you who struggle with Valentine's Day. Love and hugs, Lynn

Tomorrow is such a strange day. Valentine’s Day!

This day could make me one of the happiest women alive or shatter my life. In the early years of my marriage, I had expectations of surprise trips to some warm destination. I dreamed of three dozen roses arriving at the bank which would make all my coworkers green with envy. I wanted him to sweep me off my feet because after all I deserved it. I mean really….. After all, he was lucky enough to snag me.

Ahem….

Don’t pretend you haven't had thoughts along these lines as a young bride. Perhaps you still might.

Well, I am writing to you today for a couple of reasons. I wish when I was young and starry eyed about love, a wise woman would have come along side me to help me get a grip on reality. I may not be the wisest woman but I care so very much about your tender heart.

My first five Valentine’s Days I was lucky in that my husband remembered to buy me a card. Many of you tomorrow won’t receive anything from your spouse. However, I wanted bouquets of flowers. I was so disappointed I cried…. Alone in the closet. Okay, Jesus cried along with me.

So, as tomorrow looms, it helps to share a heads-up. Our husband’s might disappoint us. Remember, our expectations of our men can be very selfish and our men often feel that no matter what they do, they can never make us happy. (Yikes, is anyone feeling convicted here?)

I can hear some of you saying right now…. But, why shouldn’t I expect some token of love on this day we celebrate romantic love? Well, honestly, I believe you should. However, it doesn’t always happen.

Let me share how our Valentine’s Day changed over the years. After five years of a card when “I wanted more,” I took matters into my own hands.

I began to plan Valentine’s Day and didn’t wait for my man to make dinner reservations. I made reservations or planned a candle light dinner at home. If I wanted a bouquet of flowers, I bought them. I bought lingerie then wrapped it up to give to him with a promise to model it.

I’m not sure when it started to happen but flowers began to arrive at the house around Valentine’s Day in the strangest way. I remember opening up the front door one year to a smiling FedEx driver. The driver looked at me wearing a great big smile and holding a large thin box. She said, “Mrs. Donovan, this is one of my favorite deliveries to make.” The box was filled with live fresh flowers. They were pink and beautiful and …… guess what…

I cried.

But not in the closet.

God can change any man but I bet He is gonna change you first. Don’t wait this V-day. Plan something now and make tomorrow a great day.

PS. Last week I knew my husband was planning to send me flowers for Valentine’s Day in spite of the fact that we are unemployed and can’t afford it. I looked at him one afternoon last week and said, “Honey, please don’t send me flowers. Really, I mean it. I appreciate knowing that you are willing even if we don’t have the money. I don’t need them this year.”

Go figure. Never thought I would say that in a million years…. But, I did.

Have a wonderful day and don’t forget that Jesus is really the only one who can fill the hole in our hearts. Happy Valentine’s Day and may the Lord send you several tiny love notes this weekend.

Be Blessed, Lynn

What do you Struggle With in your "Uniquely" Yoked Marriage?

Hi Everybody, Wondering if y’all could help me again…. You were awesome a week ago when you shared your thoughts in this post. I heart you! 

 I am thinking I have never written down the unique struggles that unequally yoked spouses face. So, I thought I would ask. This may be a tough assignment because many spiritual struggles manifest themselves in many ways in a marriage relationship. But, tell me what you think is a unique marriage struggle that is specific to your faith and your spouse’s unbelief. 

This is what comes to my mind off the bat.

• Attending church alone. 
• Organized churches rarely provide support or teaching specific to our unique marriages. 
• Social events (list some specifics for me on this one) such as attending a church event and what it’s like when you go with your spouse to a social event such as a Superbowl party where no one is a believer. 
• Language (cussing and or expression)  
• What about media choices???? 

Okay, let’s hear your thoughts on this and be real. 

We 'll take a look at some of these issues in the future and some awesome scripture the Lord has placed heavily on my mind of late. 

THANK YOU so very much for making SUM a place where we each help one another grow closer to Jesus and to honor Him through our marriages. I love you so very much. 

Be blessed, Lynn 

PS. I’m waiting for the Lord to lead me about our next series. Until He directs, watch for some randomness around here. *grin*….. and randomness can sometimes be really great. 

Have a great week. Write me if you need prayer covering. Hugs, Lynn

Another Beginning It's Scary, Passionate and all about Jesus. Gotta Read this one!

Hi Lynn and Dineen here! 

We have a story to tell you. And as always then we need your help. 

Many of you who have joined us on this strange and unexpected journey of unequallyokedome, may not know how Spiritually Unequal Marriage was started. So, today we want to tell you about the beginning. 

This blog began May, 1, 2006 after I (Lynn) attended a writer’s conference. It was the last day of the conference, the last lunch, my bags were packed and following lunch I was heading to the airport to return home. 

Well during this lunch, I sat down with several young women who were all talking about their blogs. They all blogged. I barely knew what a blog was and thought only teenagers blogged. But these women were discussing how it is part of their ministry and writing for the Lord. 

As I sat listening, they tried to explain this strange new world and all of a sudden, I heard the Lord speak directly and clearly to my heart. “Lynn, you are going to do this… You are going to do this…” I started repeating, “I’m going to do this, yes, I’m going to do this” 

I came home and Spiritually Unequal Marriage was born. 

I hit publish on my first post and prayed this blog would be a hopeful resource for others, like me, who struggled with their unequally yoked marriage. Over the years prior, God healed me, my marriage, and I learned to live with joy. The Lord told me to share the hope and encourage others. 

I stepped out in total FAITH. I didn’t have a clue. 

 Here is my first post: 

This website is dedicated to our Lord and to men and women who live every day in a spiritually mismatched marriage. It is my prayer that this forum will be the place where Christians can find support, encouragement, and practical resources to thrive in their unequal marriage. I pray that when you visit this site you will be inspired and offer your own insights into God’s design for a healthy marriage in the midst of different viewpoints. 

This is still how I feel today and it’s how Dineen feels as well. 

Amazingly, as this was happening, God put the idea about a blog for the unequally yoked on Dineen’s heart, and led her to me, and we became partners. She completes me. She began writing here within months. 

Our mission is very simple: To serve the Lord Jesus Christ and to honor Him with our words. And, to do all we can to give others help, hope, encouragement and healing in their lives and marriages. 

It is our passion with our entire heart. 

Well God has done such amazing things and you, our friends, who come here to read and share your lives, have helped so many others and especially us. We are all together serving the Lord through this online community. 

So, today the Lord has asked us to take our passion to others who haven’t found us on the internet. This week Dineen and I began working on a book, Wild Hope, a discussion of ten Christ-centered principles to help a woman thrive in a spiritually mismatched marriage(working title). We are thrilled to work with Regal Publishing and our awesome Editor, Kim. (Thanks again Kim for serving the Lord and allowing us to get our message of hope out to others). 

So, we can’t do this without YOU!!! We are gonna need your ideas, your suggestions, your prayers and input, just like we always need you. We must have the manuscript finished quickly, in less than 90 days from today. Please pray for the Lord to grace us with His amazing words, that the work we do will change the lives of those seeking help. The book is slated for a release in January of next year. 

Today, we specifically need your help with chapter two. Can you please share with us some of the crazy, zany, stupid, waste of time, efforts you undertook to save your husband? You know how we always try to save our men. As if Jesus needs our help anyway. *Sheesh* 

I will tell you one of my zany periods of “saving my man for Jesus.” I left 3X5 cards around the house covered with scripture in hopes my man would read them and suddenly see the light. It didn’t work. In fact, it probably annoyed him and it annoyed me more that he didn’t read them. 

Okay, so share what silly things you did which may have been a hindrance to your husband’s faith journey. 

Thank you sooooo much, from the bottom of our hearts, for allowing us to be part of your lives. We love you and look forward to how the Lord will move in your marriage in 2010. 

Praying and believing, Dineen and Be blessed, Lynn

Marriage and the Mistletoe

Mistletoe, what an amazing concept! Hang a little twig over someone's head and snag a kiss. I guess that makes sense. Nothing says romance like a poisonous sprig of parasitic vegetation.

Kissing under the mistletoe dates back to a 17th century English custom. Back in the day, a berry was removed every time a kiss was made, which meant there were no kisses when there no berries. We seem to have since forgotten about the berry removal - allowing us to concentrate on the kissing!

So on your next visit to the store, pick up this poisonous, good for nothing, parasite and hang it in the MOST conspicuous place in your house. Then grab your spouse, your kids, the dog, the hamster, (okay, not the hamster) and SMACK away!

God bless and Merry CHRISTmas. Lynn