A few days ago, I went for a marriage Break-Through Weekend (BTW) conducted by my church with Joshua. We would not have considered going for such a trip if not for the fact that attending at least one BTW is a requirement for membership in Covenant and we have committed to the Lord to transfer membership to this church this year.
As some would know, our kids have NEVER spent a night without us parents before. So this was indeed a major faith step. God was very gracious to have my mum quit her job recently so we could leave Jayna with her while we left Joash with my in-laws.
It had been a hell of a logistical nightmare to make the best arrangements, pack the things for both kids and orchestrate everything so that we could make it in time for the coach at 7.45am on Friday morning! (Joash's school starts only at 7am, so it was a mad rush) I can't even begin to describe the amount of planning that goes into it all! Praise God that He cleared the traffic for us and we managed to arrive on the dot.
Needless to say, the evil one was not idle with our faith step. He had inflicted upon us many physical wounds: Joshua's stomach problems came back with a vengeance, Joash fell down while playing with my brother, Jayna developed constipation, fungal infection and caught the flu, my mum-in-law strained her back and so did I, I had an allergic reaction to some mosquito bites and developed mouth ulcers... It was no coincidence that it all happened so close to the BTW.
So when we finally made it to the Marriage BTW with everyone recovered from whatever ailments plaguing them, we knew that God protected us and had answered all our prayers! Praise be to God!
As some would know, our kids have NEVER spent a night without us parents before. So this was indeed a major faith step. God was very gracious to have my mum quit her job recently so we could leave Jayna with her while we left Joash with my in-laws.
It had been a hell of a logistical nightmare to make the best arrangements, pack the things for both kids and orchestrate everything so that we could make it in time for the coach at 7.45am on Friday morning! (Joash's school starts only at 7am, so it was a mad rush) I can't even begin to describe the amount of planning that goes into it all! Praise God that He cleared the traffic for us and we managed to arrive on the dot.
Needless to say, the evil one was not idle with our faith step. He had inflicted upon us many physical wounds: Joshua's stomach problems came back with a vengeance, Joash fell down while playing with my brother, Jayna developed constipation, fungal infection and caught the flu, my mum-in-law strained her back and so did I, I had an allergic reaction to some mosquito bites and developed mouth ulcers... It was no coincidence that it all happened so close to the BTW.
So when we finally made it to the Marriage BTW with everyone recovered from whatever ailments plaguing them, we knew that God protected us and had answered all our prayers! Praise be to God!
Yippee!!! We arrived on time for the coach!
You must be wondering why I'm posting a picture of my bag. When I was looking at it hanging there at the coach seat, I was taken aback by how different from usual it looks and how BLACK it actually is. You see, my bag is always stuffed with wet wipes and diapers with milk bottles sticking out of it which makes it look kinda colorful. Without those things, it's just a plain little black bag. Ah... it's been a long time since I last saw it's "true color"!
God even gave us a rainbow to assure us
of His presence in our lives
on the way to the hotel.
Thank you so much God!I was indeed very touched...
We've arrived!
Our name tags for the weekend.
We added our nicknames too.
Hee hee...
Nobody seemed to have noticed though :P
Our room
The first thing we did was to enjoy a nice warm romantic soak in the bathtub together. Ahhh... pure bliss. No kids to demand our attention.
A timely reminder that we must include God as the third strand in our marriage cord. We were asked to braid the three strings for our bookmarks as an object lesson. ;)
We even had a romantic dinner planned for us! It had the full works: beautiful decorations, soft music, candles, flowers, bottle of colored soda, nice food, wonderful company and we dressed up for it too. Heh heh...
Waiter of the day???
We sat beside our new friends during the dinner. It seemed so much like a double date. Really enjoyed ourselves tremendously!
Time to go home...
It had been a wonderful experience. We were reminded once again of what makes a good marriage, greatly encouraged by the many testimonies of how God has worked in the lives of other couples, had loads of fun and laughter hearing one another's love stories and had an extended relaxing time together without the kids constantly clamoring for our attention. The couple dialogues we had were refreshing and enlightening too. I will definitely treasure the sweet memories of the days we spent there for long time to come.
I'm also grateful for the efforts the committee put in to make this such a meaningful time for us. There were little gifts here and there, cards to encourage us and even a time of renewing our wedding vows complete with a certificate and a picture they have taken of us pasted on it! We can tell that a lot of thought and prayer have gone into all this.
Here's our very own video to promote the BTW. LOL
I'm also grateful for the efforts the committee put in to make this such a meaningful time for us. There were little gifts here and there, cards to encourage us and even a time of renewing our wedding vows complete with a certificate and a picture they have taken of us pasted on it! We can tell that a lot of thought and prayer have gone into all this.
Here's our very own video to promote the BTW. LOL
1 comment:
Enjoyed your post. Glad you have a gd time! Happy for u.
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