"When life gives you lemons, make lemonade"

​"When life gives you lemons, make lemonade" is a proverbial phrase used to encourage optimism and a positive can-do attitude in the face of adversity or misfortune. Lemons suggest difficulty in life. They are sour and hard to swallow - just like life can be sometimes. On the other hand, lemonade is cool, refreshing, and sweet, right? It feels and tastes good going down...

So this is what you do to be victorious in your life. Take life by the hand, squeeze it, add some sweetness, and stir it up! Overcome difficulty by changing your attitude from sour to sweet. Kick life's butt by not allowing it to dictate who you are and who you can be in the face of the difficulties in your life!

You see, the reality is that life happens! Good, bad, and ugly. But your response to life's challenges is YOUR responsibility. And most importantly, your testimony of overcoming your challenges can be just what God uses to lift someone else up from their difficulty...

So... let's make some lemonade today!

From the Book of Shellye <3

Book Review: Wife After God | A 30-Day Marriage Devotional for Wives

What a privilege. What an absolute honor. Most of all, what a blessing it has been to read and now provide a review of the book, Wife After God.

Upcoming Book Review: A Wife After God 30 Day Devotional

A few years ago, I was given the opportunity to join a lovely group of women for discussion and preview the book entitled, Kingdom Woman, written by my pastor Dr. Tony Evans and his daughter, Chrystal Evans Hurst. It was a great read. In a short review on Amazon, I stated:

When Dr. Evans introduced Kingdom Man last year, I yearned for the time when a book would be written to guide and teach me about my purpose for God's Kingdom. I have eagerly awaited this moment and now that it's here, it's all I anticipated and more. I have had a hard time putting the book down to attend to "stuff"... and that's okay! It's inspiring, encouraging, and uplifting from the very beginning, referencing scripture and bringing it down to a level of understanding for application to your everyday life. I love the concept of writing from the Father/Husband, Daughter/Wife perspective because we as women look to our Heavenly Father as well as our earthly one for guidance in the matters of being the type of woman God would have us to be. Thank you, as always, Pastor Evans and Chrystal for humbling yourself and allowing yourselves to be transparent to all for the sake of the Kingdom! May you continue to be blessed and be a blessing to others.

Now, I am honored to be given the opportunity to read and write a detailed review on a new devotional entitled Wife After God, by Jennifer Smith. I just got my copy yesterday and I'm already excited about the journey!

Let the Work Begin...

It's a few days post delivery of my daughter and granddaughter to the airport so they could return to their home in Tucson. They arrived safely and are getting acclimated to their new home.  We also did a road trip to return our son to college in Beaumont. He was the last to leave for the holiday and the first to return to his dorm so he had the place all to himself for a day. When we returned home, our oldest was heading to his home. Our youngest overnighted with a friend for the weekend.  The house was soooooooo quiet! Just me and my honey.  We'd talked about this day and I thought I was ready but... I buried my head in his chest and balled like a baby. Now what do we do?

I mean don't get me wrong. I enjoy alone time with my husband. He's my best friend and we've grown a lot in the past few years.  But I'm not just a wife, I'm a mom and a grandmom... For the most part, I enjoy the hustle and bustle, chatter, and even the sounds of electronics coming from every room in our home. I miss seeing my daughter in her role as a mom and wife; nursing, making homemade baby food, cloth diapering, and looking for bargains for her family. I miss my lil puddin pop discovering her surroundings. I miss her laughter and even her cries... 

But I digress!

A Suitable Helper

I joined a wonderful group of wives on Facebook. I love the support and encouragement we give one another. We share ups and downs and we even get a little feisty, giving each other ideas on how to make our bedrooms sizzle.  It's one of the best groups I've joined and even if I don't contribute all the time, I pop in to enjoy the conversations.  I usually don't share outside of the group, but this one discussion had my heart for some reason. The question on the floor was...

Why?

• Why does it seem like we as wives have to make everything better in our marriages? 
• Why do we have to initiate everything? 
• Why do we have to make sure everything is taken care of?
• Why is it always wives who seem to get the short end of the stick? 

From newlyweds to seasoned women, many wives are frustrated, tired, and downright fed up with trying to make their marriages right. We are challenged at every turn. We're not Mrs. Cleaver or Claire Huxtable so when things fall apart and we want to throw in the towel, we're to blame because the marriage failed. Sound familiar? We, pray, we cry, we pray, then we cry some more. Why?

Fasting & Prayer for Marriage

My husband I just finished One: a 52-day marriage devotional by Jimmy Evans.  It has been one of the best things we could do for our marriage! We went on a quest to find a new bible study and devotion for fasting and praying for marriage. The search began after a conversation about what we want for our lives, for our marriage, and for our family.  

It got me thinking...

The first thing I want, of course, is to be a better Christian, to grow spiritually everyday, and give God the glory in all I do. I'm not perfect but I'm glad I have grace and new mercies everyday to become more aligned with The Lord in every way.

Secondly, I want to be a better wife and I want to have a healthy marriage for us and for our immediate and extended family... But what does that look like?  

Finally, I want to be a good steward of all that God has given us. I'm not just talking about finances. I'm talking about our lives, our marriage, our family, our finances, our businesses... 

Everything.

Even though we've only been married a short while, we believe the Lord is preparing our testimony based on the good, bad, and ugly experiences in our marriage so we can be a blessing to others.  

We began searching for a guide to fasting and prayer for marriage. I, personally, have done the 31-day prayer for my husband several times. We even signed us up for a his and her devotional called Praying For Him/Praying for Her (which we are going through now). Between the both of us, we've read nearly all of Stormie Omartian's Power of Praying books, Jimmy Evans' Marriage on the Rock, and so many more.

This time we want to do things differently. 

We are praying specifically, studying, and asking God which direction we should go.

If we are led to do an online fast and prayer for marriage, my blog will include input from my husband. He wants to be a part and, why not?  We are one and although we are not perfect in our own marriage relationship, we should definitely do this together. We've learned a lot by having daily devotions and going to spiritual growth class together and we've already seen a shift in the atmosphere surrounding our relationship.

As we grow, we want to help others grow.  As we overcome obstacles, we want others to overcome. As we experience the supernatural in our lives and our marriage, we want others to experience the same. We don't just want to selfishly pray for each other, for OUR marriage, and OUR family. We want to pray for others as well. 

We came across several daily guides from 4 day to 40 day devotionals.  The closest guide we found is the 40 day fasting and prayer guide started by Unveiled Wife. However, as we continue to discuss and pray about the direction we should go, we know beyond a shadow of a doubt that we would like to focus our prayers on having healthy marriages and we want to share what the Lord has laid on our hearts through our experiences to share with others.

Our prayer is to begin our journey in the next few months and we pray others will make a commitment to join us. 

Please pray for us as we prepare.

If you're committed to fasting and prayer for marriages, and you are so led to join us, please take time out to post a comment below or contact us privately. 

What specific clarity are you seeking from God at this time? 

Please let us know how we can pray for you and think about what you will be fasting from once we begin this journey.  In your quiet time, take some time to write out your prayer so you can reflect on it at the end of the fast. Ask the Lord to speak to your situation and give you the strength to endure.

If you're unclear about what fasting is, please view the following:

The Importance of Fasting by Dr. Tony Evans