Loving Intimately

Okay, so I wanted to talk a little about one of the sessions we attended during our Rocky Mountain Calvary couple's retreat. We were privileged to have Pastor Tommy Schneider from Calvary Chapel Vail Valley speak to us during one of the morning sessions on Saturday, and he was amazing. He was so funny and while delivering an important message to us, he made us laugh so hard, it was great. He focused on intimacy with God and in our marriage. He said he got the fun session, because he got to talk about sex. HA! Actually, it's funny, because he didn't really talk that much about that actual topic. But anyway, we mainly covered the story of Adam and Eve in Genesis. One, that I am sure that we are all familiar with. First he talked about how Adam and Eve, before the fall were naked and unashamed. Point, with our spouse, we should be naked and unashamed. Naked is not to be used just in its literal form here. We are to be open about everything with our spouse. Don't hide things, don't put up walls. We have defense mechanisms we may use...or sometimes we talk to our friends about pressing matters instead of to our spouse. But we are to be completely naked, completely intimate with our spouse. We are also supposed to be completely accepting and loving of our spouse as well, in every aspect..inside and outside. And if you are struggling in finding any area of your spouse acceptable, then you are to devotedly take it up into prayer.

Pastor Tommy also talked a little about Satan and how he attacks us. In Genesis 3, he tempts Eve with the fruit from the tree. Oh, also notice that during this temptation, Adam was with her. He just kinda let her do it.....I don't think anyone ever really points that out. But, yep, he was there with her...watching the whole thing. Anyway, where was I? Oh, temptation. Satan uses one thing always ALWAYS when he tempts us. He says, Surely God...or why wouldn't God. Would you like some examples as to what I mean, here goes: Surely God wants you to be happy. If you are unhappy in your marriage, surely God doesn't want you to stay in it, you should get a divorce. Or, surely God, would be okay with you taking that job offer, I mean it's such great money and would help out your family.

What satan does, is he waits..he waits for the first moment of doubt in our minds...for the first moment of unhappiness with God..for the first moment your faith falters..and then he jumps in there. First, he tries to get in the way of your relationship with God and then he gets in the way with your intimacy with your spouse.
So, you have to not let him get in the way of your intimacy with God and your spouse. How do you do that, by being naked with God and naked with your spouse. You should open up about everything in your life with God and your spouse and also ask for God to help you to serve and love your spouse.

I can't even come close to explaining all of this as well as Pastor Tommy did. My church should have the mp3 up on their website soon of the session, and when it is made available, I will share the link with you, so that you can hear it. Believe me, it is well worth it...oh and it will make you laugh and laugh.

One more thing, he ended his session with a true story about a girl he once knew. Right before he was about to get married, he owned a shop. In the town where his shop was, there lived a girl who everyone knew of. She had been involved in a horrific car accident at one point in her life and it had completely disfigured her face. She had no teeth half of her face was sunken in. I believe maybe an eye was in the wrong place. Things like that. He had always heard of her, but had never met her. One day, she came into his shop and began to talk to him. He was a young guy working in the shop and trying to make ends meet...and preparing himself to get married in a couple of weeks. They got into a whole conversation about how he needed to eat, because he wasn't eating well lately. So, the next day, she brought him fresh baked bread and fruit. And they would talk about all sorts of things. His shop happened to be on the same land where her grandpa's farm used to be a long time ago. So they talked a lot about that. Anyway, right before Tommy was about to head out of town to meet up with his wife-to-be and get married, she came into the store one last time. She had a present for him. It was a special plate that him and his wife were to use to record all of their special times together. She then ripped out a photo of this beautiful, gorgeous young woman and showed it to him. He asked who it was. She told him that that it was her and that it had been taken on her wedding day. It was 6 months before her accident had happened. Her husband only got to be with that face in the picture for 6 months. But, ya know what, they were still married 32 years later. She kept saying to him, cherish all of your days with your wife and remember the special days. And please, no matter what, Love your wife, LOVE YOUR WIFE, Love your wife!!!