TODAY IS DUANE AND MY WEDDING ANNIVERSARY!

 

MY PURPOSE, TO SHARE MY MARRIAGE BLESSING:
in order to encourage you that a precious marriage can be done! That you have to know: it does take two people to keep the love! And most importantly: to keep God (and only the God of the Bible) as the Head of your marriage. He is the final answer! Go to Him when you struggle, faint, and sin…

Amen and amen!

And: give Him the glory!

Thank You, God, that we are still married and still love each other. We both have only one spouse!

 

You might not believe this (I don’t lie) but I knew Duane would never cheat on me…  When we fell in love I told him exactly where I stand on adultery: I won’t stand for it. Yes, I knew he would never cheat on me: but, being a sinner at that time I felt compelled to let him know I would never give him a second chance. We’d be done.

Selah.

And now as a Christian, I still am right! God would not be disappointed in me if I left Duane for cheating; and God would also not be disappointed if I stayed. Beloved, you should know that divorce is not a sin.

Selah again.

Now: here it is, forty-four years later, and we are still in love, committed to each other: and forsaking all of those (over all of these many years!) other gorgeous and good men and women!

Beloved, marriages can last! That’s God’s best plan for romance, sex, families…

Selah.

Do you know that it took me several years before I realized that sometime Duane and I will never agree on some (truly) little thing?! True! We had learned to just let it go…  After all, we are loved by God, His children, having the mind of Christ, being filled with the Holy Spirit; and yet, we will fall short of wisdom at times.

God helps us to repent, forgive, show mercy, and move on! Alleluia!!

I never settled for a husband. To this day I believe He kept me away from a false believer who I absolutely wanted to marry when I was thirteen; way up until I was nineteen! Looks are not enough, personality is not enough, money is not enough…

I thank God for my husband, Duane. He (God) and I know, divorce is one thing I truly believe I could not have handled…  If you remember: I basically had a horrible home life as a child, teenager, and young adult. In addition to that, I’ve had many, many broken relationships: some my fault; but honestly, most not mine.

Selah.

And no wonder:

 

Romans 16:17
I urge you, brothers and sisters, to keep your eyes on those who cause dissensions and create obstacles or introduce temptations [for others] to commit sin, [acting in ways] contrary to the doctrine which you have learned. Turn away from them.

 

 

2 Timothy 3:1-5
But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God—having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with such people.

 

This is always so refreshing for me to remember! My Father in Heaven specifically and verbatim said this to me one day years ago:  “There will not be any peace on Earth until the Prince of Peace is worshipped and loved by all in His sight, and those who reject Him are cast out of His presence.”

Selah.

It is impossible to get along with all people. Beloved, there are two groups of people in being the reason why some will have unattainable godly relationships with others: simply said, some of us are saints, some are sinners.

I often think about the woman who introduced Duane and me to each other: and how, if she had been a man and my romantic partner, the relationship would never have lasted. You see, after two years of ‘knowing her’ I found out, I didn’t. She wasn’t the hardworking, prosperous, honest woman I had once esteemed. And if she had been my husband, after two years I found out who she was and what she was not… Our friendship (and I did feel she was like a very, very beloved sister) failed and failed miserably. She was quite cruel to me in the end. I hadn’t changed: she just was exposed fully to me. And she was the one who ended it! Back then my heart was broken (we still weren’t going to church at the time.) Now, I’d easily let her go, praying for her of course.

 

BACK TO MY MAN:
I thank God for a husband who has never looked wrongly at another woman! (That is one of my biggest blessing from Duane!) I’m also very, very blessed that when there are people I cannot get along with (and some are his family) he accepts it and understands why! This truly is wonderful for me; I never back down when I am right…

Selah.

Duane also does a lot of wonderful things and is very generous to me! He’s thoughtful! He’s fun!

All of my life I wanted a handsome, great guy! God does say:

 

Genesis 2:18
 The Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.”

 

In the spiritual realm, of course this applies to women as well. I need more than God my Father, Spirit, and Son! And: I won’t sing the song at church speaking about “God is all I need.” That is a lie…

Selah.

Yes, Beloved – my perfect God knows I needed a strong marriage and only one.

One more, phenomenal (I mean: truly a wonderful, appreciated, and incredible additional blessing to me – he’s the cook! I honestly cannot remember the last time I made a meal for the two of us! (Sure, I’ll have to get TV dinners, pizza, make sandwiches or something when he’s hunting or on a fishing trip. But I don’t like it!)

 

SO HERE’S MY WISE COUNSEL ON MARRIAGE:
First, remember Duane and I met on a blind date and now have been married forty-four years! Obviously, I know what I am talking about: I live a great marriage!

Also, I was not a child of God when we met and Duane certainly didn’t live like one at that time. No excuses. God is the One who deserves complete adoration, praise, and thanksgiving that He led into a better and better relationship with each other. Remember though, He also has led us into citizenship in Heaven with Him and He truly is both of our first loves!

Selah.

At times, we agree to disagree (though not liking it) and move on…

We keep going from glory to glory! Praise God! We’ve had extreme satanic attacks in our family and yet we’ve grown, stayed together, learn, and gain more wisdom!

 

2 Corinthians 3:17-18
Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.

 

I, Ann Marie Turner, (hated giving up my maiden name: Schacher!) have given people much hope in having a successful, joyful, and fun marriage!

 

Catch you next year! (IF: we’re not caught away!)

Selah.

 

1 Thessalonians 4:14-18
For we believe that Jesus died and rose again, and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him. According to the Lord’s word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep.  For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever.  Therefore encourage one another with these words.