The
Top Ten Decisions Guiding Our Married Life
By
Uncle John and Aunt Linda Worden
Dear Niece and future Nephew,
Uncle John and I have collaborated
on this “Top Ten” list so I am addressing both of you as I share these
decisions we have made and followed throughout the nearly thirty-eight years of
our married life. We share these
thoughts with you not to seek to impress you or others with our wisdom and
brilliance but because we truly feel they contain some nuggets of nurture which
you may want to consider incorporating into your married life. It has been a very joyful process to ponder
the path our life has taken and to realize that we have benefited from some of
the conscious and unconscious decisions we made as our life together began so
long ago. If there is anything here that
is useful to you, we are humbly honored.
We have found that marriage has been a very wonderful experience for
us. We are better people because of the
commitment we have to each other. We
have matured and mellowed as our lives have blended. We share these ten decisions not to imply
life is and has been perfect. In fact,
there are decisions we wish could be part of this list but because we have
failed, they cannot be. But for this
gift, we are sharing our strengths; not many of our weaknesses. We just want you to know that some of these
things take years to get hammered into habits so don’t require of yourselves
immediate maturity. But starting out
with a plan to incorporate your list of firm decisions will limit the potential
for regret in the future. May your love
for each other be strengthened each day of your lives together and may you have
many years to enjoy your “oneness”. And
if there’s anyway that we could give you some support, feel free to call at any
time.
Love,
Uncle John and Aunt Linda
1. We will seek God’s direction in all
aspects of our life.
Isaiah
47:17 This is what the Lord says - your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: “I am
the Lord your God, who teaches you what is best for you, who directs you in the
way you should go.” Both Uncle John (age 12) and I (age 6), became Christians at an
early age. We had already been living
our lives as we felt God wanted us to so it was only natural that we would
continue in our married life to seek God’s direction for us and our
family.
Matthew
6:33 “But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things
will be given to you as well.” This verse is telling us that when we seek to follow God’s commands,
the result will be that our needs will be supplied - food, water and
clothing. We have been married for
nearly 38 years and we have absolutely no regrets for having followed this
decision throughout our lives. We have
abundantly experienced the promises given in these scriptures. God’s faithfulness has brought us great joy.
What examples share times of seeking God's direction?
- Job changes and subsequent moves:
- 1st job for JCW - Badger High School Speech Teacher, Lake Geneva, WI - 2 years
- 1st position for LLW - finish undergrad degree at UW-Whitewater, WI - 2 years
- 2nd job - JCW - Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, commute from Racine, WI - 4 yrs
- 2nd job - LLW - School Librarian, Racine Public Schools (Elem. & Jr. High) - 4 years
- 3rd job - JCW - Pastor, Loomis Evangelical Free Church, Loomis, NE - 3 years
- 3rd job - LLW - Homemaker, Mother (3 children-23yrs+), Pastor's wife, Loomis, 3 yrs
- 4th job - JCW - Pastor, 1st Evangelical Free Church, Brooklyn, NY, 4 years
- 4th job - LLW - Pastor's wife, Women's Bible Study Leader, Brooklyn, NY - 4 years
- 5th job - JCW - Pastor, Kettle Maraine Ev. Free Church, Delafield, WI - 14 months
- 5th job - LLW - Pastor's wife, KMEFC, Delafield, WI - 14 months
- 6th job - JCW - Substitute teacher, Hartland, WI - 4 months
- 6th job - LLW - Substitute teacher, Hartland, WI - 4 months
- 7th job - JCW - Director of Family Camp and Adult Ministries, Timber-lee Christian Ctr, East Troy, WI, - 4 years
- 7th job - LLW - Family and Family Camp support, Timber-lee Christian Ctr, East Troy
- 8th job - JCW - Foundation Administrator, Foundations for Laity Renewal, Kerrville, TX - nearly 28 years and retirement unknown...
- 8th job - LLW - 6th grade Language Arts Teacher, Kerrville, TX - 8 years
- 9th job - LLW - Hostess at Laity Lodge, Foundations for Laity Renewal, Kerrville, TX - at least 10 years so far...
- 10 job - LLW - professional Grandmother - Richmond, VA & Detroit, MI - 14 yrs so far.
We now are seeking God's direction to know when John should retire as well as to know how to navigate whatever our future holds related to his diagnosis of Parkinson's Disease.
We will continue to trust the God who has led us so far.
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