Matt and I have been learning a TON over this past year. It seems to me that one of the fundamental truths that we're learning is that life has to be intentional. Priorities are critical, and we have to make decisions about what we want to invest in. And even beyond that, there are different realms of investments:
- financial
- time
- physical
- spiritual
Like I said we've been learning lots. Our community group has been an awesome way for us to grow because we read and discuss the topics each week, the Holy Spirit taps us on the shoulder (or punches some of us that need more guidance) and tells us that we need to work on particular things. But something I've realized (and especially as a teacher now) is that when we move on to a new topic, what we've learned prior takes a back seat. After all we can only focus on so many things at one time. So typically we focus about the here and now. OK, maybe I'm the only one, but anyways.
So earlier in the year we were totally pumped about revamping our finances while we read Howard Dayton's Money Map, which was an awesome and incredible perspective on being intentional with our finances.
Here recently, I have been so proud of Matt for taking the reigns and giving me a kick in the butt to eat healthy and work out regularly. We have totally changed our diet, and we have incorporated activity and exercise into our daily routine. I am so proud of MK. He is losing weight faster than I think even he expected. It's amazing what being intentional can do to your life.
But the real reason I wrote this post was to tell you about this past weekend. Most of you know that my parents used to work for Family Life, a division of Campus Crusade for Christ, who are working to change the world by impacting the family. So I have heard that a million times over probably. Growing up as a FL kid, I really had no idea what my parents did or what was really going on. I attended 2 "I Still Do" conferences when I was like 13, but I was really only concerned with the hotel pool and running the cash register at the FL store during conference breaks. :) Oh the life of a kiddo.
Anyhow, this past weekend, Matt and I attended a Weekend to Remember conference. It was a great wedding gift, and I'm kind of glad we waited a few years before we went. Let me just tell you, that it was life-changing for us. We learned soooooo many great truths that were just so stinking applicable. I'm not going to go into all the details, but I wanted to share some of the things that we learned that just "clicked" instantly when we heard them and knew we wanted to apply them:
1. Respond to emotion with emotion and fact with fact.
So when I come home from school and tell Matt about how I had such a bad day and all these bad things happened, and he tries to fix it, I get upset because I'm sharing my EMOTIONS, and he's trying to fix it with FACTS. Not going to work, folks.
In the same way, when MK tells me that we can't afford the new kitchen table that I want, and I get super upset and tell him, "Well you must not love me enough then." I am responding to FACT with EMOTION, which is obviously not logical and will also not work.
Simple right? But soo good. One more to share with you...
2. Expectations without communication leads to conflict.
Why did someone not share this one with us when we first got married?? Haha! This is really going to help us in future disagreements. You get why it works...when MK comes home from work on Saturday afternoons expecting to play or watch golf and I shove a to-do list in his hands, he's bound to get upset because his Saturday will obviously not meet up to his expectations. Now, if we had talked about it ahead of time, this issue could have been avoided all together. Lovely right?!?!
That's all I'm going to share right now. We're still processing through soo soo much that we learned and we're on overload a little bit. But here's my challenge: CONSIDER GOING TO A WEEKEND TO REMEMBER CONFERENCE. Ladies, I can already hear what you're going to say--"I could never get my husband to go to one of those." Well, let me tell you, my husband even said he would go again even if it were during football season and he had to miss a Razorback or (heaven forbid) a Michigan game. It was THAT good.
The speakers--hilarious!!!!!!!
The hotel (Embassy Suites)--a perfect getaway weekend!!!!!!!!
The information--priceless truths!!!
2 comments:
Great blog, Kristin! Can't wait to talk with you and Matt about your WTR!! We love you guys, so thrilled you were able to go to the conference and now we pray God will help you apply and process allllll the information!!
Hi Kristin & Matt... was going through old emails (clean up before loading up a new pc), and ran across your blog. Great post. You guys certainly are showing a lot of wisdom early in your marriage. So great to see.
Have a great summer. We miss you guys!
Post a Comment