Have any of you ever had a trying time with your significant other? Ever reach an area of life together where you find yourself lacking that loving feeling? Well, if you decide to, it doesn't have to be the death of your relationship with them. Marriage is about so much more than just love. I knew that before I married, and I am discovering new assets to it with each passing year of marriage. And, I hope you know that truth on some level too. Anyways. I have been reading a Devotional for Couples... by myself. Got some things going on right now where I felt I needed something to help me draw some strength and to understand the situation I'm in a little better. It's been a good read so far! Look it up & buy a copy if you're in a relationship. It has some truly good points. Devotions for Couples by Cecil Murphey. I definitely recommend it. It's been worth the read so far! I'm thankful I nabbed a copy for my kindle. :) I almost wish I had it in book form so I could highlight & quickly flip through it and such. Nothing compares to a real book in it's ease of use, in my opinion. Anyways! Back to the point of this post. :)

So, I was reading a couple of nights ago in it, and it brought something to my attention. It was a devotional on how real love allows us to make allowances for our loved ones. The scripture used was from Ephesians, chapter 4. The focus was verse 2, which says "Always be humble and gentle. Be patient with each other, making allowance for each other's faults because of your love" in the New Living Translation of the Bible. Anyone who knows me knows I like to get to the heart of the scripture by seeing what the original language means whenever the translations vary any on the wording of a scripture. So, this one was no different. I looked up the word "bearing", because in the translation I most often use, the NIV version, it says "bearing with one another in love." So, to see about the true meaning, I began to look up the heart of what that scripture line was saying. Here's my reference point, if you'd like to read it for yourself: http://biblehub.com/niv/ephesians/4-2.htm It says basically that we are to bear with each other, regardless to our short-comings. The word bear can be defined as to remain up or hold firm under weight (thank you, dictionary.com!). So, that means that we are to stand firmly with one another, not letting something knock the other down without support. That is super important for Christians across the board to do, but even MORE so in marriage, I believe. Why? Because without it, we wouldn't unconditionally love each other.

And this is what it brought to my mind. I tend to think that I am the more loving one in our marriage relationship. That I tend to show the most love & support & such. However, I've noticed that isn't always the case. While I may make more effort, it doesn't put me at the top of our list. My husband, I believe, has more strength in this particular area... In the area of allowing room for my differences. He does this better than me in our relationship, I believe. For example... I feel as though I am constantly trying to get him to do things for me, such as to be more loving, considerate, & kinder with his words to others and such. So, while I'm trying to encourage him to be better, I am still trying to get him to be slightly different from the normal of what he is used to. And I need to fix this, and learn to love him as he is. And I do. But sometimes I get hurt when I think about the shortcomings of our relationship. And I don't need to focus on those here lately & have been trying to redirect my thinking. This scripture helped me on that day I read it! It showed me that my husband loves me & makes allowance for some of my differences from him. For example... He knows that I am completely different from him. And yet he never really tries to get me to live up to his expectations. He never pushes on me what he thinks I should be as a wife. And that never really clicked in my head. While neither of us is perfect, we do love each other deeply. And my husband has shown his love for me over the years by never really asking me to be different from who I am at the heart of things. Sure, there may be some things he wished I would do, such as being more neat around the house & not allowing papers to pile in my little cubby areas... But he has never asked me to not be who I am. And I love him for that. That is one of his strengths. :)

So, if you find yourself in a hard spot like we have, do yourself a favor. Stop thinking of all the short-comings, and start trying to, instead, find the good things in the other person. :) It may help you to rekindle the feelings you have for each other, and if not, it may at least allow you to respect each other a little more. :) And realize some things when you take the time to look at them from a different stand-point! So, try it. :) If you want, tag me in a journal entry so I can see the effort you have made if you try this out. :) I'd love to see others on this journey.

Lord, help me to love my spouse like you love the church. Help me to love him where he is, as you love us. And while I encourage him to do the right things, help me to be happy with him as he is. Help us to love each other, and to learn to love You too! And help me to stop trying to make my loved one conform to my image of the ideal husband, and live by my rules. Help us to have a happy, joyful, blessed marriage. May we each see the others strengths, and provide allowances for the others weaknesses. None of us are perfect. Help us to try to perfect ourselves only, not our spouse or SO. Lord, and be with any whom may make the decision to start on this journey too. :) Show us the way, and guide us. Help us to be the lover our spouse needs!!

In Jesus' Name, Amen!!

Truly,

~*Akarui Mitsukai*~

As some of you know, I recently obtained my CNA licensure. Yay! So, now starts the fun part. Trying to find a job!! Please be praying for me. I'm interested in Hospice care, but I don't know if I can find a job with stable hours in that area right now. I'm going to start looking at some hospitals & making some calls tomorrow. Please pray for God to open doors that need to be opened, and closing doors that need to be closed. Thank you!!

Any tips from any of you guys for someone looking into a CNA career? On how to put yourself in front of other candidates & such? Any tips at all would be appreciated at this point! :) Thanks a ton! I hate having no professional experience in the jobs I want, yet having tons of personal experience. Haha. Oh well! Hopefully someone will give me a chance. :)

Wish me luck & say a prayer! Hopefully I'll have a better update soon. I'm just tired right now, but had a spare moment... So, I thought I'd update you guys with what was currently going on in my life! Looking for a job!

How about you? What's going on in your life?

Truly,

~*Akarui Mitsukai*~

the Cheerful Angel

And, as of around 9:15ish this morning, I have officially PASSED the written exam for the GA CNA program. And as of around 5:15ish, I have officially PASSED the skills exam for the program!! Woo hoo! Sincerely praise to God for the second. I truly believe He helped me out there. And I am so thankful that He allowed me to pass, even after I convinced myself in the about 15 minutes of wait time we had to endure after our exam to see if we passed that I had failed... Miserably. LOL I would have taken a picture to display, but my Hubby has confiscated it to the safe until I get my official copy in the mail. Hehe :)

So, that's a sigh of relief before the next road of the journey. On my next days off, I plan to set into motion calling around to see if some places are hiring. If so, I'll schedule a time to stop by & check out the facility to see if I think I could work there. And if I do, then I will apply. That's one of the joys of having a job already... There's no real rush, so I can take my time to find a GOOD job this time. :) Thank the Lord for it!

Ask the Lord to guide my steps. To allow me a job where He wants me to work. :)

Enjoying a moment of peace tonight,

~*Akarui Mitsukai*~

P.S. Anything you have in life recently that gives you a feeling of peace or rest? :) Let me know, guys! Thanks.

JAMES 3:13-18

SPRING CLEANING

Oh my goodness... So, yep. It's that time of year I truly LOVE again! Spring time! I take spring cleaning seriously. It's kind of hard to living in this house that isn't mine... Because for me, spring cleaning is more so a deep clean of EVERYTHING in sight, and even not in sight. Haha. But yeah! So, I had hoped to start last week on my days off, due to it being the official beginning of Spring. How appropriate, right? However, some last minute things came up, so I wasn't able to start like I had hoped. I had to post-pone to this week. I already have two large projects mostly under my belt now. Woo hoo!

In our bedroom upstairs, I have been cleaning, organizing, vacuuming, and dusting everything I can reach adequately without fear of breaking it. haha. :) The fear of breaking comes into play around some of my hubby's items. :) So, yeah. I've done the best I could do so far today, and got two of my big projects under belt for our bedroom. Tomorrow, I plan to vacuum our closet, and start re-arranging my part of it into more order. Hopefully! We shall see! I'm excited. And I also plan to branch off into downstairs. I'd like to completely clean & organize everything that's on the floor so I can vacuum down there as well this week. With the little carpet freshener too. I ran out of the Hawaiian scented kind, so I guess I'll have to use just the plain old joe one down there.. I think it's called "Clean Linen". Anywho! I don't plan to actually jump on organizing that until the next time I have off from work after my exam on the 9th. I may start while I take breaks from studying, but that would be more rare & less of a necessity until this exam stuff is over. Wish me luck! I still have SO much to perfect! Anywho.

I love the details of spring cleaning. I love getting into every little nook and cranny & getting it all clean and neat and orderly. I don't have much free time for deep cleaning, so I usually reserve that for around my spring cleaning time. Allowing myself to focus on the little details instead of just the big picture, which is what I have to do most of the year.

Do you "spring clean"? If so, around what time of year? And what are your standard spring cleaning projects?

I've encountered (& CONQUERED!!!) so much DUST today! Goodness. I don't think I've ever lived in a place that gets as dusty as this one does. o.O; It's beyond me. haha. I can't reach the fan so I can't clean that... :( But I got most everything else. Thank God for the guy whom invented the little nozzle head attachments for vacuums. They help work wonders! ;) That's one of the things I like most about spring cleaning, I guess. Dusting. It just seems to help everything in the home come to life again, you know? :) Anywho.

Well, I gotta get going! Have some more stuff to tend to! See you guys in a bit. :)

All My Love,

~*Akarui Mitsukai*~

the Cheerful Angel

... Really? I thought sick-leave was your's to use however you wanted, so long as you had a doctor's note/orders kind of thing. According to the bottom of this article, this man was told by his doctor to take some time off of work. So, he did. He planned a nice vacation with his wife and used his sick time. I understand needing time away from the office, so to speak, for the sake of staying well. I find it ludicrous that someone can be fired for "not appearing sick" on their sick-leave. Really? In my opinion, it's their time that they have earned. They can use it for whatever the heck they wanted. I can't believe that someone would fire someone for not being "sick" on "sick-leave". Is that even right? Here's the story:

http://news.msn.com/world/grandfather-who-saved-kids-from-shark-fired-from-job

Basically, he signed up to take sick leave due to his doctor telling him he needed to take some time off of work. So, he planned a trip to Australia with his wife. While there, he is photographed & recorded in the act of saving a girl from a shark... And is fired when he comes back home for "not appearing sick" on his sick-leave. Does that seem fair to you guys? I can't even make sense of it. Sick time is their time that he had earned. His doctor told him he needed time away from the office, so he heeded the advice... Got away to relax... And ended up without a job. Really, company whom fired him? I hope there was something else going on for you to fire him for. Otherwise, shame on you, you idiots. How can you be so cruel? I hope that the Lord helps him to find work, and helps to keep their heads up. Being jobless in this world is a scary thing. :(

What are your thoughts on this, guys? Do you see it as being fair? How does your company handle sick time? Mine typically, for the first time or two won't raise any hassle for you. Won't even require a doctor's note. It's only if you call out constantly to take sick time that they require that kind of stuff. Their view seems to be a "you earned it. Don't take advantage of it every day, and we'll be fine." What about you guys?

<3,

~*Akarui Mitsukai*~

P.S. Do something caring for someone this week. Right a note or give a call to an old friend... Treat a friend whom's going through a hard time out to a meal, and just enjoy chatting with them for a bit... Just d something nice for someone. I dare you! :)