When my husband comes home from work, he parks in the driveway right by a tall hill that is somewhat landscaped but was overgrown with weeds this summer. That unattractive cliff is the first thing he sees when he comes home.

I never notice this hill. I don't pay any attention to it. The weeds never bother me.

He'd mention those weeds a lot, squirt them with weed fighter substance when he had time, and mention the pesky weeds again soon after that.

I finally realized that this was something that was really aggravating my husband. And I realized this was something I could do for him, was to get rid of those weeds. I'm here all the time, whereas his time at home is limited with working. So when I would go running this  summer, I'd spend 15 or 20 minutes pulling weeds afterward. I was sweaty and gross already from running, and the children were not awake yet to "help." I'm talking about the little helpers there. We give the older children lots of jobs, but even for them, this hill is steep, tricky and slippery with pine straw and probably chiggers whatever those are, so it was best left to the big people. Rather treacherous.

These weeds had some fight in them. They were more like medium sized bushes with stubborn personalities and roots to match. But I'm stubborn too, and I fought them for a little while each morning this summer. It took about a month to really get those weeds licked. They rallied and grew back in a couple of times, but they surrendered eventually after they realized they had met their match.

The hill looks very nice now.

I think my husband is happier when he parks in the driveway.

I want to offer hope in the midst of a storm.

In trying to help two couples considering divorce, I went through my entire Bible, every page, and wrote down the scriptures that I thought would address pain and heartache in the context of marriage in the face of divorce.

Please read those by clicking on the button above. Please read them, before you make any decisions. Please read them, and decide to fight for your marriage with God as your strong Father. Nothing is too hard for Him.

I really have to wonder what Eve said to Adam to get him to disobey God. It's one of those questions I'm going to ask when I get to heaven.

It's all in the same verse, the same sentence actually: "And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat." Genesis 3:6

That's it. She gave it to her husband with her, and he did eat.

The Bible says later that she truly thought she was right; the Bible says she was deceived but Adam's the one who knowingly sinned. So I don't think she pulled any female power plays (and neither should we, ever). She just truly and sincerely thought Adam didn't have all the information he needed. Which leads me to believe she overpowered him with her supposed insightfulness. I mean Satan did tell Eve all this compelling stuff about the virtues of the fruit. And Adam caved, under feeling unsure of himself while she was so sure of herself.

I don't want to take the lead in my marriage just because I think I've done the research.

I stopped watching HGTV. I cut myself right off ladies. Haven't watched it in over a year now probably. It's that decorating channel with all these grandiose fun situations of extreme house makeovers and beautiful renovations. I liked the channel because it never brought me down or scandalized me the way so much of the smarmy content out there on TV does. I thought I'd found a nice fun wholesome little chick distraction when I just wanted to relax.

But guess what happened? No longer did I appreciate my beautiful house. No longer did I look around and see how lovely everything is and how blessed I am. Instead, I started walking around thinking, "Now if we just knocked out this wall.... and added a covered patio.... and if we expanded this room a little bit and added brighter fabric..." All of that looks so easy on HGTV. It's so easy, right? You just add a wall and little worker people come in and it takes 30 minutes and it's so much nicer now.

My husband lets me stay home with our children while he slays the dragon and provides for our family. He works as a pilot for an airline and also flies for the National Guard part time. We joke that we are a two-income family: my husband has two incomes. So I really appreciate his working so hard while I stay home. We're not cheap, the children and me. He is very devoted to taking good care of us. I decided adding a bunch of grandiose decorating ideas to our life was really not being the kind of wife I want to be. It displayed a lack of contentment that I didn't like in myself.

Every now and then I'll replace a lamp shade for 20 bucks. I painted a room gray-ish blue to cover up my dark red phase I was over. Paint's pretty cheap but it can take a lot of time to give yourself projects like that. I got new curtains on sale to replace the 20 year old ones in our bedroom. We can replenish and update little things gradually. But no more grand scale ideas for me.

No more HGTV for me. You might be able to watch it for fun and not start day-dreaming about granite counter tops but I can't. And I try not to stare too long at the pretty rooms in my Southern Living magazines either. My house is just fine the way it is. It's really beautiful actually and I love it. I think my husband likes to know I feel that way about it.

I'm so proud of you, dear military wife, and so grateful to you. My husband is Air Force, which he calls the country club of the military, so we are not sacrificing and working nearly as much as many of you. We haven't had to move much, but my husband has deployed overseas for a few months at a time throughout our marriage. 

 It's tough. We just want our daddy.    

Mindset is your first weapon in the battle of the wifely deployment department. You, dear military wife, are fighting a battle while your husband fights his. My husband has often said that when he is deployed at war, his wife has the harder job staying behind.

You are among the elite group of women like those in the Bible who stayed home while their men repeatedly went off to war. Feel honored that you share in this strength of character and sacrifice. We are a different breed. The deployments make you strong. 

The Psalms are my favorite thing to read when my husband is away. You realize when you read the Psalms that the Lord truly does understand how you feel. There's a lot in there about battles and triumphing over those. King David was really pouring his heart out when he wrote those Psalms. We don't have to read the Bible in order, ladies. No one's going to tell on you, if you skip some parts. Reading the Bible is just spending time with Him. Open up to the Psalms and you will have a rush of love pour over you that says you are not alone after all.