12/28/2015

Being a submissive, humble, yet confident wife

As soon as you get married, everything about you that you try to push back as far away as you can comes out in the open. Everything you had boxed up for so many years suddenly blows up in your face. And you're left with cleaning up the mess. At least in my story..  all those boxes of mine started to overflow and they recently erupted. Things got to the point where I couldn't recognize myself; I unleashed everything I tried to hide. I knew I was always stubborn, and hard to get through to, but I never thought it was this bad.
But God is good and I guess He wanted me to start the new year with a fresh closet so He reminded me that it's bout time to clean mine up.
God entered that closet and started throwing away all those things that took up room. And I stood before those things and I  couldnt wait to get rid of them. There were things that showed  my insane stubbornness, my insecurity, things that proved I hate being told what to do, and things that showed I could get very annoying when I'm not OK with something. All things I'm super ashamed of.  And I realized all these things led to one bigger struggle. For the longest time I had a hard time  submitting to my husband, I didn't like that I didn't have full control of my decisions and life anymore, and I got frustrated when something didn't go my way. I didnt understnad why I  had to do what he said and why I had to obey him. But God showed me that there is nothing wrong with receiving help, and guidance in life, especially from someone who loves me very much and only wants what's best for me. Thats what marriage is for, to share your life with someone, and grow together. And I guess I  just realized how important it is to REALLY give your life to that someone. So I'm cleaning up the mess I made, and I pray to start this new year with a goal of letting go and trusting my husband in the decisions he makes for our family. God reminded me how important it is to be humble and that sometimes staying silent is better than saying anything. He reminded me that when I made my vows, I vowed to listen, and respect my husbands needs. Marriage involves a lot of breakage, good breakage. It isn't easy but in the end it's worth it. Because once God helps me get on the right direction, I become a better wife, a better friend, and a better servant of my Father. I don't know if I'm the only wife struggling with this, but if I'm not.. then I encourage us to submit, to humble ourselves, and be confident in it. Lets be confident in our husbands, let's raise them up, and help them by becoming our better selves. I'm so thankful for such a loving and forgiving husband and I hope to prove to him with each day that I can be even better than who I was the day before. As I grow closer to the Lord, and as I clean up my closet I hope to become a better wife.
 And remember, we are all sinners, no one is perfect, not us nor our husbands. But we can always be better. Things won't always go smoothly and our boxes might fill up again,  but as long as we get back on our feet and tidy up again, we will have happy husbands, and happy lives.  I know I'm a nube, and I'm still new to this wifey thing, but being a wife is amazing, and I see that more and more each day.

12/24/2015

We receive so that we could give

Christmas to me is about receiving, then giving. Its always been my favorite time of the year. As a child I loved getting presents, seeing what new toys I could play with, what new clothes I could wear. And as I got older I started to find more joy in giving presents. When I got my first job, I used all my pay checks during the winter time on gifts for every single person in my family, and my friends. I found more joy in giving gifts than receiving them.

When I have kids I hope to make Christmas the best for them, I hope I can spoil them this one time of the year, and then teach them that once they recieve, it would then come time for them to give, and they should do it with great joy. I don't think Christian families should limit their kids from this wonderful experience.

I'm so happy that giving gifts is a major part of the Christmas tradition, and I never really thought about it until recently. But when we remember the main reason for the season, the birth of Jesus Christ, the whole journey is overwhelmingly filled with receiving and then giving.

It all starts with God GIVING  a prophecy many years before.
Then, in His perfect timing God GAVE the earth the greatest gift of all, He fulfilled that prophecy and GAVE us His Son, He GAVE us Himself, and He sacrificed everything to GIVE us eternal life.
 When God GAVE Mary the news of her awaited baby, she RECEIVED it, and she GAVE back to God, by being the perfect mother, and raising the king of kings.
When Joseph RECEIVED the big news, he sacrificed his image before people, and GAVE back by humbly standing by Marys side through the journey.
When the world RECEIVED news of Christs birth, not everyone took it with joy, and some, GAVE  back only greif and pain.
But others RECEIVED the news with hope, and praise, and the shepereds and wise men, literally got to GIVE to their Savior. What an honorable moment that must of been.
When Jesus grew up, He GAVE His whole life to the peope. He healed them, taught them, helped them, and He sacrificed it all for them. He died for them, He died for us, people who weren't even alive yet, so that we may RECEIVE His love for eternity.
GOD gave us everything and He waits for us to RECEIVE it. Because once we RECEIVE His love, our only desire becomes to GIVE it back. We should share that gift with everyone around us and GIVE the gift of hope and salvation. We should GIVE back to God by GIVING to others. We should help those in need, and GIVE the world the image of Christ.
When we GIVE, those who RECEIVE will then GIVE as well, and we shall spread the joy of giving to the ends of the earth.
So as we open gifts tonight, let us RECIEVE them with this on our minds.
God GAVE so that we could RECEIVE and then GIVE as well. May this be an on going chain reaction, until everyone has had the opportunity to experience the joy and excitement of receiving, then giving. May this not only happen on Christmas, but throughout the rest of our lives.

Thanks for reading and
Have a very merry Christmas!
Love, Vika Kayrevich

12/16/2015

Reminder of the day: My journey with reading Matthew

Matthew 4:8-10

Again, the devil took Him(Jesus) up on an exceedingly high mountain, and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. And He  said to Him, "all these things I will give you if you will fall down and worship me." Then Jesus said to him, "away with you Satan! For it is written, 'you shall worship the Lord your God, and him only you shall serve."

There are times in every Christians life where the devil finds us at our most vulnerable state and offers us an easy way out, or something that we think will bring us  joy an satisfaction in life. And there are times where we latch on to those things and fall down and worship him, most of the time not realizing it.
Jesus knew what its like to be tempted by the devil. In this chapter (Mat 4) He spends 40 days fasting (I can't even Last two days!) And when He was done He was probably  weak, tired, an starving (just remembering my experiences) so that's when the devil approaches Him. Lets not forget that as much as he was the son of God, He was also human and he felt the same things we do. So when the devil started to offer Him easy ways out, I would consider that it wasn't easy for Him. But Jesus came to show us the way, so He withstood it all so that we could be prepared.
See, when the devil offers us something; for instance fame, power, pleasure, in little or big ways, it's always something that goes against the Bible. It's always along the easy route, and it's always deceptive. Usually something we spend time comforting and assuring ourselves about, because its not clear whether it how God feel about is.
 But Jesus shows us that the Bible is clear, and anything that we might not be sure about is probably not from God. That is why He backs up every decision He made with it words. Shows you how important it is to read and know it right?
Jesus also knows that anything that goes against God will only lead to trouble.
Sometimes we fall for these temporary wants and it all goes downhill from there. Jesus was offered the kingdoms of the world, but he knew that those things, as great as they are were only temporary, He knew that God something bigger an better in mind for Him. He saw the bigger picture and didn't just focus on the moment an His desires.
 So we should remember that next time we come across the devils temptations, that we must make a choice to either fall and worship him, for something that doesn't last. Or we can be stronger than that and choose to worship God alone, no matter how hard it is, because we know that He has a bigger, better plan that will last for eternity. God is the only one who could ever fill our void and fulfill our desires, nothing else. So let's be like Jesus and know Gods word, and use it to remind us that better things lie ahead when we live for God alone.