Is It Just A Honeymoon Season?

November 10, 2015March 28, 2017 Mihaela Echols42 Comments

When others see Peter give me a kiss or watch us talk things out when there is miscommunication they say things like:

“Have you even gotten in a real fight?”

“You know you’re only in the ‘honeymoon’ season”.

What they don’t understand is how adjusting to married life has been hard for us. Even our dating season was hard. PTSD, setting family boundaries, change of becoming one-flesh, new ministry opportunities, and life circumstances are hard.

The Devil constantly fights to tear our marriage apart by throwing obstacles our way. Why? Because we love the Lord!

Going into our marriage we knew that life was only going to get harder. By pushing each other in prayer, Bible reading, in ministry projects, and in our personal walks with Christ together…the Kingdom will expand.

As the years go by I only hope to love Peter more than on our wedding day. And I can! Staying in prayer and in fellowship with Christ makes that possible. Marriage is another testimony for the world to see. Some might think their walk with Christ is done and the other person can finish it because they are one-flesh. They are forgetting teamwork and are putting their identity in the other person. Marriage is one-flesh, but there are two people in it. Two people who both need Christ as much as the other. Honeymoon season doesn’t have to be just a season. It can become a way of life. If others see us trying to go through our marriage without Christ being our center then disaster will be all they see.

These past few months have been very hard, but as a couple we are growing stronger in Him every day. Sometimes I feel like we go one step forward and twenty steps back. When I get caught up in the twenty steps back I forget that those twenty steps back might actually be us moving forward. It might just not feel that way.

If you were encouraged by this feel free to share.

True Love waits…and waits…and waits…..

August 27, 2015January 24, 2016 Mihaela Echols26 Comments

A lot of you who know me may be wondering why my Facebook profile has a picture of Peter and me kissing when I always say, “kissing looks gross.” There’s a small part of mine and Peter’s story we kept for our family, close friends and ourselves.

We didn’t kiss on the lips until the morning of our wedding.

When we set the standard of not kissing, boundaries became harder. We were allowed to kiss on the cheek and hand but there were times we decided to not even do that. We struggled along the way.

Some may say we were too extreme but…

fighting to love each other the right way is not extreme.

Because of our broken pasts The Scariest Road we had to be, so-called ‘extreme.’ Had we kissed before our wedding it wouldn’t of been sinning. We would’ve just been falling short of goals we set and therefore making the other less important than our selfish desires.

We continue to thank God for our victories. Now that we are married we are more aware of the physical and emotional connection kissing has. The idea of kissing someone besides my husband is foreign and wrong.

I write this to encourage those who are fighting for a healthy relationship centered in Christ. You can do it. So don’t stop fighting for it.

https://www.bloglovin.com/people/hylaechols-17002353

Going To The Chapel!

May 10, 2015May 9, 2016 Mihaela Echols24 Comments

I have been blessed with the opportunity to love someone and be loved by someone for the rest of my life! Readers do you remember the writing The Gentleman? Well now I am marrying him!

It seemed like a casual double date with Zach and Jessica. We got food but then split because they were going to “check on the cars” When I was wondering where they went Peter suggusted we could walk on the doc. I saw them behind a van but thought they were just taking their sweet time meeting up with us again. I always walk a head so when I turned around he was down on one knee and asked. It was perfect! I said yes yes yes about a thousand times.

Peter and I met a funeral about three years ago in August. Both of us didn’t know the person who had passed but we were friends with the family of them. In the spring of 2013 Peter being the smooth move criminal he is hit my car and left a huge scrape. That is where it all began. It definitely was not love at first sight for either of us but our friendship started forming by doing favors and hanging out in groups. That Summer ministries were being launched including Project Hope. We were always talking, laughing and keeping each other posted on our running time when we would run. Even in our friendship Peter was always encouraging me, praying for me, and was there whenever I needed help with something. Last Summer when Peters and my friendship grew Peter started liking me. I of course, being afraid of someone as amazing as him possibly even looking in my direction, ran for the hills. He was patient with me, gave me my space, and was of course a gentleman. December 10th was when we were “official” a lot of people were hoping for us to date so when they heard they were ecstatic.

Here we are today blessed beyond belief with the opportunity to love each other as Christ loves us, forever.

Four Powerful Words

The Gentlemen

December 12, 2014January 24, 2016 Mihaela Echols20 Comments

He initiates, I run.

He waits, I waver.

He waits, I play.

He waits, I take a step back.

He waits, I play.

He waits.

Will this too much playing make him leave me for sure?

He steps back. Sparks fly.

He waits. Has he given up or is he a gentlemen who knows he’s in love?

I’m starting a new ministry! I just cant seem to get enough of it. It’s called in a relationship with Peter Echols. So sorry, but it will be only the three of us. Did I say three? Yes, I was not mistaken. Three of us: God and then us. What I’m looking forward to most about this new ministry is learning how to treat him with respect and all the other ministry projects we will be helping with. If you have read The Scariest Road and Goodwill boys you will see why I emphasize treating him with respect. God has brought both of us so far already in singleness and we both have agreed to respect each other and encourage each other in our walks with Christ.

The writing above in red is about us these past months. I was unsure, and afraid, but now that we have entered this next step I am thrilled to see where we will be in these next few months.

https://hylachamberlain.wordpress.com/2015/06/29/four-powerful-words/

https://hylachamberlain.wordpress.com/2015/05/10/going-to-the-chapel/

https://hylachamberlain.wordpress.com/2015/09/01/our-dream-wedding/