Happily

In the beginning, marriage doesn't seem as though it should be all that difficult. But it doesn't take long for trouble to seep in and for bad habits to become entrenched. Before long, many married couples may be wondering when the "worse" part ends and the "better" part starts. Pastor and author Kevin A. Thompson has good news for couples: the "better" part is always within reach when they practice eight specific commitments to each other. These commitments have the power to solve almost any problem a marriage faces, and to prevent new ones from occurring. With biblical insights and engaging personal stories, Thompson shows couples how to see their marriage as bigger than themselves, avoid both apathy and aggression, release the desire for power, make and maintain peace, endure difficult times, and more. Perfect for newlyweds and for married couples at any stage of life, Happily is the gateway to a more loving, more joy-filled marriage.

When her father dies, ten-year-old Rebecca is sent to live with the mother she's been brought up to believe had abandoned her and, through a growing relationship with a troubled foster child, begins to accept some of the truths her father had always kept from her.

Will chasing her dreams mean leaving love behind? Firefighter, Jeremy Davis loves his life in Glacier Falls and small town living has been good to him with great friends, a job he loves, a promotion on the horizon and now, a woman he is very quickly falling in love with. Making a career out of her passion for music has always been Bella Burton's dream. And now, against all odds it looks as if that dream is about to come true. She's falling hard for Jeremy, but his life is and always will be in Glacier Falls. It's an impossible choice between two futures when chasing her dreams might mean leaving something—or someone—behind.

The Lord pointed out to me the number 111 in a special way. I have testified about this in this book and how it led me to the three purposes of the Church which are evangelism, worship and spiritual growth. I do this through 3 chapters in the Bible. They are Psalm 111, Psalm 112 and 1 Corinthians 13.I have also added an important chapter on the Holy Spirit because of so much misunderstandings about spirits. I conclude with a look at Psalm 110 which tells us what's going on now and what is coming in the future. I explain in the introduction my purpose for writing this book which is to raise money for the Castle Theatre Ministry of my daughter's family. If anyone would like to donate directly to this ministry, please send to Castle Theatre Ministry, P. O. Box 201, Dearing, Kansas, 67340. It is tax deductable and they will send you a receipt. The Lord laid on my heart to introduce him also to those who have not fully been introduced to Him. I did this in Act 2 in this book. I hope you are inspired by this writing as much as I have been.

Rose got her happily ever after, complete with castle, prince and ornate banquets every night. But after four centuries, Rose can state definitively: happy endings suck. No concerts, no plays, no children or visits with friends… Not one single change in four hundred years. That ends, now. Before Rose destroys her castle in a fit of pique. A fractured fairytale about the dangers of wishing for Happily Ever After.

This book is about the apparent incompatibility of romantic love and conventional marriage. They go together (the popular song has it) like a horse and carriage. But if the horse is ailing or otherwise not up to the task, the carriage will slowly rot away in the carriage house. It is also about the perverse fact that people bring to such relationships their expectations from the past as they remember them. Typically, they had hopes and dreams for their future together. When these are dashed, it occurs to them that they were better off before they got hitched. It is also about the fact that when love befalls us, we lose our bearings. Love is blind, and all that. We drift into the conventional fairy tale about living happily ever after. Thats to be desired. But the fairy tale ends with that line. It never tells us what we need to do or be in order to live happily ever after. Under the spell of the fairy tale, which is basic fare in various forms in our culture, we set off happily enough. But how is it possible to maintain the delusion of the love state in the banality of the everyday life that inevitably ensues? Who told us that making a living or keeping a house in order is a far different world than a wedding? Who told us that babies rule the house, unless they are tended by someone else? Copulate we apparently must. But that has consequences that are not a part of the fairy tale. So people end up on the other side of the mirror. The world is not about lovers, the realization creeps upon us. It is about 40,000 other things. And those have to be dealt with most often before anything else. Thus the title, And They Lived Happily Ever Before. Imagination and reality are often two very different things. This book answers the question, What Does Love Have to Do with It? The answers may surprise you. But they will make love affairs that end in marriage far better than you might even imagine they could be.