My husband and i did the "rite of 7 steps" during our wedding ceremony this past july. for each step we took, we recited a vow that we had written ourselves. we chose to keep them secret until the actual ceremony, so neither of us knew what the other had written. one of my vows to him was that i would pray WITH him, in addition to praying alone, about any and all concerns either of us have. this was something that i have never had with any of my ex's...and something that i have always thought a married Christian couple should do.

about a month after the ceremony, i was able to do just that. joel is a commercial kitchen equipment repairman, and a self-motivated seller of his talents and services. he had his own home repair business when he was married before, but left it to qualify for insurance benefits for his now ex-wife and children. he is now working for himself again, but doing the commercial kitchen equipment. he had a regular customer just over the nc/sc state line, a japanese woman that had a string of restaurants. it was steady, reliable work, but had grown increasingly difficult as the "honeymoon" phase had worn off for her.

my husband is honest and ethical, and had saved her quite a bit of money in repairs as he had worked behind others that had done shoddy work.

another customer in that area had called a repairman that they had used for quite some time when joel happened into their store, and as he had kept them waiting for a while, they decided to hire joel. it turns out that this man had putting "band-aids" so to speak on problems that needed a little more intensive repairs. joel had seen that before in repairmen that wanted to be sure they got call-backs. he had kept putting them off, promising to come soon, but never showed up. there was several things that this particular store needed fixing, and when they saw joels work, they hired him to do them all. when joel had returned home one weekend, this man came in all ready to do the job they had called him about several months before. they told him that they had needed it fixed when they called him the first time, and as he didn't seem like he had the interest of the time to take care of them as his customers, they hired someone else. they told joel that he almost cried when they told him that. joel felt sorry for that man, as he knew that he had taken a job from him, but...you can't do shoddy work, keep putting your customers off, and keep their business.

anyway, this woman was growing more demanding, evidently wanting to be joels only customer. she was very impatient, and wanted things done RIGHT NOW. another worker like joel was also getting unhappy with her, and he seemed to be more on the receiving end of her yelling, or screeching, as he put it. they both ended up leaving her employment.

it was right around this time that joel and i had our ceremony, and even though we had been married almost a year, we still hadn't moved in with each other because i was in the process of finishing up culinary school. but with this done, we were finally able to find a place and combine households. he didnt want to be driving down to sc and be gone 4 days a week with me here alone and wanted to build his business up here in this area.

we live in the high country of north carolina around newland, banner elk, boone, linville, sugar mountain, etc., and there are tons of restaurants and resorts up here, so he had been actively pounding the pavement drumming up business. he was really worried because he said that at least the job in south carolina was dependable, something he knew he would have, and now that he had decided to move on, he felt afraid.

i felt the Lord telling me that this was something that we both needed to pray about together, so i reached out and took his hand and began to pray. you know, our God knows all about us. He knows all our needs, our desires, our worries, our talents, our hinderances. i prayed about all of these things, and about how i knew that God was able to open the Heavens and rain down showers of blessings upon joel as he sought to provide for our needs. joel was so touched and almost was crying when i said amen. he said that he had never had anyone to pray with him like that. he had tried to pray with his ex-wife, but she said that she felt funny doing that.
what has happened since then has just left joel amazed. God did exactly that-open up the Heavens and rain down showers of blessings. joel has met so many store and restaurant owners that are dissatisfied with their present equipment repairman and he is just loaded with the work. joel has said so many prayers of thanks to God for answering our prayers. God is so good and worthy to be praised. He doesn't stop at saving our souls, He continues to supply our needs over and above-our minds cannot comprehend what He is able to do.

Be careful for nothing; but in EVERYTHING by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made know to God.
But my God shall supply ALL your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.
Philippians 4: 6 and 19

But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed.
James 1:6

Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.
Malachi 3:10

The Washington Post, September 23, 2009

• Course: Appetizer

Ingredients:

• 2 3-pound skin-on salmon fillets, pin bones removed
• 1/3 cup salt
• 2/3 cup sugar
• 1 tablespoon coarsely ground black pepper
• 4 or 5 fronds dill, finely chopped (3 tablespoons)
• 1 teaspoon dill seeds
• 3 or 4 tablespoons cognac

Directions:

Rinse the fillets in cold water; use paper towels to pat them dry.

Combine the salt and sugar in a small bowl, then rub the mixture into the flesh side of the fish.
Place one fillet skin side down in a deep dish just large enough to hold the fillets, stacked on top of each other. Scatter the pepper, fresh dill and dill seeds over it, and pour over the cognac (to taste).

Use the remaining fillet to create a top layer in the dish, placing it skin-side up. Cover the dish with plastic wrap and place a heavy weight, such as 2 heavy dishes or a saucepan, on top of the fish. Refrigerate for 3 or 4 days, turning the fish every 12 hours and basting it with any brine that accumulates in the dish.

To serve, discard the brining liquid and brush off the dill. Use a sharp, thin knife to cut the fish on the diagonal into very thin slices, discarding the skin. (The flesh from the tail will be leaner than the flesh from the belly.) Serve with the accompaniments suggested in the headnote, or cover and refrigerate for up to 1 week.

Recipe Source:

Adapted from Andreas Viestad's "Kitchen of Light" (Artisan, 2007).