Stories From The Brooke

"Marry your best friend. I do not say that lightly. Really, truly find the strongest, happiest..."

Tue, 14 May 2013 22:41:08 -0400

““Marry your best friend. I do not say that lightly. Really, truly find the strongest, happiest friendship in the person you fall in love with. Someone who speaks highly of you. Someone you can laugh with. The kind of laughs that make your belly ache, and your nose snort. The embarrassing, earnest, healing kind of laughs. Wit is important. Life is too short not to love someone who lets you be a fool with them. Make sure they are somebody who lets you cry, too. Despair will come. Find someone that you want to be there with you through those times. Most importantly, marry the one that makes passion, love, and madness combine and course through you. A love that will never dilute - even when the waters get deep, and dark.””

- N’tima (via kevinidentity)

All this but so much more than this.

(via romansfive8)

gah! WANT

Tue, 14 May 2013 22:40:20 -0400

gah! WANT

tomyfuturespouse: To My Future Husband

Tue, 14 May 2013 22:39:12 -0400

tomyfuturespouse:

To My Future Husband

holyhotnessbypvi: forever reblog

Mon, 29 Apr 2013 22:10:35 -0400

holyhotnessbypvi:

forever reblog

Photo

Mon, 08 Apr 2013 14:16:55 -0400

head-over-heels-for-him: I have reblogged this a few times...

Sun, 07 Apr 2013 23:29:41 -0400

head-over-heels-for-him:

I have reblogged this a few times already… but LDR couples should watch this. The guy’s vows ALWAYS make me cry… :3

Bawled ….and died laughing at the line, ” I wanted to say something that I’ve waited a long time to say…’Have y’all met my wife?’” awwwww

Uncovering

Sat, 06 Apr 2013 12:15:33 -0400

I had a thought this morning. During the course of our entire friendship and dating relationship, my boyfriend has made it a point to get to know me. “well, duh Brooke…isn’t that the point?”

Listen, I mean he has really worked get to know me. He delves a little deeper. He asks about internal motivations. He wants to know my soul.

Ladies, is a man working hard to uncover your soul or your body? You might think that could be hard to figure out, but it’s really as easy as noticing whether or not he pays attention to what you say and if asks leading questions that unveil more about the inner workings of who you are and how you think. My boyfriend has said on more than one occasion “I look forward to discovering more about you.” He does such a great job of this, I find myself rambling about myself and then not reciprocating and asking him probing questions. I really hope he doesn’t start to think I’m dating him for his hot bod. Rwar.

A good man will be attracted to your external beauty and internal beauty. He should be both interested in your mind and your heart, not just your measurements.

And if a guys weakness if focusing on a woman’s body, I would hazard to say women focus on how a guy makes them feel. Compliments, gifts, lingering touches, suggestive conversation all make a woman feel desired and wanted. You can idolize that feeling and disregard that a man isn’t really interested in the whole package, that his one-dimensional approach negates your soul. Feelings are wonderful servants, lousy masters.
Don’t ever attack a man’s visual weakness, when you yourself fly on the whims of your emotions. Don’t stay with a guy because he makes you FEEL good. Basically, that means you idolize yourself and any man who incites those feelings will do.

So pay attention to the questions he asks, how he pursues your BRAIN, how much he is interested in the internal workings of you, and don’t let your feelings about his desiring you cloud that issue.

Photo

Fri, 05 Apr 2013 14:37:08 -0400

yes!

Fri, 05 Apr 2013 14:23:34 -0400

yes!

yeah

Tue, 02 Apr 2013 02:22:20 -0400

yeah

above-so-below: “i found a guy that didnt want me to change. he wanted me to grow and become a...

Sat, 30 Mar 2013 19:29:54 -0400

above-so-below:

“i found a guy that didnt want me to change. he wanted me to grow and become a better ME, not a different me. and that is important. ” -sharee

so true.

chazak: Counterattack….

Thu, 28 Mar 2013 22:20:18 -0400

chazak:

Counterattack….

chazak: Just a thought…

Thu, 28 Mar 2013 22:19:50 -0400

chazak:

Just a thought…

wow.

Wed, 27 Mar 2013 21:44:46 -0400

wow.

Photo

Wed, 27 Mar 2013 21:41:34 -0400

Photo

Tue, 26 Mar 2013 22:30:43 -0400

Things That Matter

Mon, 18 Mar 2013 14:55:28 -0400

I think we become trained culturally as women to prioritize and value things that are completely insignificant, and overlook things that should catch our attention. Some of us are aware of the this insidious cultural conditioning. Others aren’t. I told my boyfriend last night “You are the best surprise I’ve ever had.” I didn’t expect this relationship. I didn’t expect he’d like me and that I would like him. And that we’d like each other a LOT. I didn’t expect us to be compatible. Sure, we were friends and we got along famously before dating, but what about romance and passion? I wouldn’t own that those were priorities in my head, put there by romance novels and too many rom-coms. We think friendship cools the heat of romance, and I’m here to say it only fans the flames.

I think I place too much priority on cool. While I’ve never gone for “hardbodies” or pretty boys, I’ve always noticed a guys sense of fashion, tattoos or flirtatiousness or the “cool” factor…the music he listens to, his hobbies…things that are really minor. I mean, really minor. But I judged whether a guy was “my type” based on those things. And for each girl it’s different and sometimes we don’t even realize we are evaluating a guy on how much he goes to the gym, what kind of car he drives, what’s on his iPod, where he shops for clothes etc. This insidious cultural conditioning that we buy into as ladies can have us closing the door mentally on a really amazing guy because we judge based on a fantasy image we have in mind for ourselves, one we may be completely unaware of.

I’ve got news for you. Throw out that image. That list of things that have ZERO eternal value and frankly, make us look like shallow puff balls of vanity. THROW it OUT. If you don’t renew your mind to God’s idea of a man, you will buy the cultures image of one and the price tag is a broken heart. A wounded soul. A bill that requires more from you than you want to pay.

So what matters? Don’t look at how fashionably worn out his jeans are, see if his Bible is worn out from use. Stop being concerned about how well he flirts with you and the compliments he pays. Will those same lips be willing to talk with you about the Bible and pray for you? Stop checking out his new wheels, and discern whether or not he’s actually willing to work hard. Is he trying to captivate you because he is in love with himself and would like another person to add to his fan base? Or is he careful with his words and your heart?

Is he interested in the right now, the makeout session with you? Or is he interested in the future, a life, a family? Is he aware righteousness isn’t an accident and purity takes constant vigilance or is he just hoping you guys will muster enough self-control to stop before it’s too late?

So many times we think we don’t know, we can’t figure out if a guy has the things that matter. But there are signs and clues that a guy is far more into himself than he is into God or you, but those clues feed into our obsession with cool and we overlook the obvious cuz our cultural conditioning has us eating out of vanity’s hand.

You want a man of God? Then stop looking at men of the world.

Another day...

Sat, 16 Mar 2013 12:52:57 -0400

Today my step brother is getting married. I’m setting up & running the sound for the ceremony. Using my own sound system. I’m ridiculously proud of this fact. I also feel like I’m becoming my boyfriend (he’s an audio/video tech). But he’s like a beast that works from 8pm til 4am rigging amazing rooms at a huge hotel. It makes my sound system antics look like childs play. He called me after he got off work, and I can’t express how wonderful it is to have someone call you to hear about your day & tell you about theirs. It’s almost silly how much that means to me. I didn’t even mind waking up in the middle of the night just to hear his voice & I’m decidedly a non-morning person. I went to sleep peacefully & happily after talking to him.

We were created for relationship & for healthy relationship between each other & God. It’s programmed into the very essence of humanity. And when right relationship happens, it bears good fruit & the image of God is clearly displayed in it. Peace, joy, love, kindness, gentleness, self-control -
spiritual fruit is evident. When those things aren’t growing, we are veering off on our own path or pursuing our own selfish desires. My prayer today is that we would all walk with the Lord & allow His spirit to guide & rest upon our relationships. That we would honor Him by being in right relationships with one another & honor each other by bearing the fruit of the spirit in those relationships. This only comes by the grace & power of God, but He created us to walk confidently in it. Let’s walk!

Stories From The Brooke: Gentle

Wed, 13 Mar 2013 22:16:46 -0400

Stories From The Brooke: Gentle:

How did I recognize gentleness? Hm. That’s a loaded question because it may look differently for each man, and some men can fake being a “gentleman” for a time, because they realize that behavior serves their selfish desires. Is he humble? Does he repent to you? Does he try to defer to you? Does he give or is he always taking? Gentleness goes hand in hand with selflessness. A selfish man won’t be gentle, or if he is, it’s by accident. Also, I know I harp on this, but if you get to know someone outside a romantic setting, as a friend first, you can see a more authentic representation of their character. A man might be gentle with you physically, but rough with you emotionally, saying overly intimate, overly-committed things that he can’t back up, they are words that are designed to capture your heart. A gentle man would hold back, because he is not trying to draw upon your emotions too early in the relationship. Intimacy is earned by trust and time. Is he trying to build intimacy more than trust and friendship? That is a rough man.

holyhotnessbypvi:

How did you know? This has been weighing SO heavily on my mind, as of late…

Don’t get me wrong. I’m not glass. I don’t break easily. I am strong and I can take care of myself. But I’m still a woman who longs for the protective care a man can add to your life that is reassuring and comforting and peaceful.

malediction:

Rough it sexy. Rough stubble on his face, rough kisses on the lips…rough is considered passionate and manly. But you know what is sexier?

Gentleness.

Sometimes men are rough because they are selfish and demanding, and sometimes they take what’s not theirs.That’s not sexy.

A man who is gentle…

Technicolor

Wed, 13 Mar 2013 12:36:31 -0400

It’s as if I walked into the land of Oz
And encountered a Technicolor world
For the first time the bright hues
Landed upon my black and white eyes
The vibrant blues captivated my life

The world in all its color, so alive
So fresh and exhilarating to every sense
Pouring into my lungs, infusing my breath
Each color giving my eyes a new scent
Where before they were bereft

And the oxygen!
Have I only been taking
The shallow breaths of the dying?
I’m dizzy as I gulp in the air
That surrounds the presence of you

The sepia is seeping back in
The lack of you bleeds black and white
The color lingers in memory of your kisses
The oxygen wafts in with the scent of your shirt

And so I go, back to Kansas
I wish I could click my heels
And return to your embrace
But for now I remember my place
Underneath your arm is like home