“Spiritual disciplines” are things we do to stay in love with God and grow in faith. They can be things we do alone or together; they can be ways to spend time with God or to serve others. As the people of Sylva First UMC share one of their spiritual disciplines with you each week, we hope it will inspire you to new ways of loving God and growing in faith.
My name is Ardie Coughlin and my husband is Tom, our marriage will reach the 57 year mark next month.
Our discipline that we do together is praying as a couple every morning for the needs of others and praising God for what he has done for us and our families. Sometimes it is hard to make that time but we have found that it is important enough that we manage to do it for our own good as well. It is hard to keep your nose out of joint with someone and still sit down and pray together with them. God makes a great marriage counselor!
We also have tithed for many years not because God needs our money but because we need to realize what God has given to us and gladly share a part of that with his church and ministries.
I also give my time to teach art at church and for years in my home as a way to have small group evangelism and fun at the same time. Only illness and a pandemic have ever stopped that in the last 13 years or so.
As a couple we have taught bible study together and we also read from “One Bread One Body” scripture verses and reflections daily. It is amazing how many times an answer to a problem will be found in scripture at that perfect time.
