Be Second and Be Okay With It.

Hello again to all our readers out there. We waited until the last minute to release the story... welcome to the busy life of adults. This month’s story is another one very special to me, and someone who I have had the privilege to know going on 14 years. She is one of the most selfless and kind spirited people I know, and truly loves the Lord. She is an extremely talented artist and an amazing wife and mom. My husband and I got to live with her family at separate times, so we truly do adore this women and her family... so here it is, our next story.

Her name is Christi Cheek.

Christi always makes things feel so at home and that was definitely the case as we arrived at Christi's house. As we sat on the cozy couch, I couldn't wait to hear what all Christi had in store for you. As usual, I asked Christi to start out by telling us a little bit about herself. This is what she had to say, "I love the Lord... he's good to me. I'm married and I have two boys, David and Cahlin, and I like art. I've been a business owner, and business is fun. That's about me in a nut shell."

With that, I asked Christi to tell me if she found herself successful. She went on the elaborate about her childhood and she always was really successful at sports. She practically did any sport under the sun and she was good at it. She describes always wanting to have trophy's and that made her feel good and successful, but unfortunately that didn't continue into adult life. She goes on to say, "I think that set me up for disappointment later on in life because you don't get any trophy's for being a mom or a business owner... success isn't as tangible. Success is a weird thing, so really, what is success? That is really the question. My kids are alive and I'm not divorced or anything like that, so there are small success through the day." We went on to discuss how people view success so differently so it's cool to see how people answer that so differently. She really hit the nail on the head about what really is success, and how it truly is so different to everyone.

We went on to discuss some advice to married people or people who are wanting to get married. She shared, "My best advice for people who are already married or wanting to get married is learning that love is loving them more than wanting to be right. If you can learn that you are not the most important person in the relationship then everything is okay. When we were first married, I loved being right more than I loved him. You have to learn that you are second in the relationship. Be second and be okay with it. It works on both sides too. You serve each other, that's the only way it can work." She continued to discuss about unmet expectations in relationships and that if you set unrealistic expectations like putting yourself first, then you will start to resent your spouse and how you really should try to serve your spouse because you do not want that resentment to build up. Her and her husband, Tim have been married for over ten years and they truly are the best with each other. They have there struggles but at the end of the day they always just want to hang out with each other, whether it be play video games or watch a movie together... they are just each other's best friends and you can truly see it whenever you around them. That is what Christi says is what has allowed them to stay married for so long… Be each other’s best friends.

They truly are a couple that I admire and if you have a chance to get to know this couple I would!

Next we got to discuss what Christi would tell the younger girls in the world about. She stated, "Find your worth in God. If you have a relationship with him, any sin will break that relationship. Not that God won't put you back together, it just might take a little while for that to happen. When sin took over my life at a young age, it took over my relationship with God, and it was different that before. Once I got things back on track with my relationship with the Lord, things got a lot better. It takes a long time to repair the relationship with God, not on his end but on our end. I think that is the most important advice to try not to live in sin. I would also say, don't listen to what people say about you. Do what you love to do as well."

We decided to end the conversation with one of our favorite questions. I asked Christi is she could tell us what beauty means to her and if she finds herself beautiful. This is what she had to say, "So I try to find beauty in everything. I think anything can be beautiful. I think finding the creator in all of us is what makes us beautiful. Everyone wants to create something, and in that aspect I find myself beautiful because when I create it reminds me of the creator inside of me. That’s how I really define beauty. I find myself beautiful in the reflection of HIM."

Christi is beautiful inside and out, and she really has a ton of wisdom and perspective on life. She is a great wife and mom. If you don't already know her you should get to know her. It was quite the treat to spend some time with you, Christi and remember how wonderful and beautiful you are.

Thank you to all you readers out there. We couldn't be doing this without you all and we appreciate all your comments and how much you are sharing with your friends. We truly just want the people who need these stories to get to read them so keep sharing with your friends.

Again, thanks to Emily, the amazing photographer and co-creator of Her Story who I couldn't do this work without. You’re a rockstar my friend. If you don't follow us on instagram, please do so at Herstorybham and you can follow our personal pages as well to see how much fun we have in our lives… But really if you want to see cute dogs, do yourself a favor and follow us. Until next time.