I've been thinking...

A good marriage is hard work! I don't know how to word it any other way. It's so easy to lose the way! It gets lost in child-rearing, jobs, the mundane-ness of life, the 'outside-of-the-home' responsibilities...the list goes on. We are easily offended, allowing our imagination to run away; we use the silent treatment to show our hurt. We fill our lives with 'stuff' to fill the emptiness within ourselves, or worse yet, to keep us from dealing with the issues which we 'hope will just go away'...yes, it's sooo easy to lose the way!  

I've been thinking about this a lot, mostly because of where hubs and I were at. In this past month, I heard a message on relationships within the Church but applied it to marriage because it fits well to both. Several days later a blog I follow threw this challenge out from a book he was reading...please, take the time to read it...it's worth it!

These are the points from the message:

- marriage is always at risk

- love will always be tested

- commitment goes far

- use respect

- it takes effort to keep it alive

- Satan will never let up

- my personal issues will affect others

- there is no room for personal pride in resolving issues

- focus on how to turn the 'heat' down so life can be enjoyed

- am I a builder or a destroyer, an encourager or a discourager?

- check my own spirit and let God fight the battle

None of the above are easy to do. We want so much to live out of defense instead of allowing Jesus to be our Defender. Will we always come out vindicated? No, we won't. But can we at peace with the outcome? Yes, I truly believe we can if we live in the power of the last point.

My prayer for you is...

...blessedness!

ox