The Seek The Lord Sunday topic this week is:
As the oldest kid, I was old enough to watch my parents really struggle with marriage. I have memories of them fighting, of sitting in Mom's lap while she cried, and they'll be the first to tell you they wouldn't have made it without Jesus.
When Mom and Dad made that leap of giving their lives to Jesus, I witnessed a change in them that was nothing short of miraculous. Those changes strengthened my faith more than anything else in my past. It wasn't just about behavior or following a bunch of religious rules. They still had their ups and downs. Their personalities stayed the same. They still had times of arguing and not "liking' each other all that much, but they were different. The hardness went away. There was joy and peace in them I could see with my little girl eyes, but still have a hard time putting into words. They had hope. They were better parents despite mistakes. And when it came to marriage, there was an ability to love one another that wasn't there before.
Watching all of that cemented in me the importance of finding someone who shared Jesus with me. From as early as fifth grade, I have prayer journal entries praying for my future husband. I prayed we would have Jesus in common. I prayed he would be a godly father, my best friend, and would take good care of us. It was really fun to read some of those prayer journal entries at my bridal shower and hear my friends say, "That is SO Pat!"
I was such a romantic and so in love with the idea of being in love, if it had worked, I would have settled for less than I asked God to give me. I'm so thankful he made me wait for Pat. Have you ever heard Garth Brook's song "Unanswered Prayers"? That is one of my life's theme songs!
Our marriage is sweet and I'm grateful for it. On June 19th we will celebrate 9 years of marriage, so this topic was timely! : )
I still annoy Pat often. : ) We have typical marriage stuff. But because we have Jesus, this is what we have:
- Commitment that will last a lifetime
- A desire to serve each other
- Hope
- Help with parenting: wisdom that doesn't come from us, and the peace of knowing Jesus will cover where we fail
- Common values
- We can go to the Bible together when we need answers
- The tragedy of losing our babies brought us closer together instead of driving us apart. We both know our relationship with David, Micah, James, and Sarah is just interrupted, not gone.
- We can pray together whenever we need direction
- We have God's help to forgive when one of us screws up, and we have the knowledge of knowing how much God has forgiven us, so it's easy to forgive each other
- We get to celebrate God's goodness to us because we know where the blessings come from
- We are able to love like 1 Corinthians 13 tells us to love, not because we have the ability to do it out of our own strength, but because the God who is love lives in us and we get His help. He teaches us how love is more than just a feeling.
- We can see that the small stuff is really small because of having an eternal perspective
The list could go on and on....not a list of how good or perfect we are, we aren't! Just the list of blessings. A rope made of three cords is unbreakable. I'm so thankful for the third member of our marriage! : )
Tell us about how following Christ has had an impact on your marriage.To be honest, I can't imagine being married without both of us being Christians. It's not because I want my husband and I to belong to some exclusive club. It isn't because I want us to be "religious" and raise our kids that way. It isn't about tradition or celebrating the same holidays.
As the oldest kid, I was old enough to watch my parents really struggle with marriage. I have memories of them fighting, of sitting in Mom's lap while she cried, and they'll be the first to tell you they wouldn't have made it without Jesus.
When Mom and Dad made that leap of giving their lives to Jesus, I witnessed a change in them that was nothing short of miraculous. Those changes strengthened my faith more than anything else in my past. It wasn't just about behavior or following a bunch of religious rules. They still had their ups and downs. Their personalities stayed the same. They still had times of arguing and not "liking' each other all that much, but they were different. The hardness went away. There was joy and peace in them I could see with my little girl eyes, but still have a hard time putting into words. They had hope. They were better parents despite mistakes. And when it came to marriage, there was an ability to love one another that wasn't there before.
Watching all of that cemented in me the importance of finding someone who shared Jesus with me. From as early as fifth grade, I have prayer journal entries praying for my future husband. I prayed we would have Jesus in common. I prayed he would be a godly father, my best friend, and would take good care of us. It was really fun to read some of those prayer journal entries at my bridal shower and hear my friends say, "That is SO Pat!"
I was such a romantic and so in love with the idea of being in love, if it had worked, I would have settled for less than I asked God to give me. I'm so thankful he made me wait for Pat. Have you ever heard Garth Brook's song "Unanswered Prayers"? That is one of my life's theme songs!
Our marriage is sweet and I'm grateful for it. On June 19th we will celebrate 9 years of marriage, so this topic was timely! : )
I still annoy Pat often. : ) We have typical marriage stuff. But because we have Jesus, this is what we have:
- Commitment that will last a lifetime
- A desire to serve each other
- Hope
- Help with parenting: wisdom that doesn't come from us, and the peace of knowing Jesus will cover where we fail
- Common values
- We can go to the Bible together when we need answers
- The tragedy of losing our babies brought us closer together instead of driving us apart. We both know our relationship with David, Micah, James, and Sarah is just interrupted, not gone.
- We can pray together whenever we need direction
- We have God's help to forgive when one of us screws up, and we have the knowledge of knowing how much God has forgiven us, so it's easy to forgive each other
- We get to celebrate God's goodness to us because we know where the blessings come from
- We are able to love like 1 Corinthians 13 tells us to love, not because we have the ability to do it out of our own strength, but because the God who is love lives in us and we get His help. He teaches us how love is more than just a feeling.
- We can see that the small stuff is really small because of having an eternal perspective
The list could go on and on....not a list of how good or perfect we are, we aren't! Just the list of blessings. A rope made of three cords is unbreakable. I'm so thankful for the third member of our marriage! : )
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3 comments:
Becky, thanks for sharing about your marriage. This was a good topic today. I am enjoying everyone's posts.
Hey Beck...thanks for contributing this week again :) I have to say, whenever I see your babies' names in print I get all choked up. I can't wait to meet them someday too :)
Love you.
Amen to all you had to say.
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