Showing posts with label happiness. Show all posts
Showing posts with label happiness. Show all posts

May 30, 2013

If You Marry, Get Ready for Troubles

Photo Credit: Lesley Miller
Happily ever after…

That’s what we hope marriage will be on that long-anticipated day when we walk down the aisle. But it doesn’t take most of us long to figure out that’s a myth.

Not even the Bible promises “happily ever after.” In 1 Corinthians 7:28 the Apostle Paul says that we will have "trouble" if we marry. Those troubles are inevitable. If you marry, get ready for troubles.

God desires that we all live in harmony, but that doesn’t mean we will live in an environment free from all conflict or trouble. It is how we deal with those troubles that will either lead to harmony or sin.

If we do not accept the inevitability of some trouble as part of God’s design, we may fall for the idea that marriage should be happily ever after. And then when troubles do come, we conclude that we are not receiving what we deserve. Have we been dealt an unfair hand? Is God against us?

When these moments come, how will we deal with them?

A friend of my daughter Joy captures this. Let’s hear from Lesley Miller who shares with transparency the trouble she and her husband Jonathan recently went through:
My life changed rapidly one afternoon last fall. I’d been pacing the house waiting for Jonathan’s phone call about his test results. And when it came, and he said “Cancer,” I collapsed into my chair and fell apart.

I remember sobbing the tears that don’t let you catch your breath; the kind that make you gasp for air and wail in such a way you don’t recognize your own primal sounds. Rocking back and forth, I stared at the blackboard on our kitchen wall. It read, “Sun is shining, weather is sweet, makes you want to move your dancing feet.” I’d written the Bob Marley lyric in August, after I’d given birth to Anna. We’d been living in a dizziness of warmth since her arrival that I’d never felt before, and certainly didn’t think would end so abruptly… Click here for Lesley’s entire story...

January 5, 2009

I HAVE DECIDED

"I am making a decision independent of my spouse to move forward positively in this marriage."

Each year people touch me deeply with this kind of decision. That decision may not be fair to the person making the decision but that decision reflects his/her maturity. This individual knows that he/she cannot control the outcomes in a spouse but can only control the outcome in himself/herself. In other words, a husband knows that he cannot control his wife's reactions but can only control his own reactions -- with God's help.

How about you? Are you at a place of making an inner resolution? Listen to these folks: “I have resolved that I have to be the one to take the steps… I have resolved to try all the things in your book… I have resolved to finally accept the fact that I have to make some changes.”

Here are some specific inner resolutions some have made.

TO BE HAPPY:
A wife writes, "I realized that I had been holding my husband responsible to meet most if not all of my needs. And my standard of perfection was keeping me from being generous with him in my heart. He was sincerely trying to meet some of my emotional needs and I was standing there with my arms crossed saying ‘close but no cigar!’ So I was pondering that a bit since Sunday, and I HAVE DECIDED that I am going to aim for being ‘reasonably happy’ in my marriage. Just medium. Just peace most of the time, and a lessening of the arguments."

TO LOVE UNCONDITIONALLY
A husband emails, "After reading the section in Dr Eggerichs' book Love & Respect on "The Husband Who Never Stopped Loving" … and experiencing the Lord's incredible power, last night at Saddleback's Night of Worship I HAVE DECIDED to sign and send to you my Stander's Affirmation." In that affirmation, he decided to love his wife unconditionally.

TO PRAY
A wife expresses, "I'VE DECIDED I'm going to pray for Keith again and I hope that the Holy Spirit will convict his heart and renew a right heart within Keith. He has not been faithful to his marriage vows." Another gal writes, "I HAVE DECIDED not to nag or embarrass him, but I am going to pray, pray, pray!"

TO BE HONEST
A husband writes about honesty, "You are perhaps the only person that has the data and the background/perspective to answer. To get a useful answer, I HAVE DECIDED to be completely honest with you … ‘the whole truth’. I ask that you keep this confidential."

TO STAY
"Although I know our marriage has never been all that happy and I have Biblical grounds for divorce, at this point I HAVE DECIDED to stay in the marriage. My husband says he is committed to our marriage now and is willing to do what it takes."

TO LOOK TO GOD
A husband writes, "After listening to Allison rave about these books, I HAVE DECIDED to read them with an open heart and mind, and see if God can bring my marriage back to life."

Another says, "I hate what I've become and I’VE DECIDED to just dedicate myself to God." And still another, "I have decided to leave it up to God."

HOW ABOUT YOU?
Is there a decision you need to make? What?

The Bible reveals that there come moments when we must "determine" (Romans 14:13) to remove the negative factors undermining relationships and be "determined" to centrally focus on God in the midst of life's happenings (1 Corinthians 2:2).

Will you say, "I have decided"? If so, I believe good things are in store for you. Get ready!

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