Aftershock - Setting Yourself Up for SuccessSample

Immerse Yourself in Recovery

Jesus told His disciples, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me” (Luke 9:23, NIV). Following Jesus is an all-or-nothing proposition. It’s not for the halfhearted or partially committed.

It’s exactly the same with marriage, and especially now as you begin this journey toward restoration. You and your husband can turn things around individually, but to restore your marriage successfully as a couple, you’ll both have to immerse yourselves in the recovery process. Don’t yield to the temptation to just dabble in it.

Gardening is a good illustration of this principle. Seeds will never germinate and grow if you simply dip them in a patch of dirt every so often. The gardener can’t give up on a seed if it doesn’t push through the soil after a day or two. On the contrary, a seed is transformed into a thriving plant when you plunge it deep into the soil, leave it there for a long time, and allow sunlight and water to produce growth. Growth is a process. Once the seed peeks through the surface of the soil as a green plant, the benefits of God’s life-giving plan are evident to the gardener. The seed grows and is transformed, becoming what it was designed to be.

The same is true for your marriage. God designed it to be a blessing, and now you both have the opportunity to dig deep into the soil of healing that brings about growth and restoration. If you only dabble in the recovery process, like the seed that doesn’t remain in the soil, your marriage won’t become what God designed it to be. You and your husband must throw yourselves into the process lock, stock, and barrel if you want to rekindle the spark of real love and romance. You have to give helpful resources time to breathe life back into your relationship. God is at work in and through you in ways you can’t see. Stay in the soil of recovery, and new life will sprout and grow.

Next: On to success.