Growing Your Marriage While a Spouse Is Away: 6 Ways to Protect Your MarriageНамуна

Check Your Circle

Are you like the women at my old office that would celebrate with one another when their husbands left, commenting how lucky they were to have some “freedom”? True freedom comes from living a Christ-centered life.

Galatians talks about this freedom, “For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.” Your marriage is the perfect space for this God honoring service from a place of love, and it is going to be hard to focus on serving your marriage when your friends are celebrating that your spouse is gone! Do you have friends who are discontent in their own marriages? Or do you have a friend like my friend Mandy that encourages you to reframe your perspective and start viewing your time apart as another opportunity to grow together? I’m praying for the latter.

It may not be friends at all. You may have family members who make comments about your husband’s career choice or the fact that your wife seems to always be away. It’s time to help even our family see that distance is difficult for a marriage, and having people speak negatively about our spouse or be excited for their upcoming departure just isn’t healthy. Chances are they have no idea that they are planting seeds that could lead to problems in your marriage down the road.

Today’s challenge:

The next time someone makes a comment that isn’t fruitful or helpful about your spouse’s distance, lovingly ask them to refrain. Be bold about protecting your marriage and kindly let them know you don’t like when they say discouraging or dishonoring things about your marriage.

Prayer:

Dear Lord, we know how important relationships are in our lives. We pray that we have people in our circle that are pushing us towards our marriages rather than distracting us from them. We pray that if there are situations that need to be addressed, conversations that need to be had, or shifts that need to be made that you would give us the courage and boldness to protect our marriages first.