Being Real In Our Marriages预览

It’s not about my happiness but fulfilling God's plan for humanity

Losing happiness in our marriage brings frustration and discontentment to our lives. We then start blaming circumstances, our spouse, in-laws and we make life miserable for us and those around us. We tend to believe that life has given us a raw deal. Today social media dictates what happiness in a marriage looks like. Days become miserable when our marriages don’t look the same or better. 

An important lesson we need to apply in our marriages is that every person is unique. So is every marriage. God brings two people together with a plan and a purpose which is more than just satisfying their emotional, physical and mental needs. No two marriages are the same, they may have similar parts.

Growing up with fairy tales, every bride wants to meet prince charming who will sweep her off her feet. Every young prince wants to sweep up his beauty even as they ride along. All fairy tales end with ‘they lived happily ever after’. Though marriages start as a fairy tale for many, ‘the happily ever after’ is not the reality we face in our marriages... 

A young orphan girl in the Bible suddenly finds herself as the queen of a large kingdom. When things were going fine, she  was daunted with the task of saving her people. There are valuable lessons to be learned from the life of queen Esther, which can be applied in our marriages.

First, get God's approval before you discuss the matter with your spouse. When Esther had to go to meet the king she did not use that charm that made her queen but she fasted and prayed. This is a good discipline to follow— checking with God before we discuss with our spouses. God gives us wisdom to handle issues realistically. 

Second, she risked her life to do what God wanted her to do. There may be some who will risk their marriages to do what God wants them to do. Let not our marriages take precedence over what God wants to do through our lives. 

Even as we strive to fulfill God's purpose in our life though our marriages let us remember to 

Trust in the Lord with all our heart and lean not on our own understanding;
in all our ways submit to Him, and He will make our paths straight.

Are we doing our part, fulfilling God’s plan for humanity through our marriages?