Most young women dream about the fairy tale wedding and
marriage, only to find themselves disillusioned, resentful and unforgiving
within the first year (Hebrews 12:15). We attempt to use our human resources to
get our mate's attention and end up even more frustrated and angry.
In premarital counseling, we need to explain to hopeful
couples that marital happiness takes work and that their covenant and
commitment to one another is for a lifetime. We can also mention that God has a
plan for their marriage and will help them to overcome the inevitable challenges
and disappointments.
We put on our best behavior while dating, and then let
our true inner self escape those confines once we say, "I do." This
relaxed atmosphere is actually a good thing, because we get to fall in love
again with our unfiltered selves.
However, sometimes this backfires and we end up resenting
the unveiled version of our mate. We miss the charming persona and dislike many
of the mannerisms of the real person.
We do not appreciate each other anymore; and sometimes,
we do not even feel love for our mate. We slip more into the self-centered
realm rather than focusing on our mate's needs and perspective and attempting
to discover and accept why they act the way they do.
We can avoid this miserable existence by submitting our
mate to the Lord in prayer, and then to concentrate on the issues about which God
is dealing with us.
This allows God's Spirit to humble us, as He works in and
through us. This also enables our intimacy in our relationship with both God
and our mate to grow. We mature spiritually and our appreciation of our mate
improves.
Working with each other to resolve our issues and to find
a Plan C that we can both agree with, will bless us in our soul and spirit and
influence the health of our body.
Prayer:
Father God, remind us that Your joy is more lasting than
any happiness that the world can offer to us through relationships, work,
hobbies, children, etc. Help us to focus on what attracted us to our mate and
why we covenanted to dwell together for our lifetime. With You as the focus of
our marriage, we have the grace to allow one another to be our true inner self.
Remind us to pray together about our inevitable conflicts, to love one another with Your unconditional, Agape love, and to work together to store up our treasure in heaven, rather than here on the earth (Matthew 6:20). Reveal Your plans to us for our marriage, because having a complementary ministry goal that we work at together will also bring us closer together as a couple.
Thought for the Day:
As we invest our time, emotion, effort and love into our
relationship with our mate, God will give us His anointed ideas on how to show
love according to each other's Love Language.
http://www.5lovelanguages.com/profile/
