1 Corinthians 13:4-7
4 Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud 5 or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. 6 It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. 7 Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.
I absolutely love the above bible verse so much that it was read at my own wedding but sometimes I find myself struggling with verse 7: Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.
I absolutely love the above bible verse so much that it was read at my own wedding but sometimes I find myself struggling with verse 7: Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.
I have been married for going on 3 years. We have had our fair share of ups and down (more ups than down) and for a long time I wondered, "how do I not give up on my marriage when there is more wrong than right?" " How do I not lose faith that things will turn around?" "How do I stay hopeful, when I feel hopeless?" "If love really endures through every circumstance, why do I feel empty?" Every fight we had I would ask these questions and it wasn't until I accepted Jesus Christ again in my life that I realized that the questions I asked myself before are easily being answered right before my eyes in a positive way.
For a while now I have been attending church as much as 4 days a week and I see myself growing so much. I have an intimate walk with God and the things I didn't think were possible, are now possible. I'm not easy to anger, I don't fight about a lot of things that I used too, I wont keep an argument going, I apologize whether I am right or wrong, and I never allow a negative event carry over to the next day. My heart feels so full every single day. I have more passion about things, I am excited to get up at 9am every Sunday morning, love attending our food ministry every Wednesday, and I even try to take on more that what I can actually handle. I serve god every opportunity that I get and I realized that in doing so its taken a little bit of a toll on my marriage but as quick as I realized the negative, I remembered that as long as I serve god, he will handle everything else and he is doing just that.
I attend church every Sunday by myself and every volunteer event by myself. I have come to realize that by me changing, my husband will be soon to follow. Though I strive every week to get him involved, if I cover him with my naggingness and begging he will never change. I prayed every night that God just touch my husband and allow him to see the good and not the bad. To notice that I am changing and want to be like that. To realize that I have overcome so many things and want that for himself.
Well I set back and I allowed God to put his hands on my husband and man has it really worked. I think that I see the changes in him and he doesn't even realize that he's doing anything any different. He is interested in how sermons are every Sunday. He's allowing me to be more involved and helping me to do so. He isn't easily angered anymore, and when he becomes angry he actually apologizes.
So though I would love him to lead our family, I am okay being in that role right now. If I submit to my husband and I allow God to use my actions and just allow God himself to work on my husband, I know that we will get to that point where I can get off my knees and he can get on his.
People always say that the first five years of marriage are the hardest but I believe that marriage is always going to be hard unless you have God as your leader and you allow him to take over. God is stepping in, and its evident that what people say, isn't always the truth. Our first 2 years and 11 months were the hardest, the rest is all up to God but I believe it will be a walk in the park. The power of prayer is unbelievable and it isn't until you start seeking God, that all things are truly possible!
"God,
Thank you for your unconditional love for me. I am so undeserving, yet you pursue me daily! Thank you for your grace and for your perfect provision. I am so blessed and grateful for my life and for my husband’s life. Thank for trusting us with each other’s hearts, blessing us with the covenant of marriage. You have given us an opportunity to love each other unconditionally and sometimes that is hard to do, but I ask Lord that you would help us to love like you love. Please show me how to be a joyful wife, a compassionate wife, a humble wife, and a truly forgiving wife. I pray for wisdom. I pray that you would equip both my husband and I with whatever we are lacking so that we may bless each other and be a beautiful example of a healthy marriage to other couples. Help me to understand that my expectations for my husband may never be met, that he is human and capable of sin. Give me a discerning spirit and the courage to speak truth into my husband’s life, which will encourage him. Keep words of disappointment and regret, lies from the enemy, far from me. Lord, if my husband is struggling with anything, please remove it from him. Heal my husband and give him a strong desire to seek after you. I pray that he is the spiritual leader of our family that you have called him to be. May your characteristics manifest in him as he grows in his relationship with you. God I ask that you would protect our marriage, keeping Satan and his ways far from our family. Holy Spirit walk with my husband today, call out his name and reveal yourself to him. I pray that our love for each other continues to grow deeper and deeper everyday. Please grant us time to spend intimately with one another, and especially time and desire to pray with and over one another! I pray for restoration in our marriage! May you be at the center of our marriage FOREVER and EVER! Reigning in our hearts, motivating our love and guiding our actions! In Jesus Name AMEN!"
