Tuesday, June 26, 2012

Love & Marriage, Love and Marriage...

We don't always live life on top of the mountain. All of us experience days, sometimes much longer, where we travel through the valley. As a believer, I know this is where God helps to refine me, build my faith, and where I learn to persevere. Guess what? It doesn't make trudging through "the valley" suck any less. To be completely honest, as of late, I've struggled to maintain balance in just about every area of my life - particularly at home and in my relationship with my amazing wife and ride-or-die chick, Jenny. Anyone who has ever been married would be lying to you and to themselves if they told you they didn't experience "the valley" in their marriage from time to time. I certainly don't have every answer and I also understand that every marriage and circumstance is unique, but I do want to share a couple of fundamental concepts I have personally come to embrace throughout my marriage of 9 years. I'll cut to the chase and try to be concise:

1. Prayer is POWERFUL. This will forever be my battle cry. Over the years, and especially here more recently, I've discovered the importance of understanding not only HOW I should pray but also the importance of praying with PURPOSE. Here's what I mean: Today, I read Colossians 1: 9-14 (NIV)...

"9 For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you. We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives,10 so that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God,11 being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience,12 and giving joyful thanks to the Father, who has qualified yout to share in the inheritance of his holy people in the kingdom of light.13 For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves,14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins."

...This 2,000 year-old passage was nothing more to me than a bunch of eloquently written words to some peeps called Colossians until I REFLECTED on them, MEDITATED on them, and then APPLIED them directly to ME and MY marriage. This was and is my prayer:

"Jenny,

I will not stop praying for you, for our relationship, and for our family. I will continually ask God to fill us with his wisdom and understanding through God's Spirit, so we may both live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work. I pray, Jenny, for you to continue growing in the knowledge of God. I pray for you to be strengthened and for you to be given great power, great endurance, and great patience (particularly with me). For God has rescued us from darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption and forgiveness."

2. In every aspect of life, you will at some point be faced with the decision to FIGHT or to ROLL OVER and throw in the towel. This is not a THEORY. It is a LAW. If you want to get your marriage out of the valley, you'd better start quick marching both of your stubborn hindquarters to the base of the mountain and start climbing.

Love & Cheers,

 ~ COCHISE

1 comment:

  1. Great message, Jeremy. Relationships are about peaks and valleys, it's how hard we work to get out the valley that matters. Again, great message.

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