Marriage........

Christian marriages seem to be crumbling apart all around me. Is it just the times we live in? Has it always been this way but I am just now noticing? Sometimes we get involved with hurting marriages and it gets messy. Things come out and we cringe at having to know the hurt that is happening in our friends lives. We can't fix people. We can't make people do the right thing. How as believers do we love our neighbor as our selves, be with them when they are falling apart and yet not get consumed with it? As Christians we get our hands dirty serving the Lord right? How do we not go home and let anxiety wash over us as people are hurting? It's a balance. A balance I sometimes do alright with and other times I call on my prayer partner begging her to meet with me and just pray. Asking for accountability in whether I am pointing people back to the word instead of telling them to run. Our human nature when faced with something that we know is not fixable is to flee. But do we believe Gods promise in Jeremiah 29:11 that says he knows the plans he has for us? The entire verse where it says if we call upon him he will hear us and if we seek him we will find him? If so isn't that the assurance we can rest knowing God hears our cry for help? And if we believe that then surely we must believe Romans 8:28 that tells us that all things work together for good for those who love God. Not good in our image but His. Can you even wrap your brain around that kind of goodness and healing? If your reading this and your marriage is struggling I beg you to stop and imagine Gods best for you. Flash forward and try to picture healing in your life and marriage. The blessings that will flow from not quitting on your spouse or God. If you have never heard of the movie Fireproof or the love dare I challenge you to get the book and do what the book says to your spouse. I wonder when I see marriages hurting all around me how I can serve Dan more. How I can love him more. How I can honor him more. How I can make his burdens lighter. Then I remember to seek first the kingdom of God daily. Read, pray, love the Lord first and best not worrying about what anyone else is doing and I will be able to overflow into my marriage and do those things for Dan. I was reading about Noah this morning. I don't know if God ever intended for Noah's story to be a marriage sermon but it struck me as such. Noah lived in a time when it was most evil. It was the norm to be lawless and without regard for anyone or anything. Not loving or serving the Lord was pretty much expected. But Noah set the bar high for himself and his family. Setting apart his life and heart for the Lord. He didn't care what others around him were doing but instead was obedient. I wonder if when our spouse is doing the wrong thing, wants the wrong things, serves the wrong things, loves the wrong things if we don't put our face to the ground and worship Him who made us that our spouses will turn from those things. If we cry out to God to restore our spouse to Him and care more for their walk with God than what they are doing for us if they won't feel that kind of love and turn back to the Lord. I think Noah is a great example of leading his family and my hope is that despite whether or not we fell loved by our spouse in this moment or what the world is telling us we just do the right thing out of simply wanting to honor our God. Not needing to get anything in return from an earthly place but to store up treasures in heaven instead.