Where does that nagging ache in your marriage come from?

A few months ago I read another wonderful book about marriage.  I haven’t been blogging much lately but ran across my notes and couldn’t help but feel God’s timing might be in my posting something on the topic of marriage today. It’s my prayer that some of our readers be encouraged, spurred on and empowered by these wonderful truths from Gary Thomas as I’ve paraphrased from Sacred Marriage.

Don’t be surprised when you become disillusioned by your spouse. He/she was never intended to fully satisfy you. The marriage relationship was designed to point us to our need for Christ and form us into His image.

God delighted in giving us an exclusive relationship to enjoy with our spouse BUT, in order for that relationship to thrive, it is essential that God remain at the center of our hearts. Our ultimate fulfillment comes from God and the marriage relationship is just added blessing — not the other way around.

“As odd as it may sound, I have discovered in my own life that my satisfaction or dissatisfaction with my marriage has far more to do with my relationship to God than it does with my relationship to (my spouse). When my heart grows cold toward my God, my other relationships suffer, so if I sense a burgeoning alienation from, or lack of affection toward, my wife, the first place I look is how I’m doing with the Lord. (My spouse) is, quite literally, my God-thermometer.” (Sacred Marriage, p. 237)

PRACTICAL APPLICATION

Read Genesis 2:18 and Genesis 2:24 and thank God for the holy (though imperfect) union of your marriage.  Every time your spouse disappoints you this week, pray this prayer:

“That’s why I need you, O God!”

Shawn & Evan's Glory Story

The following Glory Story has been reprinted with permission of Joni and Friends Minneapolis-St. Paul.  Thank you, Shawn for putting God’s power and presence on display through your stories and your life!

In Luke 14:23-24, Jesus tells us to reach out and “invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind” so that His house may be full. We are so excited to see how God is using your prayers and gifts to invite His children affected by disabilities, giving them new hope in Him. 

One person who was in need of such hope was Shawn. One afternoon last March, Shawn came into our office for a visit. Shawn had experienced disability first-hand with her daughter Alisha, who was born with cerebral palsy and required 24-hour care. Shawn had lovingly cared for Alisha for 17 years until Jesus called her home in 2010. Through her devastating pain and loss, God drew Shawn to Joni and Friends to share Alisha’s story and minister to others affected by disability. 

Soon after she started volunteering at Joni and Friends, Shawn visited Family Retreat. She was reluctant at first, frightened of her deep emotional response to seeing a child in a wheelchair. But from the moment she met a young man named Evan, nothing but pure love flooded her heart. 

“What joy I had with Evan! God started to heal my heart at Family Retreat when I met him and his family,” Shawn declares.

Shawn now actively volunteers with Joni and Friends. She helps serve as Jesus’ hands and feet, ministering to a hurting world. She has introduced many churches in Southern Minnesota to the disability ministry programs of Joni and Friends.

How about you? How might God want to use and bless you through volunteering with Joni and Friends this summer?  Click here for a video clip and explanation of what it’s like to serve as an STM or other volunteer at Family Retreat.

Please pray about it and help spread the word to others who may have interest.  Contact your local Joni and Friends office for more information.  In the Minneapolis area, that contact number is 952-933-7777.

Friends, if you have a Glory Story to share, please write us at info@walkrightin.org.   

Want to hear more of Shawn's powerful story? At 23 years old, she was divorced, parenting two young girls including Alisha with cerebral palsy and considering ending her life.  But there was hope beyond her wildest dream!  Listen to her March 5, 2013 interview with Joni Eareksen Tada. 

Prayerfully Pondering Life, Loss & Newtown

In the past few days (particularly in the wake of the tragedy in Newtown, CT), I have found it helpful to chew on these quotes and verses about life and loss.  I pray that it may be helpful to you also as you take your own heart and mind to the feet of Jesus for comfort, strength and wisdom.

"The world needed a suffering Sovereign. Mere suffering would not do. Mere sovereignty would not do. The one is not strong enough to save; the other is not weak enough to sympathize."  From How Does Jesus Come to Newtown? by Pastor John Piper. 

"We were talking about the shooting and how it is devastating. They reminded me of all the babies America kills daily in women's wombs, yet we do not mourn over that."  From my friend Nathan Haugen. 

 "The life that we live falls short of the life God gave us."  From Tis More Blessed to Receive 12.16.12 by Pastor Dan Johnson.

***

Romans 3:23
For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.

John 10:10
The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.

John 1:14

And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. 

John 16:33
I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.

John 14:1
Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me.

John 1:12
But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.

Matthew 19:14
Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven.”

1 John 4:12
No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us.

1 Peter 3:13-14
Now who is there to harm you if you are zealous for what is good? But even if you should suffer for righteousness' sake, you will be blessed. Have no fear of them, nor be troubled.

Luke 2:10-11
And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord."

***

I am empowered and comforted to FEAR NOT! No matter what circumstances surround us, God stands in authority and is the suffering Sovereign.

Hebrews 4:15-16
For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.  Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.