When the Marriage Is in Trouble

The conference had ended and the lady assigned to take me back to the airport began to share. "Our marriage is much better now, but I had twenty years of a very bad marriage. I packed my bags mentally, but I had become a Christian and knew the Lord wanted me to stay in the marriage. 

She continued, "During the conference, a woman began telling me about her awful marriage. I told her, 'You will never be happy with yourself if you do not do all you can for your marriage with God's help. You can walk out and God will forgive you, but you'll never experience the joy of knowing that you leaned totally on Christ, trusting Him to give grace and to provide all you need.'

"The woman said, 'But I don't even like him. Sometimes I hate him.'"

"I told her, 'I hear you. I've been there. But I looked to God and He gave me grace to do what I could not do.'"

Humility is often the key to rebuilding relationships because "God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble" (James 4:6).

If you are in a marriage that has lost its romance, begin to treat your spouse as though the Lord is giving you grace to truly care. What would you do if the Lord sent an abundance of love into your heart for the one you've promised to love? Cook his favorite meals? Dress to please him? Be agreeable when he disagrees? 

When Carla, a young wife attending our Bible study, said she didn't love her husband any more, I asked, "What would you do if you did love him?"

She immediately replied, "Oh, I'd fold his clothes when I do the laundry." Folding his clothes, then, would be Carla's way of preparing for God's supply of grace to love him.

Thank You, Jesus, for the joy there is in leaning totally on You and trusting You for the grace to do what is otherwise impossible.

"Finally, all of you, live in harmony with one another; be sympathetic, love as brothers, be compassionate and humble...clothe yourselves with humility toward one another"  (1 Peter 3:8; 5:5).