Summer
Have you ever just stopped and thought about the abundance summer brings? There is an abundance of sun, rain, greenery, flowers, the days are long, crops are growing, trees are full!! Summer is one of my favorite seasons!! I love taking long drives with my husband and seeing all of the beauty of God’s creation! It reminds me of hope!! Summer shows me how my marriage can be and how it is full and abounding!! Hope is apart of our daily marriage because we make sure it is! We prepare, till, weed, and water it with hope!
Hope
Hope is described as a feeling of expectation and desire for something to happen!! Summer brings all of those wonderful feelings and desires! I am always so excited and expectant for what summer will bring! This year more than usual I am expectant! God spoke to me at the beginning of the year that June 1st everything changes! Not only is it a time we start to see the season really change here in Indiana, it’s also a spiritual change God has placed in our hearts.
Changes
I know not all changes are good, and we could look around and see that there are some changes here in America and in the world we are not to excited about. Do you know that when things look their worst, when the day seems dark, and our hearts are heavy, that is the time when God shows up and does the miraculous!! You have to focus on the changes that are good!! Change is a good thing, and hope is the desire for that good to come to pass!!
Focus
Have you ever heard the saying, “what you focus on will expand?” It is true! Our days have ups and downs, and if we focus on the negative, guess what?? Our vision or focus will get zeroed in on that thing. Have you ever gotten up on the wrong side of the bed? You feel like your day won’t get any better and its all down hill from here? Stop!! Look around and see what you can be thankful for!! What is the good that your eyes can re-focus on? Marriage can be the same. You have an argument and all you can see is his faults, or what you argued over. Then that becomes the center of your day, and if your not careful it can carry over into tomorrow.
The Big Picture
Take a step back and look at the big picture. When I am overwhelmed, frustrated, hurt, or focusing on the wrong thing, I go outside and look at the big picture of my wonderful oasis view. My backyard, the field behind our yard and the view of the sky. What do I see? So many things to be thankful for!! My perception changes, I start thanking the Lord, and He gently starts to remind me of what is true. In my life, marriage, with our children, work, church, whatever is bothering me. I hear Him speak to me of all the blessings I have, how one little thing, (or even some big things), aren’t the whole.
What Is True
When I speak His word, pray, fast, read His word, I see what is true. When I think on my marriage and all the good things, I see the one thing I am focusing on is so small in the bigger picture. I also see it what makes up the whole of the masterpiece of my life. God wants us to grow just as much as our spouse. Sometimes we are feeling the friction because God is trying to smooth out some rough edges on us. If we didn’t have any trials how could we truly be thankful for our blessings.
Abounding In Hope
Part of this summer excitement and hope we have is a garden! It’s already happening!! There were things we had to do to see it happen, and still are doing those things. The amazing thing is its abounding!! What does abounding mean? Here are some descriptions: abundant, full, rich, filled, flowing, rank, flourishing, flush, lavish, ample, prolific, overflowing, plentiful, exuberant, teeming, bountiful, luxuriant, well-provided, well-supplied, thick on the ground, bounteous, superabundant. God is just like that!! He wants us to have an abundant life and marriage! Our hope isn’t in our life or marriage though, it’s actually in the Lord! We start with getting filled up each day in Him and it abounds and overflows onto our marriage and life! Your marriage can be like this!! It CAN have all of this if you will put it in the Hands of the Lord, and say yes to what He asks of you!!
Prayer
We are praying for you this week for an abounding hope in your marriage!! God can do anything!! Just ask, seek, knock, and it shall be opened to you! Your marriage is of the utmost importance, right under your relationship with God, so make sure you are finding a way to spend time in prayer for him!!
Scriptures
Monday: Lamentations 3:24 says, “The Lord is my portion, saith my soul; therefore will I hope in him.” My hope is in the Lord! When I see Gods creation I remember my hope is in Him!
Tuesday: Psalm 130:5 says, “I wait for the Lord, my soul doth wait, and in his word do I hope.” My hope comes from His word and waiting on Him in prayer!!
Wednesday: Romans 5:3-4 says, “And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience; And patience, experience; and experience, hope.” We can trust even in our trials that we can have hope!!
Thursday: Ephesians 4:26 says, “Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath:” Make sure your arguments and hurts don’t carry over into tomorrow! They could become mountains if you do and it may have just been a mole hill easily fixed.
Friday: Psalm 42:11 says, “Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted within me? hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise him, who is the health of my countenance, and my God.” Pray and speak this scripture!
Saturday: Philippians 4:8 says, “Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.” What is true.. focus and think on these things!!
Sunday: Romans 15:13 says, “Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost.” It’s only through the power of the Holy Ghost that we may abound in hope!! Pray today and see your marriage abundant!
Contact
Please feel free to contact us at janene@happilyevermarried.org and read and share more blog posts at http://happilyevermarried.org
Thank you for investing in your marriage and you too can have a happily ever married marriage!!