Comfort One Another
2020 September
This year has been strange, different, scary at times, and sad. This year has also been really good! There have been shutdowns, a pandemic, sickness, masks, strange weather patterns, fire tornados, land hurricanes, riots, and the year isn’t over. How could it get worse? Don’t ask, it could. Our hope doesn’t lie in this world, it lies in Jesus who is coming back for His bride. That is something good!! Our marriages should imitate the relationship between Jesus and His Church.
The Good
What good could come from all of this mess? Learning to lean in a little closer to Jesus, to depend on His strength in our weakness. We have grown this year, been stretched, felt a renewed sense of the reality of heaven, and are longing to be home! Personally this year we’ve been blessed in our work, with ministry, and with vision. Yes, we still have dreams and plans in the midst of the chaos. Our marriage was strengthened as well.
Early On
Early on in the beginning of Covid-19 we felt like most others, a sense of loss, reality, and pain. Why is this happening? What is the answer for us to get back to normal? We spend many a day with our hearts hurting, and crying out to God. We didn’t just stop though, we worked out, we tried not to eat our feelings, we started making the best of the new normal and started new habits. Our marriage actually grew stronger! My husband and I thought we had an amazing marriage before, but we know we can always grow closer!
Stopping Wasn’t An Option
We knew stopping or quitting wasn’t an option. Growing is optional, but absolutely necessary! God started speaking to us in our fear of the unknown. Jesus laid on our hearts that the American church has lived presumptuously for too long. Making our own decisions to go here or there and not seeking Him for what He wanted. There was a soberness that has come from all of this, and a deepening of our walk with Him. This world isn’t our home and we are just passing through. Together we sought Him for direction on what that looked like. We want to fulfill His will at all costs and not just live for our pleasure.
Pleasure
Don’t get me wrong, we always seek the Lord for direction and it’s confirmed with our Pastor. This was more of what should we be doing specifically while we are in this period of time. How can we be used to the fullest in our marriage and in this year and all of its restrictions. Pleasure can be something as simple as planning to go on vacation and living care-free for a week. That is probably one enjoyment we look forward to each year. Let me tell you, it wasn’t care free like normal, it was a look at this new reality. We did enjoy ourselves, and we got some new vision and direction in spite of the soberness of it all!
Vision
Our vision got adjusted, for we know the time is short for the return of the Lord Jesus Christ! We have since pressed in even more and asked for greater clarity. My husband and I are working on somethings we feel the Lord has put into focus. It’s amazing when you are ready to see, God will put new glasses on you! We are so close to the end of this age as we know it. Prophecy is being fulfilled left and right, and we are seeing the curtain of time drawing to a close.
Heaven
Sitting in my prayer closet the other day, I felt the Lord speak to me, “comfort one another,” not just for us, but for all couples. “To keep moving, to look up for our redemption drawth nigh.” When I was done praying I looked up, “comfort one another.” What was He telling me to comfort one another with? His coming. Heaven!! We have to be ready! This world will only grow darker, and even though no man knows the day or hour, we need to take comfort in knowing He’s coming back for His bride! We are to comfort one another in our marriages and those who apart of the body of Christ! If you aren’t sure of your salvation, please contact us and we would love to do a bible study with you!! Do you need to be baptized? We can direct you to a church!
Scriptures
Monday: Romans 8:24 says, “For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for?” We may not be able to see what the future holds, but we know who holds our future and our hope is in Him!
Tuesday: Proverbs 3:5-6 says, “Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.” Trust and pray this scripture over your marriage and lives.
Wednesday: 1 Thessalonians 5:6, 8 says, “Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober . . . But let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and for an helmet, the hope of salvation.” We need to watch and be sober, not stopping and be ready for the battle ahead.
Thursday: 1 Peter 1:13 says, “Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ;” We need His grace in this last hour as we press in our marriages until the end.
Friday: 1 Peter 4:7 says, “But the end of all things is at hand: be ye therefore sober, and watch unto prayer.” The pleasures of this life are temporal, so be sober, watch, and pray.
Saturday: 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17 says, “For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.” Knowing the word and obeying it is imperative to your marriage and walk with God. We want to be apart of that number.
Sunday: 1 Thessalonians 4:18 says, “Wherefore comfort one another with these words.” Use this verse to remind each other of the coming of the Lord for His bride.
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!!
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