Marriage
Marriage is a wonderful covenant between you and your spouse! I've never been more blessed than to find the love of my life and spend our lives together! In all of the bliss, there is also times of pain, hurt, trials, and disappointments. We all have them, and it's how we get through them that sets us apart from those who don't make it.
Covenant
When you say, "I do," you are saying I commit to this covenant no matter what! It's a bonding that sticks for life! You need to see your spouse as the other half of you, because in God's eyes you have become one. You made a covenant not just with your spouse but with God too! This means forever; for better for worse, richer for poorer, in sickness and in health, til death do us part, that I will not give up on my spouse.
Trouble
Trouble will come. It's inevitable, nothing can stop it from coming. Why? We live in a fallen world and trouble is part of the equation. We see it everyday on the news, lives destroyed by violence, weather, sickness, death, and all other forms of sin. Drugs, affairs, lies, attacks, they can come in the blink of an eye! Some things are not our fault and others are things we let slip that led to destructive behaviors. Either way trouble will come. There is hope!!
Hope
No matter what comes your way, there is hope! You can see your way through all of the darkness of trouble. You see my friend, you can grieve, get up, dust yourself off, find some help, forgive, rebuild, and then rise again. Jesus is our only hope in this world, but in that, we have been given others around us to help guide us through the darkness. The enemy of our world would like nothing more than to see us quit when it gets hard, to run when things are tough, to leave when it doesn't seem to be working in our marriage. To not forgive when the unthinkable happens, but that is where Jesus is waiting!! He is there to help you!
Resilience
Resilience is described as being able to adapt well in a traumatic or stressful event. The ability of something to go back to its original form after being stretched, bent, or deformed. Have you ever felt there is no way I can bounce back from this situation? But someway, something inside of you keeps pushing it's way back, until you are back to normal again? This is resiliency! God made you to be resilient! You can have resilience in your marriage and life, you can see it turn around for the good!
When you see this word resilience, what comes to mind? I know for me, I think of someone who won't give up, someone who keeps fighting even when the odds aren't in their favor. You know the stories you hear about an underdog? Think of a boxer, one that the odds aren't in their favor, they give everything they have, they are bloody and looking like they are beaten. All of a sudden something inside of them pushes them to go again, the enemy, (opponent) is surprised, the crowd is in awe, and the boxer who was just on the ground, out for the count, gets a surge of energy, courage, and adrenaline. He swings and it's the knockout punch. He wins!!! How? He learned the art of resilience. He knows deep down he will never give up and so he rises again!!
Radiant
Radiant in the dictionary defines it as, expressing great happiness, hope and beauty, also sending out or possessing heat or light. Think of a bride on her wedding day! She is described as radiant! She has great happiness, hope and is beautiful, she sending that radiant light to others by who she knows she is that day. Everyone is in awe, and looks for her to come down the aisle, and she is the center of everyones attention. Jesus describes His bride as adorned, and without spot or wrinkle! This is a description of the church and an example for our marriages!
Jesus
So when you put these two together you get Radiant Resilience! Your marriage is to reflect the church waiting for her bridegroom. Expressing great happiness, hope, and beauty, rising up in a fallen world over and over waiting for His return. Shining the light of Jesus to a world in need of a Savior! When they look at our marriages they should see Jesus and they should see the church waiting for His return, with Radiant Resilience. They don't expect us to be perfect, but to be perfected by not giving up! This is why the devil fights marriages so hard. Know today there is hope, there is beauty, and there is happiness when we let God be God in our relationships and keep rising up, keep fighting, and when we keep shining!! We are praying for you and your marriage today! Please feel free to reach out if you need help and we can pray with you and direct you to a church near you!
Scriptures
Monday: Genesis 2:18 says, “And the LORD God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him.” God put man and woman together for marriage to be a blessing to one another!
Tuesday: Revelation 19:7 says, "Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready." God made a covenant with us to save us from our sins so we could be forever with Him in heaven. Our marriage is a reflection of that relationship. It's a true covenant.
Wednesday: Isaiah 59:19 says, "So shall they fear the name of the Lord from the west, and his glory from the rising of the sun. When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord shall lift up a standard against him." The enemy will come in like a flood, but when he does, the Lord says He will raise up a standard against him! He will fight for us!
Thursday: Romans 12:12 says, "Rejoicing in hope; patient in tribulation; continuing instant in prayer;" Hope is available to us! We can look over and over again in the word and see it!!
Friday: 1 Samuel 30:6 says, "And David was greatly distressed; for the people spake of stoning him, because the soul of all the people was grieved, every man for his sons and for his daughters: but David encouraged himself in the LORD his God." and verse 30:8 says, "And David inquired at the LORD, saying, Shall I pursue after this troop? shall I overtake them? And he answered him, Pursue: for thou shalt surely overtake them, and without fail recover all." In all he had gone through the resilience of David shone through as he sought the Lord and recovered all.
Saturday: Revelation 21:2 says, “And I, John, saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.” Radiance
is what we are to shine in our lives and through our marriages to a lost world. The church is our example of a marriage ready without spot or wrinkle and shining the light of Jesus!
Sunday: 1 Peter 5:8 says, "Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:" When we are aware, and serving Jesus, He can lead us to a place of radiant resilience! He helps us to walk in that light of the gospel and not give up!! We have to be ready, but also have peace knowing our marriages are safe in Him!
Contact
Please feel free to contact us by way of email on our blog posts or our new website! Also, please feel free to share and post our blog posts! Happilyevermarried.org or blancinglifewiththebrowns@gmail.com Thank you and you too can have a happily ever married marriage!