Tuesday was 14 years! (August 20th).
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I can’t wait for the next 14 years. He’s my protector, my best friend, my one who I truly have grown to depend on. I thank God for you. You are “home” to me as long as I am on this side of heaven.
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It’s incredible the attack that is on marriage today. We know if the husband and wife can fall apart, satan’s goal is to get the children’s heart, so it can fall apart. The attack on marriage is so high that we have to prepare and plan ahead for battle. Some struggle with big issues... heartbreaking, earth shattering issues. Some deal with the petty pokes of sin. Satan uses all kinds of forms of destruction. Just to name a few: family disfunction, job stress, conflict in religious beliefs, parenting issues, in-law issues, jealousy, financial discernment, communication issues, and then you have the dumb little daggers....it’s those little pokes of sin. We have had our fair share of those daggers. They are daggers that we both bring in... then we have to shamelessly carry those daggers back out ... in garbage bags ...as if we are walking to the trash can with our tail between our legs.
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God gives us a format for marriage- how wives treat husbands and how husbands treat wives and like any marriage- we break, step over, become lacks & selfish..... and then have to regroup. Every fiber of our being wants to cherish and give to each other the best. But, then a dagger comes.... It’s none other than our sinful nature that pushes the Fruits Of The Spirit away. Most often a dagger is a product of lacking a fruit...Those fruits are in Galatians 5:22-23 - love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control. Often, a marriage or I should say in my marriage- it’s not a huge incident that triggers the path for destruction, it’s lacking a fruit. A small fruit and act of selfish pride. Perhaps the fruit is there, but a worm got in to spoil that fruit. I heard a quote, by Max Lucado.... about Kindness. “Kindness is not a natural human reaction.” It’s not a normal desire to be kind- especially when someone is unkind. It’s a practiced one. It’s one that we have to train for and learn through a disciplined life (💥okay -ouch💥).... So often I fall short, in using all the Fruits of The Spirit. But, to remember that -even though I don’t really want to walk in “those Fruits” today or be kind today- my Lord is telling me to practice it anyways. This gives hope that it goes beyond myself and I have to live for the higher. That gives me courage to try. To know that not just me, but that all of us have to practice a disciplined life —- this should remind us that we are not alone. We are not alone in the little dagger attacks of marriage. Satan can use whatever weapon he wants and the Bible says in Isaiah 54:17 (nkjv) “No weapon formed against me shall prosper”....
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So yesterday, as my husband and I celebrated our anniversary dinner, we reflected on this....Kindness (or any fruit) is not a natural human act or reaction. We have to practice it and have to be disciplined in our marriage, just as we would with others. Satan hates kindness. He loves those daggers of destruction. He wants to destroy us, he wants to destroy my children, he wants to destroy the imagine of Christ in us.