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Get Lost In God’s Love
How To Get Lost In
God’s Love And Save Your Marriage
.
This world’s paradigm of love can often put a lot of
emphasis on sex, romance and passion in marriage. God’s Word defines marital
love more in terms of friendship and commitment than sex and romance.
.
I’ve long embraced the biblical story of the woman at the well (John 4). She tried man after man but never felt that her thirst for love had been quenched. She was desperate and love-sick. It doesn’t matter how deep the problem; the solution is still God’s love. And He has buckets and buckets of love to fix your marriage. And to fix your heart.
BY DANNAH GRESH
Every person on
earth has a deep desire to be loved.
And as wonderful as
love in marriage is, it will never be a fulfilling love unless we first
saturate ourselves in the unfailing love of God.
“Lord, fix my husband. Fix us!”
As
quickly as the prayer was on my lips, I felt God ask, Do you believe I can do what you are asking Me to do?
I did not.
My husband, Bob,
and I had reached a place of deep pain.
Busyness.
Sinfulness. Selfishness.
I was angry with
Bob.
The circumstances
don’t really matter. They’re probably a lot like the circumstances in your
marriage from time to time.
But convinced I
could not love him well until he loved me better, I dug myself into a prayer
routine that proved futile.
I was, in fact,
looking for love in the wrong place.
As wonderful as
love in marriage is, it will never be a fulfilling love unless we first
saturate ourselves in the unfailing love of God.
Before you accuse
me of sounding cliché, I’ve learned this on the hot pavement of life, and I’d
like to offer four practical tips that have helped me to live it out.
Admit that what you
need more than anything else in this world is to be well loved.
Because love is a
basic need of humanity, every person has a deep desire to be loved.
During
a difficult season of feeling unloved in my marriage, God led me to Proverbs
19:22 (NIV):
“What a person desires is unfailing love;
better to be poor than a liar.”
The Bible uses the
phrase “unfailing love” more than 30
times, and not one of them refers to any source other than God himself.
He alone holds the
answer to our deep craving for love.
This means that
your husband or wife will never be able to fulfill this need unless you first
find satisfaction in God’s love.
Let your spouse off
the hook.
The greatest
symptom that my need for love was misdirected was that I was praying for God to
change my husband — without having the humility to ask God how He wanted to
change me.
It is never wrong
to pray for God to make your husband or wife more like Him.
However, when your
prayers are void of your own need, that might indicate you’re trying to have
your needs met through a person’s love rather than through God’s.
When I realized
this in my own life, I simply asked God to make me hungry for His love.
It takes a lot of
courage to admit that your marriage might not be exactly what you want because
you are not exactly what you need to be.
Be brave. Put
yourself under God’s care to be changed.
Write a list of
things your spouse does to express his or her love for you.
Do this as an act
of thanksgiving to God. My counselor assigned this task to me and, although I
took it on reluctantly, it had a dramatic impact on my heart.
I am, in fact, a
very loved woman.
I have a husband
who never fails to ask for forgiveness, prays with me each night at bedtime,
willingly enters into counseling when we need it, manages our money well, begs
me to sneak away with him from time to time, and tolerates my weaknesses as
much as I tolerate his.
It’s easy to lose
sight of all this when we’re hurting each other, and it is so important to
refocus our thinking to be grateful.
As I did this, it
became an act of loving my husband through God’s love in me.
Invest in the
friendship of your spouse.
This world’s
paradigm of love can often put a lot of emphasis on sex, romance and passion in
marriage.
If those things
aren’t on full boil, we tend to think our relationship lacks love.
But God’s Word
defines marital love more in terms of friendship and commitment than sex and
romance.
Take a night to
play a board game or enjoy a hike together on a Sunday afternoon.
If you can meet
your spouse for lunch, consider canceling an appointment with a personal
trainer or even a friend.
I’ve long embracedthe biblical story of the woman at the well (John 4).
She tried man after
man but never felt that her thirst for love had been quenched. She was
desperate and love-sick.
Then, when Jesus
showed up, He offered her the love she really needed.
But
she said, “You have nothing to draw water
with, and the well is deep”
How like us! How
like me.
You don’t have to
be a woman who has had many husbands to be parched with a thirst for love.
You just have to be
a woman who is trying to get something from her husband that only God can give.
I know.
I
have been there many times, just waiting for God to show up. And when He does,
I’m prone to tell him, “But God, I’m in
so deep, and you don’t have a bucket!”
It doesn’t matter
how deep the problem; the solution is still God’s love.
And He has buckets
and buckets of love to fix your marriage.
And to fix your heart.
Dannah Gresh is a best-selling
author of numerous books and a popular public speaker who is especially
passionate about helping parents build strong relationships with their children
and encouraging tweens and teens to pursue sexual purity. Dannah’s recent books
include It’s Great to Be a Girl, Raising Body-Confident Daughters and A Girl’s
Guide to Understanding Boys. Dannah and her husband, Bob, reside in State
College, Pa., and have three grown children. Learn more about Dannah and her
work by visiting the website for her organization, Pure Freedom.
https://www.focusonthefamily.com/marriage/how-to-get-lost-in-gods-love-and-save-your-marriage/
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Fill My Cup, Lord
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https://puricarechronicles.blogspot.com/2018/08/fill-my-cup-lord-richard-blanchard.html
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Unfailing Love
Evie Karlsson
CLICK HERE . . . to view complete playlist . .
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https://puricarechronicles.blogspot.com/2018/08/unfailing-love-evie-karlsson-if-highest.html
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