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When we get married, we go into the relationship vowing to be joined together until death; and for the most part, the two who are joined together truly believe that's what they'll do. But what do you do when those feelings have been broken down from years of the responsibility to take care of family, go to work, pay bills, stretch your dollar to cover for a multitude of obligations that come along with having kids, and on top of that try and muster the energy to keep the relationship fresh? Things tend to get stale naturally after 10/20 years. That's why they say marriage is work. Then again, what if the relationship has been compromised by infidelity?
Once the trust is gone, many would say there's no reason to continue in the relationship. Though those feelings can be justified, they may not necessarily be the right thing to do. Being Christian, I believe our first relationship is a marriage; one between us and God. He ordained this covenant as an example of how he wants to relate to His people. His plan sets up a blueprint for how we should treat the ones we chose to spend the rest of our lives with.
Imagine if we treated our relationships as if we were actually married to God in the place of the man or woman He gave to us in holy matrimony? Would we be so quick to make the decision to divorce? Of course not, because its God! He never offends, never lets us down, and He will never betray us; though we do it to Him all the time.
Now if you're the spouse considering a divorce, because you have been wronged and feel justified in your decision; turn the tables on yourself. In your marriage to God, you are the offender, and always have been. You have betrayed His trust on countless occasions; yet there's still the expectation of forgiveness through repentance. We go to Him each time we do Him wrong, and beg Him for a mercy we don't deserve; knowing deep down that we'll most surely hurt Him again in the future. What if God made the decision to divorce you? He would be more than justified in that decision, but I know personally, I would fight tooth and nail for that not to happen. I also know that being full of love and mercy, He would give me more than enough chances to make things right.
For all my friends in the struggle between the decision to stay married, or get divorced, I know the feeling. It is a hard battle staying committed to someone who is seemingly not as committed to you. Life does not promise a sea of rose petals to carry us through the beatitudes of marriage. If we paid closer attention to our vows, we'd see that they say, "for better or worse." It is in this "worse" that those beatitudes become real ugly, and not only your commitment to your word is tested, but so is your faith.
I remember while I was going through my own struggles, I used to talk to my pastor and have great expectations of the advice he would give me. The one thing he continued to stress used to irritate me, because I thought it was so generic. The words he said didn't seem to give me the strength I was searching for, yet he continued to tell me to, "hold on." Just those two words, plus the direction to stay strong was what I got, and though I held on eagerly waiting for a profound speech which would magically take away all my problems; I never got it. First, because it was not my pastor's job to fix my life, and second because only God had the power to do what I was expecting from a man.
I reflect back on those words now and see how much power they truly held. If my pastor had not been so adamant in his repetition of the words, I may have done what came natural, and given up. I had certainly lost all hope, because it appeared that all hope was lost.
Even though my situation looked bleak, God had another plan. His plan, as always, proved to be much better than my own. I held on, and according to all who bore witness to my struggle, I stayed strong. The power in those words was bigger than I gave them credit. They are bigger than we give them credit. These are the words I will pass on to those now in the struggle... Hold on...
Thank you Pastor
Reference Guide for Marriage:
1 Corinthians 13:1-13
Ephesians 5:22-33
The Book of Hosea
Links for Prayers and Casting Out Demons/Curses:
Cangodhealmarriages.christianfunfair.org/prayer-for-a-healed-marriage.htm
http://heavenbound5511.hubpages.com/hub/-BREAK-SENT-SPELLS-BREAK-CORDS-AND-BIND-UP-ALL-SPELLS-PLANS-Prayers
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