Shhhhhhh...it's a Secret (NOT!)

I remember lots my Mum and Dad taught us as we were growing up (which I hope they appreciate!). But one of their more memorable lines - one I have used over and over in my teaching of young people - is: "After your decision to follow Jesus, the most important choice you'll ever make is who you will marry."

Now, as a married girl, I realise how incredibly true that is. But what I also realise is how much the two decisions are interconnected.

Obvious ways include the Biblical teaching that Christians are not to be 'unequally yoked'...ie. a Christian should marry a Christian and one who has a similar level of Christian maturity. And a key question to ask when considering marriage to someone is, 'Will we serve God better together than apart?'

I came across this Focus on the Family article on the weekend and thought I'd share the link to encourage those of us who are married to keep on keeping on....to work (I realise the truth of that the longer I am married...and not because my husband is getting harder to live with:)) at making our marriages successful and God-honouring.

And to those who may be single right now and reading this, I would encourage you that as you journey through the single years, be smart, be 'savvy'. Start to prepare now for what's to come...it'll make a big difference down the track to enter marriage with both realistic expectations and the skills and knowledge to make a great marriage.

Here's the link...

Ten Secrets to a Successful Marriage

And my 2 cents worth regarding this article:

1 cent: You HAVE to be intentional in marriage. Love, romance, happiness, contentment are wonderful by-products of being married, but they don't just 'happen'. You HAVE to work at establishing, developing, creating, making, promoting these things. It's both in your attitude to your spouse and to marriage as a God-ordained relationship and in how you think and act within that relationship.

2 cents: Any relationship, especially for women, really becomes a mind game. So the truth is we need to be 'right thinkers'. And the only way we can truly get that right is to take the Bible's advice in II Corinthians 10:5 - We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. When we catch ourselves thinking negative and wrong thoughts we MUST take them to God and ask Him to give us His mind and thoughts. To replace our anxiety with peace, our criticisms with compliments, our anger with love and joy.

What's your 2 cents worth???