several months before my marriage began i asked God to prepare me for the life changing moment that was coming. during that time my relationship had been strained and i was feeling distant from him. God revealed to me three simple truths to what a relationship with him should look like. you see, i’m good at complicating things and i believe so many times in my relationship with him i make it a lot harder than it has to be. God showed me that the foundation of my life with him is built on love, grace, and redemption. in that moment God had given me an answer to two dilemma’s i was facing.
my future life with my wife would have to be based off of these same three principles of love, grace, and redemption. my greatest desire before getting married was to have a family of my own that was a safe haven. i wanted my family, whomever that might be, to come home every day and feel like they could leave the troubles of the world and find rest in a safe place. i believe the home should be the opposite of the world just as our lives should be. there should always be an openness without fear of judgement or criticism. there should always be forgiveness and patience. God is all of these things with us, so why shouldn’t we mirror those things to others.
tonight i was reminded of this and found my notes from that quiet time over a year ago when i asked God to prepare me. the foundations for the home should mirror our relationship with our God and Savior. if we were to take a moment and look back on our walk with God, we would see how he loves, redeems, and doesn’t judge. we have a unique openness with him. with that openness comes a great responsibility. he is ever loving with no strings attached. he forgives with out begrudging us. he redeems without needing anything on our part.
our relationship with God is a safe place. he doesn’t make any demands but gives away all of this freely. that’s the parallel of the home. i have been married over a year now, and am beginning to see how important these principles are in creating a healthy environment for the home. there is a great responsibility to love my spouse with all my heart, to be patient, to forgive, and to shower with grace. the greatest way i can lead is to exhibit these three principles. i’m looking forward to diving into them more, this is barely scratching the surface.
