Theme:   Love Sex and Marriage - Conflict

This eDevotional was written by a volunteer from Timberlake Church.

READ: Genesis 2:24, Ephesians 4:26-27

THINK: I reflect back on my early years of marriage, only to realize that those years weren’t the best years of our relationship. But it does inspire me that our relationship is getting better and better with age. When I read Genesis about the creation of man and woman, and when Scripture says “…a man leaves his father and mother and is united to his wife, and they become one flesh” it didn’t make much sense to me when I was 28 years old, but now after being married for 16 years, I understand it so much better.

The reason why every year is getting better is because in the early years I didn’t understand how to make her happy, what made her mad and how to communicate my feelings. There were so many times that I would be so irritated with her, and my way of expressing that was, how should I put it? Less than admirable. But I just wasn't very well equipped to communicate how angry I was. But after awhile, I was able to tell her that when you do x, y or z  it bothers me and she was then able to tell me that she was having trouble when I did a, b, c, d, e, f, g, h, i… You get the picture :-).

Growing in our faith, in our connectedness and our love for one another has created a relationship that is getting better year over year. Is it perfect? Absolutely not, but knowing that our arguments are becoming less and we’re able to head off some of them before they even happen, is very encouraging for our future. I find that when I am having disagreements with my wife, that is when the devil has me at my weakest. I go back to re-read Ephesians 4: 26 – 27: “In your anger do not sin. Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, and do not give the devil a foothold.”

DO: Marriage is tough. To people who are currently married, WAY TO GO! For everyone but especially if you are in the first five years of marriage, stick it out, go to Christian counseling, tell each how you feel no matter what- it only gets better.

PRAY: Dear Heavenly Father, provide me the strength today to stick with my marriage through the good times and the bad, knowing that the first thing that I ask you to do for us in our marriage is change ME into the spouse you need me to be. I humbly give myself and our relationship over to you Lord. In Jesus name I pray, Amen.