being married and your relationship with God :)

[Jesusisgood]

Hi there! First off I would like to start by saying I am a single Christian who has never been in a relationship other than the one with God. I am curious, how in your marriage have you kept your relationship in God strong while also working on your spouse?

 

[ValleyGal]

This thread may get moved to the sub-forum where singles can ask marrieds questions.

To answer your question, there is room in my heart, my time, my affections for both my God and my husband - and my son, my extended family, my friends, etc. People make time for the relationships that are important to them. It also helps that husband and I both love the Lord.

 

[Jesusisgood]

That is very true and awesome valley. I guess I wasn't more specific though. What are some specific examples from your lives like getting up early to spend with the Lord, or things like that for God. Im just wondering for when I do get married.

 

[ValleyGal]

Oh, I see. When I am alone in the car, I crank up my praise music and worship to my lung's content (I do not sing in church - I think I damaged my vocals or something plus I'm tone deaf). I pray throughout the day, even when we are just hanging out. Often I pray especially for my husband and son just as I'm drifting off to sleep. We talk sometimes about our faith...share struggles, what certain scriptures mean, etc. We don't do that too often, but we did it a lot pertaining to marriage for the first few years. We are also marriage coaches, so it was good for us as well as necessary for being on the same page when we meet with clients. We also attend church together and serve in one of the church programs together.

I think for us, the most important thing is living out what is expected of us as believers. We trust each other to do our best in applying biblical principles to our marriage and how we treat each other. We do not see a need to call each other on stuff because we know there is always goodwill and never any ill intent (yes, intent matters). Instead, we both (I) rely on God to show us (me) where we (I) need to work on our (my) own stuff to minimize the pain we cause each other as a result of poor choices, sin, or character defects. We both must be a never ending waterfall of grace where the other bathes as often as needed.

 

[George95]

MOD HAT ON

Moved to Questions From Singles About Marriage from Married Couples.

MOD HAT OFF​

 

[Inkachu]

Hi there! First off I would like to start by saying I am a single Christian who has never been in a relationship other than the one with God. I am curious, how in your marriage have you kept your relationship in God strong while also working on your spouse?

I'm not sure what you mean by "working on your spouse", but I hope you don't mean that you think we should be trying to change our spouses, or viewing them as like, an improvement project lol. Maybe you meant "working on your relationship with your spouse"

If you want a strong relationship with God once you're married, you need to have a strong relationship with God before you're married. Because you'll be the exact same person before and after the wedding ceremony. The only difference is that after, you'll have a lot more responsibility and a lot more at stake.

Make sure you marry someone who has at least as strong a foundation in faith as yours, if not moreso. You want someone who will match you, and hopefully challenge you, not someone who's going to drag you down spiritually, and have you always trying to bring them up to where you are in your walk with God.

If you're both walking with God before you meet, then your marriage can be truly Christ-centered. And then, once you're married, make sure you make things like prayer time (separate and together), Bible reading, and church attendance, a high priority, just as you would as a single person.

 

[chippero]

I believe it is a matter of order and priority. God must always be your first relationship over all others. The primary human relationship is your spouse. No other human relationship comes before that. The kids (if there are any) come after that and then all else is wherever you place it. I have been married, divorced, and re-married. My second wife had a child from her previous marriage and we struggled because the child thought he should be an equal. Once we fixed the order, everything else fell into place.

Both spouses should understand that God is first for each spouse or it simply does not work in a Christian marriage.

www.marriagetoday.com is a good resource for this question and many others that you will have about marriage. www.focusonthefamily.com also

 

[Fangtastic]

We have a pact,God is the center of our marriage.

 

[annafullofgrace]

It's a priority fir both if us. And when we do things in Gods order, things work better. God, spouse, children and then everything else.

 

[Johnnz]

I find it interesting that in an unspoiled environment, with a perfect relationship with God and creation God still said "It is not good for man to be alone". God and marriage are not mutually exclusive. In fact marriage confronts our self centeredness like nothing else.

John
NZ

 

[DZoolander]

^^^^ Well put

 

[Tom Sawyer]

Hi there! First off I would like to start by saying I am a single Christian who has never been in a relationship other than the one with God. I am curious, how in your marriage have you kept your relationship in God strong while also working on your spouse?

Hi, I really appreciate the question. It can be hard at times when prayer life does require time alone, as well as other responsibilities. Yet one thing I have done to make sure out life in Christ is strong is develop a regular liturgy for our home. I make sure we have home worship regularly (which as the husband I lead), Bible reading, Psalms reading, regular prayers, confession and other devotions. My wife also has regular times in the day and week to help our children in the faith, though as they get older I take some time also to read the Bible with them. I still believe I could use more time alone, but other than that I think having a regular schedule makes balancing it possible. I hope that helps. Bless you.