Being Thankful - For Better or For Worse

Being Thankful - For Better or For Worse
Biblical Priority #2 - Marriage
by Jenn V.

My husband and I didn’t have a typical “honeymoon phase” because we are a blended family.  My husband’s two small boys were super cute, sweet and made the cutest ring bearers EVER!  I became a wife and mom on our wedding day.  The boys took communion with us during the ceremony and there wasn’t a dry eye in the house!  What a glorious day that was!

I thought I was going to be a typical step-mom, but God had other plans.  As we lived daily life, we bonded and became our own family.  FYI - Satan likes to try and break up families.  He doesn’t want them to succeed.  He will send distractions and attacks (they can be other people or things) your way and try to separate you from God and get your focus off of Him (and your family) and onto something else.  Whether that distraction causes you anger, grief or temporary happiness, either way it’s bad when you let it start to rule your life.  When that happens, you loose sight of who you are and become someone else God didn’t intend you to be.  Eventually, you can become ungrateful and bitter.

Though our first years were hard and full of distractions, I kept seeing scripture about being thankful in hard times and in trials….seriously God?...Really?  How am I supposed to be thankful for what’s happening to us?  I just didn’t see it until later when in the midst all of this, I realized what a blessing my husband is and how thankful I was for him.  We prayed together often for our distractions and asked God to give us a supernatural love and wisdom for them.  We put up healthy boundaries and replaced bad thoughts with scripture.  I realized that our marriage bond was stronger than I would have ever imagined had we not gone through all of that.  I am actually thankful for those trials!  God taught us through those tough years that even though we are not in control, He has us and our children in the palms of his hands.  May the Lord direct your hearts into God’s love and Christ’s perseverance.  2 Thessalonians 3:5

CHALLENGE: Think about what your distractions are in your marriage this month and displace them with scripture and boundaries.  Pray with your husband about them.