Picture Perfect

There is no such thing as a PICTURE PERFECT MARRIAGE
but MARRIAGE is the PERFECT PICTURE of God's love.

Long gone are the fairy tale fantasies of a Picture Perfect Marriage. Those unrealistic expectations have long been replaced with the cold hard facts of reality. What is the reality? That marriage is hard. Marriage takes work. Marriage is not perfect. The reality is that two imperfect people are in a relationship trying to create a perfect marriage, and that just can’t happen. There is no such thing as a perfect marriage or a perfect relationship. But it doesn’t mean that marriages can’t be good. Marriages can’t live perfectly every after, but they can live happily ever after. You see, even if you can never achieve perfections, you can hold on to the hope and the truths in the Word of God. Through His Words, we see that God is for marriage. He ordained the sanctity of marriage. We can rejoice and be inspired, challenged, and encouraged knowing that marriage is a Perfect Picture of God’s love toward us. 

God loved us such much that He willingly gave His only begotten Son for us. In this short passage from the famous verse, John 3:16, we see several different ways that we can choose to apply God’s love into our own relationships.

God chose to LOVE us.
God chose to SACRIFICE for us.
God chose to GIVE to us. 
God chose to see the GOOD in us.
God chose to ADORE us.
God chose to NURTURE a relationship with us. 
God CHOSE us.
God chose to STAY with us. 
God chose to be DEVOTED to us.
God chose to FORGIVE us.
God chose to INVEST in us.

How can we apply these attributes into our own marriage?

We can choose to LOVE our spouse.
We can choose to SACRIFICE for our spouse.
We can choose to GIVE to our spouse.
We can choose to see the GOOD in our spouse.
We can choose to ADORE our spouse.
We can choose to NURTURE a relationship with our spouse.

We can CHOOSE our spouse.
We can choose to STAY with our spouse. 
We can choose to be DEVOTED to our spouse.
We can choose to FORGIVE our spouse.
We can choose to INVEST in our spouse.

WE CAN CHOOSE.
It is our choice.
IT. IS .THAT.SIMPLE.
We each have a choice to make.

You can choose to love your spouse like Christ loves you.
You can choose to stay rather than leave.
You can choose to forgive rather than fight.
You can choose to invest rather than ignore.
You can choose to focus on your marriage rather than be distracted from your marriage. 
You can choose to uplift rather than criticize.
You can choose to have peace rather than always be right.
You can choose to respect rather than rebel.
You can choose to take the road less traveled rather than take the easy way out. 
You can choose joy rather than turmoil. 
You can choose to give rather than get.
You can choose to love. 

Don’t try to have a Picture Perfect Marriage, just choose to lean on and learn from the One who can show us what Perfect Love truly looks like. Love is not a feeling. Love is not a fairy tale. Love is not a Hallmark movie. Love is an action. Love is a choice. 

I Corinthians 13: says that Love suffereth long, is kind, envieth not, vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil, rejoiceth not in iniquity, rejoiceth in truth, beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things. 
LOVE NEVER FAILS

Today you have a choice. What will your choice be?

Remember, 
There is no such thing as a PICTURE PERFECT MARRIAGE
but MARRIAGE is the PERFECT PICTURE of God's love.

Wait on the Lord

            In this fast pace, always on the go society we have become spoiled and accustomed to quick, immediate results. We drive up to a fast food restaurant and in about 10 minutes or less, we have our dinner handed to us. We pop a meal in the microwave and it is cooked and ready to serve in around 5 minutes. We send someone a text message or a message through instant messager and have a response back within seconds. We have direct deposit so our money is immedialty available and we no longer have to wait for checks to clear. Wal-mart now offers on-line shopping and easy grocery pick-up. This allows us to no longer stand in line!  Amazon has anything and everything we need, right at our fingertips and promises next day shipping. We no longer have to wait for weeks to get our packages delivered. Modern technology has paved the road to make life easier and less complicated. We do not have to wait on anything and now we no longer know how to.

            Watch how ridiculous people began to act when they have to stand in line and wait. Whether it’s at the grocery store, restaurant, or at the bank people get fidgety and began to gripe and complain. If someone doesn’t answer your text message immedialty you don’t know how to cope. You check your phone 20 times a minute thinking there must be something wrong with your phone. Road rage becomes an issue when people get stuck in traffic jams. They never think about the victims that could possibly be involved in an accident, they only think of the frustration, complications, and delays it is causing them. Has this modern technology truly made life easier for us or has it simply spoiled us and warped our way of thinking.

            You see, for many of us, we have become so accustomed to this fast pace lifestyle that we have allowed this way of thinking to spill over into every area of our lives. Our careers, our dreams and goals, our health, and our homes began to suffer because we want quick fixes, fast results, and easy solutions. We are no longer willing to put in the work hard necessary and wait for the end results. Unfortunately, many of us have even taken this approach in our relationship with God. We want our prayer life to offer quick fixes, fast results, and easy solutions. We demand our prayers to be answered in the time frame we desire and according to how we deem best. We want our way, and we want it now. So when God doesn’t deliver when and how we wanted Him to, we get upset. We don’t know how to deal. We think He has abandoned us. We feel unloved, and unheard.

            My dear friend, we must remember God does not live in a fast pace, always on the go society. He does not operate like Amazon and deliver pretty packages the very next day. He is not a microwave. We can’t just push a button and have things the way we wanted within 5 minutes. His way of thinking is so different than ours. He does not work in the same time frame that we do. Often we must wait. WAIT? Yes, wait!

Psalms 27:14

Wait on the Lord; be of good courage, and He shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say on the Lord.

The Psalmist said to WAIT on the Lord!

Pay attention to that dreaded four letter word he choose to use, WAIT.

He did not say to:

RUSH the Lord

DEMAND the Lord

DOUBT the Lord

Get FRUSTRATED at the Lord

Get AHEAD of the Lord

GIVE UP on the Lord

He simply said,WAIT on the Lord.

            I get it, it’s hard. We don’t like to wait. It’s not fun. But in this life and in our Christian walk, there will be times when we will have to wait solely on the Lord. Maybe it’s your career, a calling, a dream, or a goal that has you on your knees. Perhaps it’s your marriage, your children, or your home. It might be a diet, your health, or a heartbreak. Whatever it might be, when you are going before the King of King praying and asking for His mercy and grace, His blessings and wisdom, His power and His will in the matter, WAIT on Him. He never promised fast results, quick fixes, and easy solutions. But He did promise to lever leave you or forsake you. God is the same yesterday, today, and forever. Just because our way of thinking and our lifestyle has change, doesn’t mean God has. His ways have not changed, neither has His love for you changed. Don’t allow our modern way of living and thinking to destroy our relationship with God. Just because He doesn’t deliver how and when we expected Him to, doesn’t mean He is not a good Father. Don’t let our fast moving world influence your prayer life or your trust in Him.

Learn to WAIT. Even when it’s hard. WAIT.

Isaiah 40:31

But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.