O God, I entreat You to listen to my humble prayer: may I always feel that the married state is holy and that I must keep it holy. Grant me Your grace, that I many not sin against faithfulness and love in this marriage. Foster in me the spirit of understanding and of peace, so that no strife, quarrel or misunderstanding may arise between us. Grant us our daily bread whereby we may serve You: Father, Son and Holy Spirit, evermore. Amen
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Lonely Marriage
Jesus then asked, "Who touched Me?" While all were denying it, Peter said, "Master, the crowds are pushing and pressing in upon you." But Jesus said, "Someone has touched Me; for I know that power has gone out from Me." Luke 8:45-46 NAB
Although it would seem that families are a natural antidote for loneliness, we all know they don't always work that way. In large and small families among children, and between husband and wife, individual needs for "belonging" are often ignored and loneliness looms. Here are some symptoms: declaring some topics off-limits for discussion; substituting television, small talk or silence for meaningful conversation; allowing the calendar to become too crowded for time together; the wife immersing herself in the children and the husband in his work in order to avoid intimacy; refusing to confront each other on important inssues and covering them up with an attitude of "peace at any price."
Jesus lived in a tiny, crowded portion of Palestine. It was incredible that in the midst of a mob, all jostling each other, He should take note of a lonely woman's personal touch. But that's just what He did.
Your family can be just such a gathering -- a place where each family member can experience both the security of togetherness and the meeting of individual needs.
One of Satan's greatest strategies is to isolate people from each other. Is his demonic strategy working in your home?
Excerpt from Moments Together for Couples -- Devotions for Drawing Near to God & One Another by Dennis and Barbara Rainey
~Attitude in Marriage~The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life. Attitude to me is more important than facts. It is more important than the past, than education, than money, than circumstances, than failures, than success, than what other people think or say or do. It is more important than appearance, gift, or skill. It will make or break a company...a church...a home. The remarkable thing is we have a choice every day regarding the attitude we will embrace for that day. We cannot change our past... The only thing we can do is play on the string we have, and that is our attitude. I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me and 90% how I react to it. And so it is with you... we are in charge of our attitudes.
Charles Swindoll
~Just for Fun~"Step, Step, Roar"
A little boy walked down the aisle at a wedding. As he made his way to the front, he would take two steps, then stop, and turn to the crowd, alternating between the bride's side and the groom's side. While facing the crowd, he would put his hands up like claws and roar. And so it went -- step, step, ROAR, step, step, ROAR -- all the way down the aisle.
As you can imagine, the crowd was near tears from laughing so hard by the time he reached the pulpit. The little boy, however, was getting more and more distressed from all the laughing, and he was near tears by the time he reached the pulpit.
When asked what he was doing, the child sniffed back his tears and said, "I was being the ring bear."
By Richard Lederer (from Chicken Soup for the Christian Family Soul)
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