Make Every Effort to Keep Yourselves United in the Spirit!

Ephesians 4: 1-6 NLT
Therefore I, a prisoner for serving the Lord, beg you to lead a life worthy of your calling, for you have been called by God. Always be humble and gentle. Be patient with each other, making allowance for each other's faults because of your love. Make every effort to keep yourselves united in the Spirit, binding yourselves together with peace. For there is one body and one Spirit, just as you have been called to one glorious hope for the future. There is one Lord, one faith, one baptism, and one God and Father, who is over all and in all and living through all.

Paul is speaking to the body of Christ in this passage, however I find it especially key in a marriage as well. We all lead such busy lives allowing our schedules, jobs, and commitments to stand in the way of precious time together. Perhaps that is a grand assumption but I know for my life personally, this is often the case. I take special care to ensure my clients get what is promised to them in the manner of time of which it has been promised. As my husband begins his new business, I'm certain the same will be true for him. We're both in a service industry. I take special care also to ensure my children are prepared for each day, that they feel loved before leaving my side for the day, and getting them on time to where they need to be. I do spend many hours in the week at home alone now but much has already filled the empty spaces of my schedule. I'm not a priority and my marriage has not been a priority. The hubs and I are having date night tonight and I can't remember the last time we shared a meal alone. He's working late and the kids have places to be so there are many nights we don't sit together at meal time at all. This is a temporary season for that and he has my full support to do what he must in order to get his business running. Dinner time used to be one of my favorites times of day. It's been such a rush lately and I miss the laughter, our family games, and hearing about everyone's day.

In the hustle and bustle of our daily lives how do we keep ourselves strong? How do we keep our marriage strong? I do believe that keeping our inner man strong should be our first priority. Spending time with the Lord each day to pray and listen and worship is what we were each created for. I have a trivet my dad bought me that says "7 days without prayer makes one weak." Weak, not week. I can't afford NOT to be in his presence. We can only feel our best and OFFER our best if we are spiritually sound. The Lord's presence fills us with a super natural peace and joy and the more it becomes a daily party of our lives we are blessed with revelation and nuggets we need to accurately pray for those around us. I cannot be a good wife and support my husband and meet his needs if I'm running on empty, mentally, physically, and spiritually. Your marriage will dry up real quick. Yes, I speak from experience. Is it enough to ensure we are solid as a rock inside to develop an amazing relationship with Jesus and not have communion with our mates? Do we HAVE to pray together? Absolutely, YES! MAKE EVERY EFFORT TO KEEP YOURSELVES UNITED IN THE SPIRIT! Straight from the bible.

The hubs leaves for work much later than he used to so it has afforded us the time to have breakfast and a cup of coffee together in the morning. If we push the clock back and get up just a bit earlier we'll have more time, private time, together in the morning to start our days fresh and right. We made an attempt to get through The Love Dare from the movie Fireproof some time ago and didn't get very far so I'm hoping to spend our mornings in God's word together and in prayer and in having time alone when the house is pretty quiet and the TV is off. I'll keep you posted on our discoveries and share with you how it's going.

You always get the truth with me here. Those who know me personally often believe I'm a strong tower and I have it all together and I even make it look easy. But, to be honest I don't have it all together. I think I push it down and pretend to be to keep from falling apart. I'm grateful to have a roof over my head and food on the table and clothes on my back for me and my family. However, I'm not gonna lie. I dream of the day when I feel like we've got our fresh start and I have my family back. I enjoy my parent's company and so appreciate the huge help they have been on so many levels over the last year; however it just isn't the same as having your family in your own space. I think we all still feel a little disjointed and in the last year we've lost track of a lot of things we used to enjoy as a family and I'm afraid our bonds might be loosened a bit too much. It could just as well be anxiety from all the change that has recently occurred. Tyler in high school, Faith in middle-school, my babies are in school all day and ready to give up their security blankets any day. I have to daily fight back the urge to reign them all back in.

So make time for the Lord, make Him your center and the center of your marriage and family! Don't take for granted those you have around you and assume you'll always be able to get by. My husband has a heart of steal and patience beyond measure and he is the glue that has kept us together. But, day by day another thread gets weaker and weaker. I can no longer expect that his tolerance will last forever or that our marriage void of daily communion together and before the Lord will last forever without it. For us, even when things aren't 'great' they're still pretty good so I'm looking forward to going back up a few notches, looking forward to restoration, looking forward to falling in love again.