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Keith and I are excited that you decided to join us on The Marriage Adventure tour. We have been talking about and planning this particular tour for a while and are thrilled that it is finally time to head out. We are so grateful to have the opportunity to spend some time with you. We would love for this tour to be interactive so feel free to use the comment section below to introduce yourself. Nothing makes this adventure more fun than walking through it with others and meeting new friends along the way.
We have several stops
planned over the next couple of weeks and they all serve the same purpose… to
give perspective. We want to help you
paint a picture of marriage that will lay a solid foundation for you to be able
to stand and even go back to if when you come to a steep mountain that
has to be climbed. The only way to make
it to the top is to have a place to rest along the way.
1st Stop- THE CREATION STORY: Pouring a Foundation to Anchor Your Marriage
Knowing God, knowing who God really is, not
who we think He is or who we have made Him to be, is the most
important step in this journey. If our view of God is not accurate, this adventure will be really difficult. We will filter our marriage adventure through broken lenses and then blame God and each other for our wrong turns.
When we look at the very first book of the Bible, our map, we learn several truths about God. The first 23 verses of Genesis walk us through the first five days of Creation. We get to see God interact with creation before humans entered the picture and made a mess of things. In a matter of days, we learn…
§
God is
a purposeful Creator whose very voice can speak life into existence.
§
God is
strong and powerful.
§
God
created stuff from nothing.
§
God
does not make mistakes.
§
God has
a plan for everything He does.
§
God can
accomplish more in one day than we can in a lifetime.
§
God is very creative.
The 6th day
of Creation, we see God create once again.
First, God made living
creatures like cattle, reptiles, wild animals and bugs.
Then, He got His hands
dirty.
With His mighty hands,
the God of the universe scooped up some dust from the ground, and like a
sculptor, began to carefully and perfectly form man. When He was done with His masterpiece, God
bent down and breathed life into man.
Body from dirt. Breath from Heaven.
An unlikely combination
from the very beginning.
When a suitable helper
was not found for Adam, God made him one.
God took
a rib from Adam's side and formed woman.
God made woman from the piece of man that was designed to protect his heart.
Man. Woman.
Both God's idea.
Both made in His image.
Adam-Eve. Husband-Wife.
Marriage
was all God’s idea and Adam and Eve were the first to go on the adventure. God
explained to them that when you go from being man and woman to husband-wife,
you are to cling to each other. You
become their person and they become yours. You are to live and act as you are one.
This one-flesh relationship is pretty amazing.
Two
people had to come together to give you life, and yet God says the bonds of
marriage, the covenant the two of you made to God, is even stronger than those
of nature. I would say He makes it very clear how important He sees this union.
As
day 6 comes to an end and God prepares to rest on day 7,
He
looked at all He had made and said, “it is very good.”
The
last two days of the Creation story reveals to us that…
§ God is a good God.
§ God knows our needs before we do and is delighted to meet them.
§ God wants a relationship with us.
§ God is for marriage.
§ God is faithful to work in your life until 'it is good'.
§ God is thoughtful.
§ God is absolutely, positively crazy about you.
§ God love you. He really, really loves you!
I
know the Creation story may seem like a strange first stop on our tour, but
when Keith and I step back and put ourselves and our marriage ‘in the beginning’, it completely alters
our course. It refocuses us. It reminds us that God has been writing
an amazing love story for thousands of years and we are part of it. Our marriage has a purpose in His story and looking at it from beginning gives us the perspective we need to stay the course when gets hard.
Are any of the above truths about God hard for you to accept? If so, I want to encourage you spend time reading your map. Start your own list of the different characteristics of God and ask Him to give you an accurate view of Himself. This was a complete game changer for me a few years ago. I was in a season of life that felt like one hard road after another with no end in sight. The thing that helped me the most was to stop focusing on how tough life was and start focusing on who God was. My circumstances didn't change, but I did. The only way possible for me to change was to keep my eyes and heart fixed on the One who never changes and to trust that He was who He said He was. What you see and what you feel doesn't determine the character of God. Instead, the person of God changes you. He gives you perspective. He replaces your broken, jacked-up lenses that you keep trying to mend with duct tape and gives you new lenses to view Him, your life, and your marriage. He really is a good, loving God.
Our next tour will leave on Monday, but if you need anything or have questions before then, please don't hesitate to ask. You can email us directly or leave a comment below.
"I am the Lord, and I do not change…"
