READY
“Two are better than one because they have a good reward for their efforts. For if either falls, his companion can lift him up; but pity the one who falls without another to lift him up.” —Ecclesiastes 4:9-10
SET
Early in the dating process, my husband and I discovered that though our families were different, we both had the blessing of watching our parents love God and one another by following God together. Nearly every morning I could hear small whispers of prayer as I came down the stairs. I’d find my mom and dad huddled in the cozy corner of our kitchen, each in their separate chairs, heads bowed over their open Bibles and steaming cups of coffee in hand.
Similarly for my husband, he usually saw his father beginning each day by spending the early morning at his desk in God’s Word before anything else took place. Surely these regular morning occurrences were a part of their routines- but to us, it felt as if they were built into our homes.
As spouses, we discerned that we desired a marriage that put God in the center. We wanted to love God together and grow spiritually with intention; so much so that it would become part of our regular routine. We quickly realized that growing spiritually together doesn’t just happen and can’t merely survive on intention- it takes action.
We discovered that just talking about it was simply the starting line. We set aside a couple hours of undistracted time to discern what it was going to take to get into God’s Word weekly, pray together and grow!
Now we set a schedule. Weekly, we look at the days ahead and decide on the best time and place for us to commit one hour to read God’s Word and pray with one another. If it’s not on the schedule- it will very likely be harder to make it happen as the days fill up!
We’re learning in this season to hold one another accountable. Every week we remind one another of our decision and plan to grow together-then we set our schedule and decide how we’ll spend our time.
Life can be unpredictable; there are full seasons and there are slow seasons. We’ve seen the fruit of our parent’s daily spiritual input and we’ve made a commitment to growing in faith and putting God first so that we can produce good fruit too. We know that the input in our spiritual life matters for our marriage now and it will matter for years to come.
While each week may not be the same- there is one thing we’re planning on making sure is steady- our time together as husband and wife with our open Bibles and open hands before God together.
GO
A year from now, how would you like to have grown in faith together?
Have you set action to our intention to grow spiritually together? Why?
Set a time this week to create a plan for quiet time together. How did it go?
WORKOUT
OVERTIME
“Father, thank You for the gift of marriage. We desire to grow in our faith to strengthen our marriage, produce healthy fruit and bring you glory. Help us to set action to our intention and give us strength to pray together and open your Word. We love you, Lord! Amen.”