Do Not Conform

"Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind." - Romans 12:2

The Message Bible puts it this way "Do not become so well adjusted to your culture that you fit in without even thinking."

     Looking back over the last 2 years I can see how God has taken that verse and showed me that I didn't have to accept the "pattern" of this "culture" for our marriage. I questioned God why he wouldn't take the desire and dream I had for my marriage; He wouldn't because He put it there, he had something better in mind. He didn't want our marriage to "conform to the pattern".
     I have read so many books and done so many Bible studies about what God says marriage should be; I should say what people think God says marriage should be. So many of the studies contradict each other and it leaves those seeking feeling even more hopeless and confused than before. What God has shown me though is that He does have a design for marriage. It is a design and purpose so unique to each marriage that no one could ever write about it, yet they all should have the same result; to show God's love to the world.
     Lying in bed with Jason Sunday morning I was thinking about how Strong and deep our love is and it was as if I heard God say, " You feel this love for Jason  and you feel this love from Jason; how much more do you think I love you? The intimacy you share is only a fraction of what I want to share with you. The desire for time together is infinitesimal compared with My desire to spend time with you." Wow!
     To think of where God has taken us in the past few years is incredible and He has done that for a purpose. Just 2 years ago I had so much hurt in my heart that I didn't want to be in the same room with Jason. Now I hate being away from him. When I look into his eyes I see and feel the love he has for me. He cherishes me, he is leading me, he even defends me. When I feel his love for me and then I think of God and that Jason's love is only a fraction of what God's love is, it blows me away.
     God doesn't want His people to have marriages like everyone else. He calls us to "not conform"' He wants us to have something extraordinary. He even gives us what we need to accomplish it. If only His people would quit settling for mediocre. Wake up to the passion God has for you in your lives and in your marriages. God wouldn't let me accept anything less and now we have something extraordinary, and what really blows my mind is that God isn't finished with us yet.

Our Sacred Romance

God has given us a glorious gift in the restoration of our marriage. As I meditate on everything that God is doing all I can do is just stand in awe, and yet my heart breaks for others. They just don’t comprehend what God desires our lives to be like. He wants to bless us beyond measure but we need to turn, with all we are, to Him in order for Him to pour out His love and mercy.

The church has settled in this life and became passive in the pursuit of God’s will for their lives. In the years of struggles we had in our marriage I was told by many well-intentioned godly women to just accept things and be the dutiful wife. That was what I was supposed to do. I wanted to scream at them about the aching hunger I had inside, “don’t you understand that there is more! There has to be more than this or it is not worth living!” I would even pray to God to take that burning desire of what I felt God wanted for my marriage away; after all everyone around me was telling me it was an unreachable dream; unrealistic. I now thank God that He kept that passion burning. He gave me the promise to “restore the years” (Joel 2:25) and I held to it with everything I had.  

Jason and I stand now as a testimony that “all things are possible with God” (Matt. 19:26) and that God doesn’t just restore, He remakes all things new. (2 Cor. 5:17) But now the burning desire is still there; not for God to renew our own marriage; but the desire to shout it to the nations that this (what Jason and I have found) IS God’s will for marriage. He is still shaping us and I know He is not finished with us but as He molds us my prayer becomes this… Lord, Let us show others what Your will is that they too can have this sacred romance, which glorifies You. They too can understand God’s love, if at least a little and live it out daily in their homes. They too can join hands with their spouse and do battle for the hearts of their children; they too can be a living testimony to the heart of God. -In Jesus Name, Amen