Battling The Bad Things - The One Year Love Talk Devotional for Couples
Battling the Bad Things
Can anything ever separate us from Christ’s love? Does it mean he no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or hungry, or destitute, or in danger, or threatened with death? . . . No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us.
Romans 8:35, 37
Every good marriage eventually bumps into something bad. It may be infertility, financial debt, emotional turmoil, or even something as earthshaking as infidelity. Problems are inevitable; no couple is immune. And in general, once a couple runs into some serious ones, they are not likely to recover quickly. Slow progress is the typical course—steadily building one marriage accomplishment upon another, like a game that is won one play at a time, or a building that is built brick by brick.
Smart couples don’t expect the world to fall into their laps. It never has. But somewhere deep in the soul of every marriage, a husband and wife will find what Orison Marden calls their “slumbering powers.” And these astonishing powers, when awakened, will rise up, look bad fortune in the face, and begin to revolutionize the relationship. It may be a gradual revolution, but it is a trust-building, heart-healing, love-renewing revolution, just the same.
We’ve been on a quest for some time to discover what strong couples do right in the midst of their calamities. Among other things, we found that these couples do at least two things:
First, good couples take responsibility for the good as well as the bad. They don’t believe their problem rests with the other person. They don’t waste their time pointing out each other’s flaws and foibles. They own up to their parts of the marriage pie. They bring up their own mistakes so their partners don’t have to.
Second, good couples believe that good wins over bad. They plant a seedling of hope in their relationship and allow its tiny roots, in time, to sprout optimism. And that optimism about their future together gives them a picture they can hang on to even in tough times.
This very short list is a tall order for mere married mortals, but with God’s help, it is within reach. It is his love, from which we cannot be separated by any kind of bad times, that enables us to tap into these slumbering powers.
Deep within man dwell those slumbering powers; powers that would astonish him, that he never dreamed of possessing; forces that would revolutionize his life if aroused and put into action.
—Orison marden
The One Year Love Talk Devotional for Couples
By Dr. Les Parrott and Dr. Leslie Parrott
Tyndale
$7.99
