Wondering if the Lord is steering your marriage ship? Well, we’re diving into that juicy question today! We’ll chat about how taking a little time at the start of the year to reflect on your marriage can make all the difference. We’re all about celebrating wins, tackling challenges, and finding that sweet spot in your relationship. Plus, we’ve got a free PDF packed with questions to help you and your partner set some goals and share your victories—just drop a comment saying “celebrate” and it’s yours! So, grab your favorite drink and let’s get cozy as we explore how God can guide your relationship to become more precious and valuable than ever! Ever wonder if your marriage is on the right track? Well, let’s chat about how to know if the Lord is leading your marriage! We dive right in with a little heart-to-heart about taking stock of where you and your partner are at the start of the year. It’s like a marriage check-up, folks! We talk about celebrating the wins from the past year, setting some spicy goals, and figuring out what worked and what didn’t. And if you’re feeling a little lost in the romantic wilderness, we’ve got a free PDF for you with all the juicy questions to ask your spouse to kickstart those deep convos. Just shout “celebrate” in the comments, and we’ll hook you up! Then, we get real about the not-so-glamorous side of marriage. Life throws curveballs, whether it’s financial stress or health issues. But fear not! We remind you that God’s got your back. Seriously, you can’t underestimate the goodness of God in your relationship. As we share personal stories, like overcoming health challenges together, we underline that with faith and patience, you can navigate through any storm. Remember, your marriage is valuable, and its worth should be ever-increasing. So, let’s work together to make this year the best one yet! Finally, we wrap up with a little pep talk about purpose. Your marriage isn’t just about the two of you; it’s about how you can serve and uplift others together. Whether it’s volunteering or doing outreach, there’s a higher calling waiting for you. So, buckle up for a year of growth, joy, and closeness in your relationship, because we’re diving deep into what it means to be a couple with a mission. Join us on this beautiful journey—after all, husband and wife are friends for life!

Takeaways:

1. At the start of the year, it’s a perfect time to reflect on your marriage's journey and goals together.
2. If you want a fun way to discuss your relationship, drop 'celebrate' in the comments for a free PDF!
3. God is deeply invested in your marriage and wants it to grow more precious over time.
4. Facing challenges in your marriage? Remember, the Lord will guide you through the tough stuff!
5. Keeping your marriage fresh and exciting should be the goal every year, like a fine wine that gets better with age.
6. Your marriage has a purpose, and together you can bless others while following God's path for you.

How do you know that the Lord is leading your marriage?

Teresa, at the beginning of the year is always a good opportunity.

It's a good time to step back and take an inventory of where things are going in your marriage, to assess how things are.

And if you would like a free PDF on the questions that you can ask each other and you can write down the answers that you can talk about your relationship goals, you can talk about your wins of the year, you can talk about your goals.

Just drop the comment celebrate in the section below and we'll send you a link to the free PDF that you may have so you can answer those questions.

That's right.

It's a really good inventory of how things went in your year for your marriage.

You know, like Jeff said, wins, things that happen with your children.

And if there are some changes you made that helped your marriage, changes in your routines, maybe a new habit you develop, there's so many good questions.

So it'll really help you look back over the year and see what went well and maybe some things you want to go better.

Right now, not everyone is in the same place.

I know there are some marriages where there's some challenges.

Some people are facing financial challenges, some people are facing health challenges, some people are facing relationship challenges.

That's right.

So you know.

But we want you to know that God is good.

Amen.

You remember the old grace, People used to say, God is great.

God is good.

Let's thank him for our food.

No, God is great.

He is great.

God is great.

Good.

Yes, very good.

So, I mean, we said that, but it's true.

You cannot over emphasize the goodness of God.

That's right.

You cannot exaggerate the greatness of God.

It's impossible.

He loves you and he cares about you and he cares about your marriage and he wants your marriage to thrive and he wants you to be all that he has called you to be.

Because God, God loves you.

And God has a purpose for you.

And God has a purpose for your marriage.

He really does.

Amen.

So today our pastor was talking about Isaiah, chapter 48, but I want to zero in on that 17th verse.

So I'm going to read it in the ESV, and then Teresa is going to read it in the Amplified Classic, and then we're going to talk about says.

Thus says the Lord your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel, I am the Lord your God, who teaches you to profit, who leads you in the way you should go.

That's right.

In the Amplified, it's pretty much the same word.

For word.

Thus says the Lord, your redeemer, the Holy One of Israel, I am the Lord your God, who teaches you to profit, who leads you in the way you should go.

Now, that word profit, it means to make valuable.

So the Lord wants to make your marriage valuable.

The Lord wants to make your relationship between you and your spouse valuable.

It should always increase in value, always become more and more precious to you.

That's how you know what is something's valuable, is how precious it is to you.

Right, Theresa?

Oh, yes, yes.

I mean, if you have feelings of.

Well, we're just kind of going on automatic, you know, we're just putting it on autopilot and do what we think we need to do and things like that.

Well, there is so much more than you can have in your marriage.

It should be more and more precious, more and more fun, more exciting every year if you can look back and say, wow, we had the best year we've had so far, you know, and you want this coming year, this year that we just started to be even better than last year.

Now, you know, your.

Your marriage is valuable to you, and it's something you treasure, and your marriage.

Is valuable to the Lord because don't.

For this cause shall a man leave his father, mother, and be cleaved to be joined, to be glued unto his wife, and they shall become one.

One.

Yes.

Yes.

I mean, marriage made in heaven, you could say.

But of course, here on earth, we have natural things to deal with.

But God sees marriage as such a valuable covenant relationship.

That's right.

So one sign that the Lord is leading your marriage is that it becomes more and more precious to you.

Number two and second sign is because he's leading you the way you should go.

Now, I said that there were challenge.

People are facing challenges.

Couples face challenges.

It could be physical, it could be financial, it could be relationship, it could be spiritual.

But when the Lord leads you, he leads you through all that.

That's right.

Now we face challenges this year.

We face some physical challenges, medical challenges, but the Lord led us through all that.

Oh, my goodness.

Yes.

Now Teresa sees better out of her eye.

We haven't talked about this a lot, but 23 years ago, something happened in her eye that caused some damage, but the Lord has led us and we stayed steadfast and believing.

And now she sees better out that eye that she has.

Yeah.

And over 20 years.

20 years, maybe even before that, she no longer has to wear contact in that eye.

Right.

So we're so thankful.

Huge blessing.

It's a huge Blessing.

So we are so thankful.

And we, we had some health challenges with one of our children.

We're getting past that.

So let you know that the Lord will lead you if you follow his ways, he will get you past this.

Right, Theresa?

Yes.

We had to be patient and, and listen to the Lord and wait for the Lord to set the course for how we were going to walk out each of those situations.

If we had just jumped on out there and said, let's just do this or doctor say something.

So we just got to do that.

Well, we, we had to weigh things out and pray about it and let God give us some answers.

And, you know, thankfully, what he was guiding us to do coincided with directions from our doctors in each situation.

But, you know, he also provided, just gave us amazing provision.

And that's what happens when you're walking it out as the Lord is leading you, whatever the challeng this in your marriage, he'll give you wisdom and he'll give you provision.

That's something our pastor was emphasizing today.

Yeah.

So come up with us on this journey.

We're not all the way there yet.

We're not.

We haven't achieved perfection, but we're going for completion.

We are.

We're going for.

We're going after.

We're going after him.

We're going after each other.

We, we want our marriage to be this year to be as close as we've ever been before, to have the most fun that we ever had before, to be most passionate that we ever had before.

We want to be close spiritually, intellectually, emotionally and physically.

We are going after it.

We're going to be close.

We're going to follow after our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, because he's going to lead us and teach us how to achieve all that.

Mm, that's right.

And then getting back to that idea of purpose, I mean, he's going to show you the way you should go.

He's going to teach you what the purpose is for your marriage.

It might be to do outreach together to reach homeless people or, you know, minister to military veterans, or, you know, serve in your church, which is a high calling, by the way.

Serving in your church is a high calling.

It is a high calling.

There's so many ways that God can use you together as a couple to bless other people.

So he has a purpose for your marriage.

Right.

And again, if you want a free PDF on celebrating your wins of the last year, just drop in comment, celebrate and we will send you a free PDF where you can fill out the highlights of the year, things you need to work on, and we will send that out to you asap.

That's right.

So join us on this journey.

So until next time, remember, husband and wife are friends for life.