Week 162: Marriages and Newly Weds
Please join us this week in praying for newly
married couples. Though the issues faced by newly married couples are
common and often joked about, they can be troublesome and cause a marriage not
to get off to the best start. Every new marriage is a blending of two
different people, and their differences require adjustments, understanding,
open communication and forgiveness.
The adjustments of living everyday with another
human being can be a strain. These adjustments are tough for young
persons who haven’t yet established routines as independent adults; they can be
even more troublesome for individuals who have been independent adults for a
number of years prior to the marriage and have habits and life-styles with which
they have become comfortable. In either case, adjustments both large and
small are a challenge for newly weds.
Another issue for young marriages is the personal
baggage the newly weds bring with them. Often not all this baggage gets
opened during the dating and engagement period, so surprises, and not always
pleasant surprises, are frequent. A spouse’s reactions to these unknown
tidbits can lead to disappointment and disagreement. Negative reactions
by one spouse can cause the other to conceal further revelations for fear that
these will just bring more negative response and hurt. Dealing with these
surprises requires understanding or often forgiveness for less than appropriate
initial reactions.
Finally, every person entering a marriage has
expectations, mental pictures of how the marriage is to work. Rarely are
the spouses’ pictures the same and even more rarely does either set of their
pictures fully depict what the new marriage will actually look like.
These unfulfilled expectations can cause the new spouses to face some
uncomfortable realities. Open communication about expectations is
necessary to keep the uncomfortable from becoming an unconquerable barrier to
happiness.
This week please pray that newly married couples
will
- Extend to each other extraordinary grace and understanding
- Face inevitable adjustments as minor sacrifices to the high goal of becoming one
- Communicate kindly, humbly, openly and continuously
- Be quick to forgive and even quicker to seek forgiveness as they work through the process of becoming one
- Daily affirm their love for each other in word and deed
- Understand they are painting their own unique marriage picture that will look different than any other they have ever seen or imaged
- Submit their marriage and themselves to the lordship of Jesus Christ
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