Investing in Your Marriage

Four weeks ago, The Awakening started a new series called Ruth & Relationships. It began with the subject of singleness, moving on to dating, then engagement, and finally marriage.

Now, I was all pumped during Singleness week. It's the stage I'm at right now, and while I'm pretty content in this stage, I'm always interested in learning how I can best serve God and honor Him in my singleness. The night offered a lot of encouragement, as well as some confirmation that I'm on the right track!

I was equally excited about the Dating lesson. I mean, I want to date someday, you know? And if that someday were to be tomorrow, I wouldn't be turning down the opportunity! Haha. But on a serious note, whenever I do get to that stage, I want to make sure I'm equally serving and honoring God as I did when I was single. And that could get tough when you have another person to worry about. So it was another great night of enlightenment.

The Engagement session... was good. But, my table of single ladies kind of checked out during the discussion aspect of it. For most of us at the table, it was like, we're not even dating why are we worried about engagement? And knowing that marriage was coming up the next week, well... you can just imagine where our minds are.

So, I walked into this week's Awakening with a kind of detached. I actually almost didn't show up (horrible, I know!). But show up I did, and I couldn't have made a better choice!

Phil took a different angle on talking about marriage--one that's rarely looked at. A lot of people see marriage as an adventure. And for singles, a lot of us think, "Once I get married, I won't be lonely, life will be better, etc." But you know what's worse than being single and alone? Being married and numb.

Having a good marriage comes from participating in the bigger story--God's story--as a couple. And as singles we can begin investing in our marriage now, the same way we invest in a retirement fund or something (although, the dividends, I hope will be much more valuable and rewarding). No matter what stage of the relationship spectrum we're in we can begin that investment by actively participating in HIS story. And as we're participating in His story, we'll end up living the greatest adventure. And who doesn't want marriage to be one great adventure?

You can listen to the full message below, or simply click here.