Marriage Retreat 2018
Ephesians 5
22 Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. 23 For the husband is head of the wife, as also Christ is head of the church; and He is the Savior of the body. 24 Therefore, just as the church is subject to Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything. 25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her, 26 that He might [g] sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word, 27 that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish. 28 So husbands ought to love their own wives as their own bodies; he who loves his wife loves himself. 29 For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as the Lord does the church. 30 For we are members of His body, [h] of His flesh and of His bones. 31 “For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” 32 This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the church. 33 Nevertheless let each one of you in particular so love his own wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband.
Being a part of a ministry that is larger than you can be both exhilarating and intimidating. Exhilarating because you get to share and receive insight and glean and grow all at the same time. Intimidating because you may feel that others do it better than you or at least it can appear that way. Do not get
stuck on what things look like on the surface. This particular ministry is not a fairy-tale and so while there are droves of things written on and about it, your story is YOUR story! Believe that God is doing something within the ministry He has given you and that it is worth sharing.
This past weekend myself and my husband along with three other couples took ourselves on a nice retreat from the world, the noise, the hustle and bustle of work, home, children and the mundane things of life and set time aside to relax, relate, and release. We could not begin to imagine all that God
would do in and through us as we shared precious and intimate moments with one another. To be able to share and receive freely without fear, shame, or apprehension is priceless in every way! Completely
priceless!
Though my husband and I are considered the babies of the group when it comes to marriage, it was an honor to share things that others could take back with them and implement into their marriage and vice versa. We all have jewels that work for us, but we are mindful that those jewels are not only for us. The level of sharing and the depth of it truly blew us away this weekend. There were moments where we laughed so hard at the transparency of one another that we cried and then there were moments where we all just sat and said, “Mmmm, that’s good”. Both responses are needful and valuable.
It was clear to all of us that for the most part, all of our marriages are good, but there is always room for improvement. The elders that were with us have been married 29yrs now and I have not known a moment of separation between them since they publically said, “I Do!” THAT’S MAJOR! And while there
is room for improvement amongst all of us within this ministry, I pray that you can see the level of love, transparency, FUN and laughter from some highlight moments from the weekend. We truly had the time of our lives and I am grateful to God for starting with us before the time of expansion. Yes, we do
need this pouring into a little more often, but it has been confirmed that others desire it too. We are preparing ourselves for the task-at-hand.
“God, however You desire to move going forward from here it’ll be alright with us. We just want to serve You, love You and make Your heart proud in this. This is not just about us and we are clear on that. We thank You for the wisdom and the insight that You’ve given each of us in the ministry of marriage. Our desire is to share and receive, to heal and to bless and to show forth Your great love for Your Bride, the Church. Jesus, be glorified in this!!”
