It’s Thanksgiving up here in Canada, so I got to thinking that it would be a great day to pause and give thanks for our marriages. Of course we should always give thanks, but as a part of this 31-day challenge, I thought it would be nice to dedicate one day for nothing but thanks.
A few months ago a friend approached me for some encouragement. Her closest friend was battling cancer. This girl (my friend) was well familiar with cancer since she lost her mom to it at a young age and later lost her father to cancer as well. She was angry discouraged and looking for hope.
One thing that went through my mind that day is this. The reason we get angry, discouraged, or lose hope, is because we can’t see God’s purpose. Trials feel pointless yet painful.
Faith in God doesn’t just mean that we simply believe in who He is and who He was, it means that we will trust His wisdom in lieu of our own.
God is righteous and loving and full of grace. We see life on the surface, but there’s so much more going on behind the scenes that we’ll never even begin to understand.
We can’t comprehend it. Most of us can’t even figure out how a telephone works, yet we expect to understand the way that Our God is orchestrating this planet. Every single detail is held in the palm of His hand.
We are told in scripture that all things work out together for good to them who are in Christ Jesus. But good to us can be far different than what God sees as best for us.
Life here on earth is moving so fast. It’s over before we even know it because it’s merely one breath in a billion.
Satan is well aware of your achilles heel, and he’s going to bite you where it hurts the most. His desire is to make you lose faith in God, to bring down your marriage, to make you bitter, and to keep you there.
You can experience a lot of hurt in an unhappy marriage. Even happy marriages experience hurt now and then. This is why it’s so important to develop a relationship with God so that when we do experience pain we have Him to lean on.
I want to encourage you today to give thanks for your marriage, regardless of the condition it’s in. The Bible tells us to give thanks in all circumstances. That includes giving thanks during our most discouraging moments as well as the good.
In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. – 1 Thessalonians 5:18
Chime in: Would you like to leave a comment or an encouraging thought? Click here to join the discussion.
It’s never too late to joint the challenge! Click here for details.
You are loved by an almighty God,
Darlene Schacht
The Time-Warp Wife
This post may contain Amazon affiliate links. Please read my full disclosure.
blessed and joyful thanksgiving to the schacht’s (and our other Canadian sisters)! we DO have oh-so-very-much to give thanks to our gracious and good God for! for me, sometimes, it is in the choosing God’s will over my own (” in EVERYthing give thanks for this IS the will of God…” ) that the joy comes through. i am praying today for each of us that no matter what the hard, not happy, hurtful things that may (or may NOT!!!) occur, that each of us will choose God’s will and give thanks for our husbands and our marriages. to God be the glory! xo <3
Much thanks from the Schacht Six. 😀
This devotion was so fitting for me this morning. Our week-end was bittersweet and my eyes were opened to an area where my husband needs more prayer. I am so thankful for him! Thanks so much for this reading this morning!
God has amazing timing.
Thank you for the reminder of being so thankful for what we have. I know I take my marriage and my husband for granted far too often. What a great way to start my day to just stop and give thanks for what I have and realize it might not be perfect but I am blessed.
Thanks Ma’am for d word… Just what I needed to hear after something really disappointing came my way today. With these words, I believe God knows d reason y it happened. Your daily posts keeps blessing my life
Amen , Life has given me many hard knocks & I picture it like this : As we R sailing on the river of our life ,,,,Grateful ness & discouragment can’t ride in the same boat ,,, & its up to us which one is in our boat !! THANX SO MUCH , Darlene , for your hard work in encouraging us wives to B the best for Him , our husbands & children !! God has given me the same calling , after what I went through , & I don’t really know what that’s supposed to be yet !But I seek to B an encouragement where I can, even now !! BLESSINGS TO YOU !!
Thank you for your encouragement Inez! 😀
WOW!!! My marriage has been struggling for more than a year now. I needed this prayer for marriage today. This was so perfect for me to read:::::The reason we get angry, discouraged, or lose hope, is because we can’t see God’s purpose. Trials feel pointless yet painful – See more at: https://timewarpwife.com/prayer-thanksgiving-marriage-challenge-31-days-prayer/#comments
This is how I feel and I know i am to lean and trust God. Please pray for me to let go of everything and give to him and trust.
Today, is day 48 of my husband and I being separated after an affair. The things you outlined in your book are things that I knew are required of me as a christian wife. How quickly we forget what we are called to do and how God expects us to Love and Respect our husband despite trials and dark times in our marriage. I became bitter over financial issues we have had for several years and began to take my husband for granted and failed to provide the Love and Respect and intimate relationship that he needed. I am here to tell you ladies that the things outlined in this book…ARE SO VERY IMPORTANT!! Do not ignore the importance of what God calls us to do as help mates to our husbands. I am walking in Faith that God will restore our marriage and make it more Christ like.
Thank you so much for that encouragement Carla. I pray that your marriage will heal with Christ at the center.
I have been married for 53 years, and have never had satan to work on my marriage like he has in the last 5 or 6 years. My sister in-law has lost 2 husbands, my mother in-law has lost one. She is getting more feeble at age 93 now. We live miles apart, although i feel i am in a battle with her constantly. I can never get my husband to do anything for me anymore. All his Mom has to do is mention something she wants done and he jumps on it when we go there to visit. i am his helpmeet in helping him do projects for her. But i feel very hurt because he is very rude to me when i ask him to do something for me at home to spruce our place up and make it look it better. All the attention has turned toward her and i am left out. I am resenting that, and we do have arguments over it a lot. Now don’t get me wrong, i am not jealous of him doing for his Mom, because i help him also. What bothers me is she has this attitude that she will just prove to me that she can get her son to do everything she wants done for her. And she does!!!. Although i am hurt about her attitude, i have tried to keep my feelings from her and keep them to myself about how i feel about it, and go on and do my part in helping. I have always thought it is best to be good to our enemies., and i do feel she is my enemy anymore. But as of yet, which has been years now, i am the one still hurting from her stinking attitude. She has lots of money and can hire her work done, but refuses to spent it. Every time we go visit we foot the bill in food and most of the work materials, as well as the hard work., and me doing ALL the cooking and her bossing me around. Now she does say thank you, but never considers my feelings about any of this. I feel that i am stuck in this situation because when i mention anything to my husband about it, he is very inconsiderate of my feelings. He literally screams at me, with a few cuss words sometimes. We can’t have a normal conversation about it. Now i have been married to many years to give up my marriage. over a mother in-law 93 years old, and i do not want that anyway. Even his sister has begun to step in to make sure her mom gets all she wants from us. I think she is jealous that my husband is still living and her two aren’t and senses my feelings and tries to cause problems between the two of us. She has never offered to help us do any of this work. Her mom covers for her. I just want my happiness back with my husband. is all i want, and i want my husband to start showing an interest in our home. again, and have respect for me and my needs. I was his caregiver all through this summer as he was recuperating from a 6 bypass surgery, and i am tired and down in my back and i also just had back surgery last November. I need my husband, and i am asking God to give favor to us in our marriage. We have kept his Mom’s home up every since 1981 when my father in-law passed away. She is so feeble that she needs to be in a nursing home, where she can be taken care of better. She forgets to take her medicine sometimes, and that causes more physical problems with her. Her daughter lives miles away also, and we are all in our 70’s and all this is taking a toll on us. I need special prayer about this, because i have prayed and prayed and the more i pray the worse things get. I can’ t carry on and keep taking care of myself as i should and my household and help with hers to. I may sound selfish, but i am ready to be blessed again and i need a change in my life. Thank you for your prayers.
Judith, I’m so sorry. I can only imagine that this must be very taxing on you. I just stopped to pray for you.
I love to think about how God can take the lemons in our marriage and turn them into lemonade. I love the verse in Psalm 9:10 that I read today. ” And those who know your name put their trust in you, for you, O lord, have not forsaken those who seek you.” As we learn to know His name as we read the scriptures, we will learn to trust Him. Having a relationship with Him is different than knowing about Him. To know His heart, His ways, His character, is to to fall in love with Him. We are here for His purpose to glorify His name. He promises not to forsake us when we seek Him with all our heart, mind, and soul. Our troubles are filtered by God to make us more Christ like. It is the problems in our marriage that exposes our sinful hearts of selfishness, disobedience to God, pride, wrong attitudes, wrong motives. When we humble ourselves and repent, God can make us more Christ like to glorify His name. As we change, God will use our influence in marriage to do a work in our husband without saying a word. Today I thank God for my problems that can be used to make me more Christ like, if I die to myself and live for Him.
Thank you, I needed to hear this today! And I give thanks for my marriage no matter the struggles we are facing at the moment. Thank You Lord for all you do in my marriage I know it is all for your glory!
Amen!
I needed this one today! My husband told me again today that he wants to leave. This is breaking my heart but he feels no hope or love is left. Trying to give thanks in the times of darkness is hard but I see how appropriate it is. Thanks for the encouragement.
Oh no. I’m so sorry, Sheila. Praying for you!
Amen! and Thanks Darlene! Great wisdom once again. This is what stood out most for me: “good to us can be far different than what God sees as best for us.” I was not sure how I could pray a prayer of thankfulness for my spouse or my marriage so reading this helped and this prayer works too! It’s not that I am not thankful for either of these, it’s just the opposite, after so many years, I am SO thankful but not in the normal way since we have been apart mostly since 1996 — that’s alot of years and distance (even with occasional trips back home every so often, certainly not enough to maintain a strong marriage or give thanks). Yet I am thankful with all this distance, years and our circumstances that he is still alive (that’s a whole ‘nther story, and more than once: a totaled out house fire and a rollover accident in the winter that called for serious neck/back surgery) but he’s here. And also that after all we’ve been through that we are still married (legally) and do not consider the “d” word (except using it as ammunition when we’re good and spittin’ mad with each other) however, I know he loves me (not agape love) and I love him. I thank God for him and that God sees and knows the BEST plan for each of us apart and together.
His timing is perfect. Let’s hope my listening, hearing and being continually on my knees lends to knowing and hearing, keeping alive so the Holy Spirit has time to work a miracle and bring one more soul in for the gift of salvation. Truly I am thankful for mine and hope to rejoice soon that my other half openly embraces God’s grace through Jesus Christ. Then I really will have MUCH more to be thankful for … <3 God is so good! (and I don't wanna hear nothing more from satan and his tactics, he will not break that which God deems as redeemable!) Hallelujah! I want to see God's purpose fulfilled and I trust His wisdom!
Bless you,
Peggy
You’ve been through so much! Yes–God is faithful. Thank you for sharing Peggy!
I THANK GOD FOR MY MARRIAGE. I BLESS HIM FOR THE GIFT OF A HUSBAND EVENTHOUGH HE IS NOT THE LOVING HUSBAND I LONG FOR. I HAVE DID EVERYTHING POSSIBLE TO CREAT A RELATIONSHIP WITH MY HUSBAND TO NO AVAIL .NO PEACE NO LOVE OUR MARRIAGE IS IN A JUNGLE PRAY FOR GOD TO GIVE US PEAC AND UNITE US IN LOVE.
I just finished praying for your marriage asking God for a revival.
Our God is faithful. He is the one who designed marriage and therefore, he has the cure for all that ails our marriages. He comes at the right time.
When Lazarus fell sick, Martha and Mary sent word to Jesus. It was only a few hours walk to Bethany, but Jesus took four days…Why? He knew he has the divine power to deal with even the most desperate of all situations-death. Four days is the length of time it took for Lazarus to die, be buried and start to stink….But it took Jesus only a word to reverse the whole situation for the glory of God.
Maybe your marriage has also reached that stage of stinking, people cannot even come near you because of the stench. You have reached a dead end, but, God is able to reverse your marriage and make it vibrant and enjoyable as before.
Don’t give up because God has a solution for your marriage.
God bless.
Joyce
Joyce, I just wrote about this the other day too. Amazing how God gave us the same thoughts. 😀
Hi Darlene,
Thanks for reminding me NOT to put God in a box! He is with me through the trials. This has been great.
Thank you,
Val
Darlene, I am enjoying these 31 days of prayer for my husband. Thank you for the encouragement as the devil does so viciously walk about like a raging lion. Our Father is gracious, sufficient, and tender in mercy. May He bless you and your family graciously.