Can you believe a full week of this devotional has already gone by?? I love it!! I hope each of you are getting as much out of this has I have been. I pray we continue to stay committed to this devotionals and that we will not fall to Satan's silly distractions and tactics! Amen!
Sanctification: To be set apart. A process of transformation to become more like Christ.
I loved Jennifer's analogy with the refining process of Gold and our refining process in our journey as Christians. We each go through "fires" and each "fire" brings about purification. Personal "fires" and "fires" within our marriage."
I also love today's challenge. I haven't had my wedding ring for that long. But I never really spend time just looking at it in reflection. I am looking forward to taking some time today and looking at my ring and reflecting and praying for my marriage. I pray daily and for many things, but it's rare for me to just specifically pray over my marriage, asking that God's will be done.
Here's Jennifer's post from Day 7:
Another area my husband has helped me grow is in manipulation. That is a sin that I have always struggled with! It was something I learned and did often towards my husband to hurt him like I thought I hurt, to justify my point in a matter or win him over to my way of thinking, or to give into my will. My husband is a strong man of character and does not tolerate it when I manipulate. He calls me out immediately and tells me how it hurts him. This challenges me to evaluate the way I think and how I react to certain situations in marriage. I have grown so much in this area, God is rewiring me so that I operate more like Him and less with the bad habits of sin I have learned somewhere in life.
What transformations are you currently experiencing as a wife or Christian?
For me right now, I am beginning to recognize Satan's attacks on my marriage. I am beginning to be thankful for so many things that my husband does, is, and has helped me with or shown me. As a Christian, my prayer life is becoming deeper and my connections with fellow Christians is growing. I guess a banner statement for all of this is that my walk with Christ is growing and my faith is being restored after a long period of "drought".
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1mDwGBpVyXI&feature=youtu.be
Not sure what is up with this weird highlighted text. I guess when I paste quotes it does that. But part of the highlighted text is me talking. Sorry it looks weird.
ReplyDeleteI agree fully with the text regarding sanctification being a continuous process. I know that I still have many habits that I need to conquer. For instance, I take out a lot of my frustration on my husband. When I have a bad day at work, he gets the brunt of my aggravation. It is hard to break, but I know that by working on this, I can extinguish some of the "fires" that have been occurring in our marriage. This area is a constant struggle. However, everyday is a new day for us to break bad habits and become more like Christ through sanctification.
ReplyDeleteDay 7's topic on Sanctification was one that I hadn't really put my mind to much in my life, until now. I knew that to be a Christian meant to live like Christ and to follow Him, but I never thought of it as a process of purification or refinement where we come out on the other end as more holy and more like Christ. I really liked the way that Jennifer mentioned how our humanly inner struggle of sin is a clash to our holiness in our spirit. It just makes so much sense with how I am feeling and trying to navigate through my faith lately.
ReplyDeleteI also like how the experiences and "fires" in marriage was brought into context with sanctification. It really makes the idea of being one flesh in your marriage worth the hard times. I love this idea that every one of these experiences or fires makes it all worth it in the end because we come out holy, refined and renewed in Christ. It really renewed a feeling of "BRING IT ON" within me!
I loved today's challenge to spend some time with my wedding ring and pray about my marriage. I actually spend time looking at it from time to time and admiring it's craftsmanship and meaning. Today's challenge will give me a little reminder to pray on my marriage more often from now on.