Wedded Wednesday: The Marriage Boat

This post is by my wonderful friend, Jessica Honc!  She is one of the most creative, hard-working people that I know.  I am lucky to call her friend and enjoy our coffee/play dates more than she will ever know.  I love this picture because it captures every bit of her outgoing and loving personality!

Jessica has been married to her husband, Will, for 12 years.  She is the homeschooling mother of three kiddos (Lilly, Sadie, & Samuel) and Director of Freedom Fellowship Home School Co-op.  Jessica is our church librarian and teaches 1st through 3rd grade Rays of Hope (girls) class. 

The Marriage Boat

 

I love the Facebook posts showing an old couple holding hands while walking by the water next to a phrase like, “We come from a generation where we fix what is broken, we don’t throw it away.”

Coming from a family where a rough patch in marriage wasn’t something fixed & spouses could be replaced, these posts inspire me.

If our children learn anything from my husband and me about marriage, I pray they learn that marriage is sacred; that it is a vow before God, between a man and a woman and when the waters get rough or your marriage boat begins to sink – jumping ship is not an option.

In the book of Mark chapter 4, Jesus taught a few parables by the lake, then got in a boat with his disciples to head just across the lake to the region of Gerasenes. (Gadarenes)  There came a huge storm while Jesus was napping.  The storm was so violent that the boat was almost swamped.  The disciples were frightened & woke Jesus up.  He calmed the storm with just one order, “Quiet! Be still!”

Through the 12 years we have been married, my husband and I have had a few storms rock our marriage boat.  Sometimes it seemed like we were bound to sink. Sometimes only one of us was desperately hanging onto both the boat and the other spouse.

Marriage is a wonderful gift from God and marriage is full of beautiful moments, marriage is also work & it is so much easier with the Lord.  If you hold onto each other in marriage and keep strong faith in God, no storm is too big.

 Now here is the thing; nowhere do we read in Mark that the disciples, being fishermen & knowing the signs of a storm, told Jesus, “Hold up – maybe we shouldn’t get into the boat right now, it looks like a storm is approaching.”  I believe that the waters were calm when they entered the boat.  I believe Satan is the one (being the prince of the earth) who decided to cause the violent storm and rock the boat.  The power of our Lord is so mighty! It took only one order from Jesus & the waters were calm & peaceful again.

With God in your marriage boat, Satan can only cause waves, he will not have the power to sink your ship.  And just look at Mark chapter 5; when they reached the shore Jesus cast many demons out of a man who had been in great agony.

When you get through the stormy waters and reach the shore, the Lord can fix and restore any trust issue.  The Lord can break any chains which bind you or your spouse.  The Lord can calm any spirit of anger or jealousy.  The Lord can cast out any sin bombarding your home.  The Lord can remove any shame.  The Lord can open any line of communication.  He is Almighty & loving and merciful.  I thank God every day for my husband, and for guiding us through the storms which have brought us to this shore of safety, restoration, and blessings.

 

“He is the one you praise; he is your God, who performed for you those great and awesome wonders you saw with

your own eyes.”

Deuteronomy 10:21