Friday, February 7, 2014

Tragedy of Being Unequally Yoked and God's Grace - Our Story - 22 Years Out

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We were out with a group of some friends and among them were a couple who were engaged. Our group was encouraged to answer questions about marriage so we could all talk about it with them. There are things you learn looking back and it was meant for encouraging them to see the important things during this time.

The first question was to name a precious memory from your wedding. For most this would be a simple thing. I mean a precious memory.... Yet my husband and I just looked at each other lovingly, knowing we are not who we once were all those years ago. We did not have "precious" memories.

For one I was a child! I was a mere 19 years old. He was just turning 21. Yet I was a Christian, a worldly one but I am convinced the Holy Spirit dwelled within me. My boyfriend was not a believer, but his life resembled mine a lot.

This is why this unequally yoked thing can be tricky. First, my boyfriend went to church with me. He got baptized and professed to believe. There was not any reason to doubt him, except those little things that bothered me but not him. Sin was something I was convicted of but he was not. That makes living together as one hard!

Where the Spirit was uprooting me from the throne of my life bit by bit, my husband was very content to be the ruler of the throne of his heart. Why is this? Because of the Spirit. Believers can look like unbelievers because the Spirit works in His timing. Believers change as He moves and we stay in step with Him. The beauty of it is Jesus did all that needed to be done and as we realize this more and more we are more apt to change and reflect Him.

This is the danger of legalism. Someone can look outwardly like a believer but their heart may not be changed. It is all in the heart. We cannot see the heart, only God can. It is so hard to tell sometimes.

No one around us knew that my husband was not sincere in his relationship with Jesus. In fact, either did he. It was only after spending time in the word and watching a life lived out sincerely for Jesus that he was moved in his heart to receive Christ.

As you can imagine being unequally yoked was hard! We were so young and living separate belief systems, honestly there was no reason for us to last. Yet God did right our wrong! He redeemed and restored! He healed! He took our mess and made it beautiful! I am so thankful for that. I can now look at the miracle of what He gave us and just be in awe! We are different people. We are His and only when we know we are so loved by Christ, understanding His sacrifice and resurrection from the dead on our behalf, can we serve and cherish one another well.

There is hope for our messes. You cannot out sin what God has planned for you. You cannot mess it up too bad. If you are His, He will work ALL things together for His glory and your good for all of us who belong to Him and are called according to His purposes (Romans 8:28-29). So though we cannot remember any precious memories from the past, now He has given us a far greater thing! His glory is seen HUGE when we look at what we were and I love my marriage and my man and see that it is good.

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