Second Chance

And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose. Romans 8:28 NKJV

In cleaning house the other day I was in the process of changing attachments on the vacuum cleaner when behind me there was a crash.  Looking down I saw my favourite ornament, the dancing couple, lying in four pieces at my feet. It was broken in the leg area and both heads had departed their bodies.  To say I was sad would be an understatement. I picked up the pieces and looked at the breaks.  They seemed clean and there were no small pieces on the floor so I put them to one side in the hope that my clever husband would be able to mend it.  He did, as you can see from this picture.

To me this ornament symbolises the joy of marriage; yes, it can be quite a 'dance' sometimes, full of tricky and challenging steps. Sometimes we 'lose our heads' for awhile and at times some marriages literally fall apart.  For every married couple the challenge is to stay in step which, like dancing, is often easier said than done.

The main challenge of marriage is learning to live in harmony with another person who may have had a very different background, even a different culture from your own.  Added to that we bring our different personalities and our own values and ideas of how a marriage should work.  Then there are the challenges that children bring into a relationship. All these things can cause problems that can lead, sometimes slowly, other times like a bomb blast, to breaking point.

Sometimes things fall apart and even get very broken in the process but, with God in the equation it is possible to put things back together again.  It does take care and a willingness to work it all out.  One needs to look back to find where the weak areas were that may have caused the marriage to break so as not to fall into the same traps again.

With the right 'glue' of hope, love, forgiveness, humility and prayer a marriage can move from brokenness to wholeness again.  The weak places can become the strongest.  Joseph's words come to mind as I write, "What you (the enemy) meant for evil, God meant for good." (Genesis 50:20). It may be that God will use your experience to later help others in their own brokenness move from hopelessness to healing. He is so good at taking the things that seem like disasters and turning them to good use.

Prayer:  Heavenly Father, thank you that you can cause all things to work together for good.  Help me to keep my eyes on you in my most difficult situations and allow you to use them for good purposes; to bring hope and healing to others and glory to You.  Amen