Share Your Love Story
| Category: Love and Romance4 Comments
Marriage can be one of the most beautiful and yet complicated relationships in life. It is a commitment that takes a great deal of work, yet has the potential to be more rewarding and wonderful than most of us ever imagined. In God’s love letter, the Bible, He gives us many examples of what He intended marriage to look like. These examples clue us in to God’s way of doing marriage and just how amazing this relationship can be.
In our Worship Gatherings this summer, we’re reading the love story of a couple in the Song of Solomon and how they did their relationship God’s way. We’d love to hear stories of how you have experimented in following God’s way in your marriage and how it turned out. Just click “Login to Post Comments” and create a username.* Then tell us your story in 300 words or less.** To make things even more fun, on July 28th we’ll choose one response at random. That couple will win a $50 gift certificate to Millennium Group Restaurants.
Check out our Marriage talk here
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Patricia Hahnenberg on Jul 15, 2008 3:43pm
My love story came at a time when I've decided that I wasn't worthy of being loved... after becoming a single mom at 19 and failing many relationships, it happened: 3 days after my boyfriend broke up with me I was on-line and that's where I met the most incredible man in my life. The only con was that he lived in a different country and that would mean a lot of changes in my life. But after many obstacles we made it under God's guidance and now we have a wonderful and loving family together. Though it's not easy sometimes I know that He helped me make the most important decision in my life and I wouldn't trade it for anything in this world.
Nicole Harlow on Jul 16, 2008 1:45pm
Prior to beginning our dating relationship, James and I had both gotten out of long-term relationships and made the decision not to date again until it was the person we were supposed to marry. We both had realized that dating only made sense in the context of a future marriage relationship. A couple months after becoming friends, we realized we wanted to pursue a deeper relationship. Before committing, we spent many days separately praying about it. I talked it through with my parents, who held the same Christian beliefs. We also asked our friends in our small group bible study to pray about it with us.
As I was praying about it and getting no response, I came to the realization that I had been praying something along the lines of, “God, let me know your will, but please let the answer be yes.” I then knew that this wasn’t seeking God’s will at all, but rather just trying to confirm my own desires. So, I began to pray, “God, let me know your will – be it yes or no.” James had a similar experience. Once we both reached the point where we were willing to hear a “no” answer from God, we both felt that we received a “yes” answer. Interestingly, it happened during separate prayer times on the same day, around the same time. When we saw each other later that day it was to share the “yes” we had received. From there we began dating, later became engaged and have now been married 8 years. While we have had our share of challenges during our married life, having the focus on God and the knowledge that God brought us together has helped us to work through and overcome many problems.
Garry Bouwman on Jul 23, 2008 9:18am
Our story begins many moons ago when we met on, of all things, a blind date. Both of us still had fresh wounds from previous bad marriages, and to be honest, neither one of us felt that we were ready for a new relationship. Looking back on it now, it was definitely a God-thing that we both said yes to this blind date.
After dinner and dancing we decided to walk and talk. We talked into the wee hours of the morning and we both knew there was something special going on. We were married 6 months later. During that 6 months we saw each other every night but one and on that night I sent her flowers.
We still do everything together. We even teamed up to do youth ministry together for 17 years. Together we've raised two fine sons who have blessed us with the wonderful wives they have chosen. We also have two incredible grandsons.
Please don't understand us to say that we have done everything perfectly because that is certainly not the case. We have made mistakes and poor choices. We have had fights that, as they say, "shook the rafters". But we have never allowed them to shake the foundation.
We have also had the most wonderful of times. In September we will celebrate our 31st anniversary. God has been so good to us. It does our hearts good to see so many young couples at Threads who have dedicated their marriages to Christ. If our long marriage is a testament to anything, it is that God can and will bless a marriage that He has been invited to be a part of.
We will pray for all the marriages at Threads and invite you to do the same.
Garry and Diane Bouwman
Lee Abernathy on Jul 24, 2008 12:34pm
I had been married for a number of years and had only committed my life to Christ for a few years before when I came across a Christian singer who talked about love. He said " Love is not a feeling it is an act of your will " . Thinking about it hit me like a ton of bricks. All of my life I had been doing it wrong. Love had always been about how I felt not what I did. As I looked into the bible for guidance about this, I realized that every time Christ talked about his love or his Farhter's love it was in the context of them doing something for me.
Suddenly I realized that when I told my wife that "I loved her" in God's model it was was my responsibility to "Do something " and not just be a reciepient of some good feeling. Holding what the Bible says about love as the example it changes every thing about my relationship with my wife family and friends.