This week Greg and I took a few days away to
celebrate our 29th anniversary! Each year at this time, I find
myself reminiscing about what our relationship looked like in 1985, and how we
got to where we are today. In the last decade, I am always amazed at what
the Lord has done… and thankful!
Our wedding day was fun. But the journey toward
becoming one, physically, emotionally, and spiritually had a rocky beginning.
I’m so thankful for the way that God changed us by giving us a new understanding
of some old truths. In the late 80’s, I never could have imagined that our
marriage could be good! Great! And growing still, in 2014! In Redeeming Sexual Love
we’ve shared the life-changing truths, which have lead us on this path. I
thought today, I’d share briefly what that journey looked like.
1985-1990 I was growing increasingly unhappy,
and Greg couldn’t comprehend my unhappiness or what my needs were at that time.
In 1990 God confronted me. I
had never been honest with Greg for the sake of honesty, without an agenda
for his change. And in that interaction, when I, for the first
time was able to just share my heart with Greg without expectation, God began
to change our relationship.
1990-1998 Greg applied the Ephesian 5
principles in order to love me as Christ loves the church. I began to trust
Greg in a way, which had not been possible in our past.
Eventually I began to recognize that there was
something within me, which prevented me from “being there” for Greg physically
as he needed, and as I desired to be.
In 1998, God showed me from His Word that the
physical relationship of a husband and wife is reflective of His relationship
with us, the church. And He caused me to view sex as a celebration of life, and
His
love!
1998-2012 As we learned to celebrate life
together, He led us in a journey toward freedom, which goes beyond our physical
relationship. We made a commitment to the Lord to share our journey whenever He
gave that opportunity.
God wants all of us to be free from legalistic
practices and an ambiguous and faulty understanding of what is a “good” and
“right”. These are "twisted truths"… lies, which often characterize
our "religion". God made a plan for us to experience this
freedom. And Jesus led the way in understanding that plan: it's all about
relationships!
2012-2014 In recent years we have had
opportunities to share these truths and bits of our story with individuals and
couples. These have resulted in the writing of this Bible study. We
continue to take these opportunities, and through them Redeeming Sexual Love
is continuing to be refined.
We praise God for what He has done, and what He
is doing. Our prayer is that together each of us will find fulfillment and
freedom as we live our lives growing in our relationships together and with our
God.
