Wednesday, August 29, 2012

10 Best Decisions of our Married Life... #7 Be Worthy of Trust

Recently I began to share something I composed some years ago to be part of a document for a niece as she got married in June 2004.  That document was created as a compilation of entries under the title:  
THE TEN BEST... or 
The Wisdom of the most important women in your life.  
Each woman who submitted an entry chose her own subject matter.  I promised to post my entry on this blog.  This is the seventh of our top decisions in the list of:
The Top Ten Decisions Guiding Our Married Life
By Uncle John and Aunt Linda Worden

7.We will trust each other and be worthy of trust when we are apart.  If trust is violated, we will repent, forgive, rebuild trust and allow the situation to remain in the past.

I Corinthians 4:2 Now it is required that those who have been given a trust must prove faithful. 
Hebrews 13: 4 Marriage should be honored by all, and the marriage bed kept pure, for God will judge the adulterer and all the sexually immoral.          
This is a very important decision and one which can either strengthen or destroy your marriage.  When we say our marriage vows, we commit to love for a lifetime and forsake all others.  This is the commitment couples willingly make to each other on their wedding day.  But in the routine of life, there may come temptations to violate trust and break faith with our spouse.  It is possible to put someone or something in the place reserved for our marriage partner.  How painful this is when it happens.  But because all things are forgivable with God, all things need to be forgivable in our marriage.  Let me encourage you to take very seriously from day one of your marriage the decision to live worthy of the trust your spouse places in you.  If you do, you will be able to live without the pain and regret of failure.  We have absolutely no regrets for having followed this decision throughout our lives.  We have had to practice the second part of this decision and it has made it possible for our marriage to be strengthened rather than destroyed.
Update in August 2012:

This continues to be our decision.  

At this point in our marriage, there are quite a number of times when I travel alone to visit our children and grandchildren.  Because John continues to be employed full time, his schedule is not as flexible as mine.  While we are apart, there are opportunities for each of us to compromise this decision.  We understand, however, that our separations are the mutual decision of us as a couple and that each of us is trusting the other one to continue being true to our marriage vows.  If we violate that trust, we endanger the strength of our relationship and cause painful memories that bring about unnecessary guilt and remorse.  

We consider trust to be extremely important.  
And so does God:
I Corinthians 4:2
Now it is required that those who have been given a trust must prove faithful.

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