Preparing For the Wrong Thing.

I woke up this morning, thinking about the phrase, "preparing for marriage." Something about it seems a bit off. Should I encourage my single friends to prepare themselves for marriage? I think the term makes marriage out to be the pinnacle of life- the end goal of existence. I have a feeling my single friends might feel a pressure from others or even their own thoughts that say, "You better get yourself straight, learn how to cook, get your finances together, become more gracious and spiritually mature, develop your communication skills so that God will see that your ready and bring someone along." And I'm going to venture to say I'm not sure I agree with this.  

Because marriage is not the end goal of our existence, God uses it as a tool to prepare us for glory. It's one of the many things in life that he will use to grow us. He can use marriage to teach us how to cook, to make us more gracious, to develop our communications skills, etc. Perfection isn't required for marriage, getting your self together isn't a requirement. I think you can have it all wrong and God can and will use your marriage to grow you up in Christ. Because the pinnacle of life is not marriage, it's Jesus and to become more like Him. 

I knew a girl that was very insecure, didn't say more than two words. Needless to say she was a bad communicator and really struggled to connect her emotions with her words. She didn't enjoy God's Word and didn't understand the gospel. She believed she was saved by grace through works and was often discouraged by her failures. This girl met a wonderful guy who pursued her despite many voices telling him to stay away. "She's not prepared," they'd say. But God graciously kept him pursuing her. I should say this guy wasn't perfect. He had a thing or two to learn about communication. He struggled with being too good at connecting his emotions with his words and could be a bit harsh. But He loved Jesus and shared the gospel often in their dating relationship. A little over a year later they were married and a year after they'd been married, the Lord opened the girl's eyes to the beauty of the gospel. She finally understood she didn't have to work for her salvation. Jesus did it all for her. Then the following year they found out they were expecting. They were excited and nervous but trusting God would work out the details. 7 months later, they're son passed away at 31 weeks. God gave that girl grace to find joy in suffering. He gave her peace that surpassed understanding. He showed her he could use her for his glory. He showed her she had value and worth  and was put here for a purpose and gave her a voice. Her son's death gave her life. And that girl was me.

I was the one person that you would say was unprepared for marriage, but somehow God saw it fit to take me from singleness to marriage and graciously used my marriage to teach me how to do things I struggled with being single. I share that story because I hope it encourages someone to see that God uses all the "life changing" events like marriage and children as a means to grow us, not as the things that we should be 100% ready for.  Because honestly, He will make sure there will be challenges that we are not ready for, so that we fall to our knees and depend on him. I just want to encourage my single friends that the reason why you're not married isn't because you aren't prepared enough, it's because God is growing you up to be more like him in your singleness. His goal is Christ-likeness not marriage. There is nothing wrong with you, (well there is, but that's taken care of) you are not forgotten, you are right where you are supposed to be. No need to wait around for life to start. Life has started, you're in the middle of it, God is working in you now. Live.

Grace.

"Grace, even in the small things of life, is never small grace. - Greg Lucas

I was confident I'd get it right this time. 


Money has always been an issue for us. We never seem to be disciplined, self controlled or wise enough with our money. Yes, we've tried the budgets, mint.com, pretty much everything and they all seem to work for about 2 months and then we're back to square one. It's a heart issue, we know. Some months we do better than others, but the pattern remains and in my opinion we can do better. I was determined to make that happen this time.

We had a huge bill to pay that month. I set some money aside in the account and made sure to communicate to Anthony and myself that that money wasn't to be touched until we had enough to pay the bill, which wouldn't be until the following week. 

I did a good job of keeping to this. I was disciplined and very good, I was sure God was pleased. 

But a few days later I went to grab a bagel for breakfast and realized they went bad. 

I'm pregnant, I can't skip breakfast. I had to buy something. 

Thankfully, we had about 5 dollars in cash on the dresser. I grabbed it and stopped at Dunken Donuts. I spent 3 dollars and 75 cents on a sandwich. That left me with 2.25 for lunch.  

I decided to go to Taco Bell for lunch. When I got up to the drive through and saw the menu, I couldn't resist the Burrito Supreme meal. 

I had to have it.

But a meal cost 5 dollars and change, that meant I had to take money from the account and use the debit card. In that moment I didn't care and I orded the meal.  I pulled up to the cashier window and handed the lady my card. She swiped it and handed it back. 

And then it hit me- I messed it all up. I had done, such a good job of being disciplined and now I ruined it. I sat there and began the condemnation, "You never get the money right. Why can't you be more disciplined? I wonder what God thinks about this. Why do you keep messing up? Why can't you have self control? Yeah I know it's just 5 dollars, but that adds up. Ughh, God you don't have to be gracious, you really don't. And besides, what could you do? Have someone give me the 5 dollars back?" 

I realized I had been thinking these thoughts for quite a while. I turned to see what was taking so long. That's when the manager pops her head out the window and says, "The register isn't working, you can have the meal on us today. Have a good day." 

I pulled away in disbelief. "Wow, God! I dont have words."

"I'm blown away!!"

And so, I got it wrong, but gleaned a treasure I would know nothing about had I gotten it right- where sin abounds, grace abounds all the more. And it's the overflow of grace that makes me want to do good. So to those of us, who feel condemned because we keep messing up be encouraged that nothing can separate us from the grace and love of God in Christ Jesus. Not even our sins or mistakes. God is always there ready to lavish us with his grace because he knows that is what will soften our hearts to do good in the first place. Condemnation leads to death, Grace leads to life and good. Because Jesus did everything right, we have the ability to do things well, by the power of the Spirit. Not to attain love from God, but because we are loved. It is the world of condemnation that keeps us sinning. So enter the world of grace, accept it and realize that without it, it is impossible to do good. Don't be silly like me and try to prove you can get it right without his grace. Grace is what got us in, and it's grace that keeps us going till the end. 

And from His fullness we have all received grace upon grace. - John 1:6