“I am no longer happy in my marriage” is a statement I hear often.    I think God wants us to be happy in marriage but I don’t think that is His goal.  We get lost in the goals of conflict free living and perfect happiness.  When marriage doesn’t provide what we think we deserve, we become convinced it is our spouses fault.  We begin to believe that happiness will be found when I get out of the marriage and find something that will meet my needs and goals. Many times when you look at your goals and need, they are things that only God can meet.  You are asking your marriage to do something it was not designed to do.  

What did God design marriage for: 

• God created marriage as a intimate partnership between one man and one woman.
• Marriage is the best secure foundation for building a family.
• God designed sexual expression to help married couples build intimacy and oneness.
• Marriage is the metaphor or mirror of God’s covenant relationship with us.
  
• God will use Marriage to form Christliness in you.

Marriage can be a beautiful place to live.  It will be the primary place that God will use to form Christlikenss in you. I have become more patient, understanding and kind because of my desire to live with and love my wife.  As a wife you can over look his dirty sock in the floor because you see a man who struggles everyday to provide for your family.  As a husband you can over look her harsh tone because she works tirelessly night and day to take care of your children, and takes little time for herself!  That kind of love can only come from God—and it makes HIM FAMOUS!  The source is HIS LOVE….HIS Patience…HIS Grace…HIS Longsuffering.  We are all in the process!!  It is realizing we are in the fox hole of life with a partner, I have her back, and she has mine.  Some days he misses the close hamper, some days she raises her voice….  Hint: Both partners should strive to be better the next day, being diligently to take care of the things that are important to each other.

I think that God’s biggest goal is that my marriage makes Him famous and causes people to ask questions about His goodness.