The wonderful thing about this relationship we can have with Jesus is . . . He can be like a father that is teaching us how to be just like Him through difficulties. And, He can keep life’s crisis’ from destroying our lives “Romans 5:3-5″ style!
I see struggles in my life as a “Romans 5: 3-5″ way that lead to being conformed to His image (patience, faith, and love, i.e. Rom 8:29, 1 Cor 15:49, 1 John 3:2). by James Hess
The Romans 5:3-5 Perspective
The all to human side of this life can really crash down hard from time to time. To keep our faith from faltering we need to think about our lives through a Godly perspective. That perspective is based on us even glorying “in tribulations.” This is because as the Romans verse goes on to say, “tribulation worketh patience; and patience, experience; and experience, hope: And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.” (Romans 5:3-5, James 1:3)
Still, I try to forget the real blows in my life, but the echoes of each of these traumatic moments
live on in my memory. Like, the memory of when my wife,
(Sarah) and I heard,
I’m very sorry. A lot of 1st pregnancies
result in a miscarriage…”
– 9 years ago, Doctor
to Sarah and myself.
Marriage can be a journey through the most hard-hitting
and tragic moments of life. Yet, those moments can mold a couple to become a unified team – as it did for Sarah and me.
It can be the terrible things that force us to cling to each
other for strength and support.
As a husband, I learned the things that matter most to me, and especially, to Sarah. It is out of some of these experiences – that my leadership has had to rise to the occasion, and my level of caring has had to search the depths of my wife’s need for emotional security…
Just talking to you about these experience bring back the memories…
GET DOWN, Get down on the ground! Give me your purse…,
Hey, where’s your wallet? Give me your wallet”!!!
– 6 years ago, drugged-out mugger;
pointing 9mm pistol at Sarah and I,
just a few feet from us.Well, our decision is final. We can’t keep you on with the business.
Being the way that things are right now… we’re going to have to
let you go”!
– 4 years ago, James’ boss
to James.James, it’s confirmed. I’m pregnant again”!
– 1 week before I’m is told that I am losing my job, said from Sarah to me (note: this was more of a shock than
a tragedy since I started to have
the feeling that I was going to
lose my job).
So, these little snippets tell the story best from the point Sarah and I got married till I lost my job. Mixed in there are happy surprises, like discovering the fact that Sarah and I were having “twins” – after having already delivered the 1st baby, not expecting to deliver a 2nd baby minutes later, on the same day… AT HOME!
Our “surprise” fam of four on the “Romans 5:3-5″ recliner of life.
Another is being granted the opportunity to live in a giant log cabin on 5 acres of private, gated land, full of beautiful forest trails and a view of the purple hazed Smokey Mountains of North Carolina… for a VERY affordable price. The entire
deal was an incredibly generous and beneficial offer from a very good friend!
It was there in those quiet and calming log cabin surrounded by those peaceful woods of the log cabin that ‘Keep Marriage Alive’ was born. It was much to our surprise after Sarah and I discovered that I was being laid off from my job that her
father saw our situation, knew our strengths, & encouraged us to start and build ‘Keep Marriage Alive’.
In fact, it was his help in starting ‘Keep Marriage Alive” when Sarah’s and my future seemed scary and uncertain that helped make ‘Keep Marriage Alive’ possible. As stated above, that was four years ago. We hugged long and happily when we started ‘Keep Marriage Alive.’
However, those tragic AND happy surprises of life have been the times that have caused Sarah and I to hug & hold on to each other the longest and the most intensely.Just hold each other like there’s no tomorrow!
My advise to you is this, Hug!
Hug long, hug strong…
and do it often. Doing so will help make Romans 5:3-5 stick!
If you do not embrace each other regularly, then certainly do so when shocking and possibly traumatizing events rock your marriage; as they are bound to do.
This is Keep Marriage Alive’s prescription for stopping the damage that can happen to your marriage, family, and finances through the finalization of a divorce…
there are no hugs to be had between you and you spouse when that happens.