Tim and I have come to realize that the strength of our marriage and our family is based on our relationship with the Lord. If that isn't right, everything else is much harder and messier. For me, it took realizing that I was spiritually spent and dry and spinning my wheels in order to wake up to the fact that I had to get it together spiritually before the rest of my life was going to straighten out. I have been in church my entire life and knew the game. I had moved away from allowing God to be at the center of my life though, and was trying to just make it on my own power......Fail (as my children say).
It wasn't until I started setting aside time every morning to read, pray, and journal that God really began to work in my life in a real and powerful way. I am not a morning person, but you do what you must do. And this is something I must do. I love it now. It was hard at first and I didn't know where to start reading, so I started with Psalms. I read them all. David had great insight and was so real. It's beautiful poetry, but it is also very human and his emotions are all over the map. Just like us! I want to encourage you to get some kind of journal or notebook too. Sometimes I write verses that I come across that I want to remember, sometimes I write out words to a chorus or song. At times I write out things I'm thankful for or things I'm concerned about, or just recapping what we did the day before or that we're about to do that day. There's no real rhyme or reason, it's just what's on my mind. Tim started this several years ago and it has been a great help to him as well. Every so often we make it a point to share with others what we've read or what we're studying.
Something else Tim and I do is to pray together before we go to sleep each night. It has been an important element in our relationship and something we look forward to. We pray for each other, for our girls, for concerns, for friends, etc... I would encourage you to do this if you are married or involved with someone. If you are not, find a prayer partner. Of course it's important to have a private prayer life as well. Be honest with God. He already knows anyway.
If there is anything we can teach our children, it is to love the Lord with all their heart, soul, mind, and strength. It has to start there. You can't expect the other relationships in your life to be healthy if the one with your Lord isn't. You will end up spiritually spent, dry, and spinning your wheels.
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