His prayers are filled with requests to God that you would grow and mature,
standing complete and perfect in the beauty of God’s plan for your lives.
(Colossians 4:13 TPT)
A few weeks ago I was conversing with a lovely new friend – a more mature believer – and we were discussing relationships that weren’t what we wished them to be. She shared a story about her husband of over 50 years, whom she loves and respects deeply, but also has a lingering disappointment in one aspect of their marriage. She told me that, when she asked God what to do about her disappointment, his response was unexpected. “If he was in a wheelchair, would you expect him to run? In this area of his life he’s unable to run the way you want him to. Pray for healing and growth, but don’t push him to do things he simply cannot do.”
Ouch. Good reminder, but more easily said than done.
God,
Thank You for the perfect way You have created each of us and for the grace You offer us in our lives. We are grateful for the reminder that You are the giver of every good gift, and that You provide for all our needs when we are in Christ Jesus. Help us remember these truths, especially when we struggle to see things from Your perspective. Teach us to trust You during the times when our growth feels slow, difficult, or incomplete. Guide us to be supportive, compassionate, and tenderly devoted to our loved ones, even when they don’t meet our expectations or desires. Turn our hearts toward You, filling us with Your perfect love and grace. Continue to shape us into the image of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior. Amen.
Let every wife be supportive and tenderly devoted to her husband, for this is a beautiful illustration of our devotion to Christ. Let every husband be filled with cherishing love for his wife and never be insensitive toward her. (Colossians 3:18-19 TPT)
And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. (Ephesians 3:17-19 NIV)