Aches and Praise Three Hundred & Forty Two

March 27, 2018
 
Dear friends,
 

If you are married, are you able to say that you are enjoying a healthy marriage filled with love or are you experiencing tension and difficulties in your marriage? I received an email recently from someone who is in the latter category. This prompted me to see what books I could recommend or send to help improve the couple’s relationship.

A week ago, I started reading an excellent book entitled “How to Talk So Your Husband Will Listen” by Rick Johnson. You can read the first chapter of this book online at: http://www.cornerstonechristiansupply.com/firstchapter.asp?mode=view&index=1957. Karen found this book in the airport in Houston, on our way home from the Missions conference in Tulsa, Oklahoma. When I heard that she found the book in the Houston airport, I was surprised because I had a mindset that great books would not be on display in airports. Was I wrong! It was also encouraging to hear an announcement being made every few minutes, telling where the chapel was located in the airport.

In last week’s blog, I wrote about the changing influence of the church in Quebec since the 1960s. One institution that has seen very dramatic changes is that of marriage, where rising rates of divorce and common-law relationships are resulting in soaring numbers of children being raised by a single parent. For more information on this, please visit: http://www.stat.gouv.qc.ca/statistiques/sante/bulletins/portrait-200810-mono_an.pdf.

One book that I found in our radio follow-up office lending library is the French version of “I Want My Marriage to be Better” by Dr. Henry Brandt and Phil Landrum. The third chapter starts by describing how one couple “thought that marriage would eliminate misunderstandings, loneliness and the feeling of emptiness. Their honeymoon brought them a bitter disillusionment.” The authors go on to describe the invisible walls that go up as resentment, impatience and other self-centred attitudes grow.

Besides the emotional pain caused by failed or failing relationships, many people have a “bad taste in their mouth” with regard to people who abuse their positions of authority.  Last weekend, Montreal’s leading French-language newspaper ran a story about the terrible abuse that Innu children suffered at the hands of a priest in Quebec many years ago. We may consider ourselves much better than someone like that priest, but if we are honest, we must admit that we have fallen short of God’s standards.

The best place to discover what God requires of mankind in general and marriage partners, in particular, is the Bible. May we seek to know God’s truth and share His love with others, as we remember the supreme sacrifice of our Lord Jesus Christ on the cross and His triumph over sin and death.    

Scripture for the weekend: “Just as man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment, so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many people; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him.” Hebrews 9:27-28 (NIV) 

Thought for the weekend:  “The glorious fact that the empty tomb proclaims to us is that life for us does not stop when death comes. Death is not a wall, but a door. And eternal life, which may be ours now, by faith in Christ, is not interrupted when the soul leaves the body, for we live on … and on.” – Peter Marshall (from his book “The First Easter”)
 
 
By His grace,  
 

Steve      


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