A marriage in which you have never had trouble is fake, and when a real problem comes, you won’t be ready for it. This means that conflict is not always a problem. What do you know about your spouse or the person you intend to marry? Do you know what turns him off? Do you know what makes your spouse completely mad? Do you know what makes your spouse very happy? When you know it by experience, you have to start applying it. God will not tell you; it is part of your discovery on the road of marriage. Once you know it, the rest is easy.
If you don’t know what makes your spouse completely lose it, your marriage is not safe. It is waiting for the day you will press the wrong button by accusing your spouse of being a witch or wizard. If you can find the button, you can know it is a button you shouldn’t press and know what to pray. Sit down with your spouse for a chat and ask, “What makes you angry?” What your spouse tells you is not necessarily going to be so; you should pray, “God, let me discover it.”
Conflicts bring respect and greater understanding. Have you seen two friends that quarrel? Out of their quarrel, they understand each other and know what not to do or where not to go.
If a conflict does not lead to respect, it will lead to conquest or destruction. Marriage is not conquest. Some people have a marriage where one spouse is the winner and the other loser; he has conquered his wife, or she has conquered her husband.
PRAYER: Father, I receive grace to submit your will in my marriage and wisdom to resolve every conflict.
BIBLE IN A YEAR: Joel 1:1-3:21, Revelation 1:1-20, Psalm 128:1-6, Proverbs 29:18