CHOOSING OUR BATTLES

Dear Friends,

Is it worth fighting over? I ask myself this every day. We all know that a couple that has no fights does not exist. While this statement is true, I want to say that we should learn to choose our battles. We cannot just fight over anything and everything as it has become the behavior of some of us. Marriage is great when two people enter into it with a mutual commitment to keep it strong no matter what. Most of the time a couple will have preconceived ideas about who the other is and how married life is supposed to be, and then reality checks in and that’s when their kingdom can become divided. A couple needs to ask God to do whatever it takes to keep their marriage intact, even if it means striking one of you with lightening when you think about giving it all up! Marriage takes work it’s always not easy and sometimes we have to learn the hard way. Sometimes differences have become so huge that you probably thinking how you are supposed to show love to somebody over and over and over again who constantly continues to hurt and reject you. Well, you should never at any one point stop loving your spouse because God is love. You can’t truly love your spouse until you truly understand what love is. 

1^st Corinthians 13: 4-8 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails.

This is the kind of Love that God wants us to share with our spouses. If you are not married, don’t get married for the wrong reasons and if you are married, don’t get divorced for the wrong reasons. Don’t just be concerned about your rights and your needs; don’t be selfish because if you are, one ends up ruining their spouse’s lives. God made marriage to be for a lifetime we can’t just get in and out of it like we feel like. We have to keep our vows to our spouses. We have to beg God to help us be the husband/wife He wants us to be. Most of the time I have heard people say they will follow their heart. This is very wrong and I will tell you why we should never at any one point follow our hearts. The bible says the heart of a man is deceitful above all things and if we choose to follow our hearts we can be deceived but we have to lead our hearts to be more like Jesus Christ so that we are able to love our spouses with the love that God wants us to love them with *UNCONDITIONAL LOVE*

My life in marriage has been a class to learn every day. Coming from a broken home made me become very emotional and defensive. I saw my parents fight and I was so scared of marriage. I always told my husband that any time he would show me signs of being like my dad I will walk out of our marriage. I was always alert to defend and strike at any point I sensed that my husband was going to confront me with something he thought we should talk about. Instead of asking God to help me know when to talk and when to keep quiet, I picked up fights even when I should not have and we were always in a bad mood. We could not talk about anything important without getting into a fight. This would hurt my husband so much and at some point I think he was so frustrated on what to do he only could not tell me. Whenever my husband tried to tell me how he felt about something, I would get so emotional and the conversation would stop. It got to the point we would rather avoid any conversation about us and talk about anything else. We feared conflict and began to sweep things under the carpet. This was not healthy for us and whenever we fought, it was a really bad fight. At one point I remember we argued about finances while in public transport to the point my husband threw his wedding ring out of his window. We are still not perfect but we are seeking perfection from God. We want a Godly marriage and we will hold on to God until he teaches us how to be better partners for each other. Sweeping things under the carpet is not healthy for any couple because the day either one explodes then the fight will not be a good fight. We all ought to discuss things as they are when they are still fresh in a very Godly manner. The bible tells us we should not let the sun go down when we are still angry. 

We always have a joke in our house that those days we would not resolve conflict, one used to get in the house and before you do anything you check around and under the seats, beds etc just in case the other partner planted a bomb for you to explode! As much as so many people would not want to come out and share their stories, this is very true in most marriages and I would just urge us to learn to choose our battles. If it’s not worth fighting over then let’s not fight because some of this conflicts cost us so much. Our spouses get hurt because sometimes we say things we do not mean to say and we cannot get our words back. When we respond with anger, then we do not only hurt our spouses but we hurt God too. So many unhealthy relationships exist and so many people are chocked in such relationships. They are busy trying to see how they can fix their partners than how they can ask God to fix them to be better partners. For those who are busy trying to fix their spouses, I have news for you stop fixing what is not broken the person who needs fixing is you! We all probably don’t know how to be better spouses to our partners but if we ask God, then He will teach us on how to be one lovely spouse to our partners because marriage is beautiful  and mine must work!

 By Brenda Ochieng

IF YOU CANT BEAT THEM JOIN THEM

Dear Friends,

Is this statement true? Do I really want to join him? Heddwyn and Lydia Williams one of our mentor couples during our premarital session is one lovely couple that has been married for such a long time. Once Lydia told me “Brenda, if you can’t beat them join them”  and I was like “No you just did not tell me that! i really don't want to join him” I felt so sorry for myself. It felt like i was just coming from home under the control of my parents to being under the control of my husband. Is this true that submitting is being controlled?  Absolutely not our spouses are not controllers they are our lovers and we ought to treat them with love. There was no way this was going to happen. My husband is a football fanatic or so to say soccer fanatic for the sake of my brothers and sisters abroad and he would do anything to make sure he watches any game his favorite team Arsenal would play. Hehehehe! I know I have caught the eyes of most men with my previous sentence. It felt like he gave football priority over me and I started fighting it. Every time he told me he is going to watch football we would have a fight I even went to the extent of telling him to make football his wife. I knew the bible told us that we should do everything with moderation and I just didn’t understand how my husband loved football so much that he would put on hold everything else until the game is over. After some time I thought to myself that my tantrums have not worked and so I shared my story with Lydia Williams who was not only our mentor couple but also happened to be my husband’s boss then. My husband even watched football with Heddwyn Williams who was also his boss they would even bet which team would win that's how much the 2 of them loved football.

I remember when I told her this story, I had balancing tears in my eyes I wanted to cry so loudly but held it in to save myself from shame. She put her hand over my shoulder and told me her story. She used to be in the same situation in her marriage but she thought she would die trying to make her husband stop loving football. So she decided that “if she can’t beat him join him” and she begun to accompany her husband to the matches every time he went for one.  Guess what? It worked perfectly well for her! She started having sports conversations with her husband that played part in improving their marriage. At that point, her husband felt that her wife was very loving to come to a football match with him. Before Heddwyn knew it, he had begun slowing down on the matches since he also wanted to join Lydia on some of the things she liked doing. I decided to take her advice and guess what? It worked for me too! I don’t go for all his games but it helped me learn to let him to do what he liked doing as long as it does not draw him away from God. I guess that answers my question on top of the page it doesn’t matter how much you don’t enjoy something positive your spouse does if it’s going to improve your marriage it’s worth the sacrifice. You might be asking how football would improve any marriage. The answer is it creates a good atmosphere for you and your spouse to share a conversation he likes even if you don’t like it yourself with time you will find that you don’t mind doing it for the person you love. My confession is that today as I write this I feel nothing even if my husband watches 5 games in a raw I out grew my jealousy and I came to know that his love for me is much greater than his love for football it can never replace me and that’s just the truth. 

Men can do anything to watch a game they love would you also take the same example and even be better husbands and do anything for that woman you love. You never stop supporting a team despite how many times they have lost. Your wife should never cease to be your favorite despite how many times she has failed you and the reverse is true.  I mean my husband is still an Arsenal fun to date and you dare not say anything negative on the team because you will not like that conversation. Why would it be so easy to write off your marriage yet it means so much than a football team? Why is it so easy to write off the most important things in Life? I pray to God that this shall not be our portion in Jesus name! The bible says that a man shall leave his father and mother and become one with the wife why then would we let our better halves go? This are questions we should always ask ourselves and strive to do the right things even when we don’t feel like because Marriage is beautiful and mine must work!

By Brenda Ochieng

SUBMISSION

Dear Friends,

A Couple that never have fights or rather disagreements do not exist. A bad fight is one that seriously alienates husband and wife but never resolves the cause of the problem.As a result one ends up building up bitterness,quarreling,uncontrolled anger,hatred and often divorce,violence and abuse.Most of us we LACK the skill to discuss disagreements and RESOLVE them. Specifically we need the ability to discuss serious problems,reach a plan to resolve them and then put that plan into action.

Proverbs 31:10-12: who can find a virtuous wife? For her worth is far above rubies. the heart of her husband safely trusts her;so he will have no lack of gain.She does him good and not evil all the days of her life.

Submission is not a word a lot of us want to hear but its a fact and God requires us to be submissive.

It has never been so easy for me to submit especially because i have a very strong personality and i too wanted to be heard. I wanted my point to be the point that's taken and all through my life, my dad always called me "the go getter girl" I want it, i get it.I over believed in myself and even carried that in to my marriage. No one taught me how to be a wife of course we went for per-marital classes but being a wife is not just attending classes it's beyond that its all about submitting to your husband, loving him and respecting him despite of.I fought this fight everyday and i struggled so much to always win. If there is anyone in this entire universe who has made my husband a happy man then i believe it has to be me but the opposite is even more true. If there is anyone in this entire universe who has made my husband hurt so much it was no one but me.Many times we have quarreled so long that we lost hope that things will ever improve.We needed to believe that  by God's power through Jesus Christ, we can resolve our marriage problems and only if both parties will really work at it. Well, you will all agree with me that sometimes when one goes through a difficult time praying is definitely not your first thought. Praying was not my first thought either and in fact, it was the last thing on my mind.I tried all other things first like arguing,pleading,ignoring,avoiding,confronting,debating and of course the best thing we laddies know how to do "the silent treatment" Again i say i struggled to win and for some reason, it did not have any fulfillment but i just wanted to win.I am not saying Kevin is an all perfect man but all this would leave my husband reaped off of his respect, honor, priesthood and being a quiet man that did not improve his life at all.

 I am still learning but i want to be Kevin's supper woman, i want his answer to be yes when asked if he would marry me again. A beautiful woman/wife is not only beautiful on the outside, but she is beautiful from the inside out and that's the woman/wife i want to be. How do i become that? I have to realize that for my marriage to be beautiful, then it has to start with me. God hates divorce and that is not a vocabulary in my marriage neither is separation and i am never going to be found among those who are divorced or separated in Jesus Name. I ask God everyday to reveal to me His will for me in my marriage, to make me the woman/wife that is pleasing to be around. I ask God everyday to get anything that is not pleasing to Him away from me that my thoughts concerning my husband are pure, my attitude towards him is right, that i may be the helper that he needs and not a bully. That God may never leave me until i am perfect in this things. That He may constantly remind me every time i seem to drift away from the right direction. I fail everyday but i must say God is helping us be a better couple and enjoy our marriage.Does this mean we do not have differences? No it means we are learning day by day to accommodate each other in love,compliment each other and use each others strengths to make this marriage beautiful.

My husband has his share of troubles but one of this fine days you will hear from him.As for me i have learned that before i start praying for my husband to change, it has to start with me. I have to be the first person to change and this is only possible with the help of God the Father, God the Son and God the holy Spirit.It hasn't been easy yet i am convinced that God's way is worth the effort it takes to walk in it.Its the only way to save a marriage. Also pray for your husband. A wife's prayers for her husband have far greater effect on him than anyone else's in this world because you are one.If you only pray for yourself and not him you will never find the fulfillment you want because what happens to him happens to you and you cant get around it. The opposite is also very true husbands pray for your wives too.

In every broken marriage, there is at least one person whose heart is hard against God and when a heart becomes hard there is no vision from God's perspective. When we pray,however,our hearts become soft toward God and we get a vision. We begin to see there is hope and have faith that He will restore all that has been devoured,destroyed and eaten away from the marriage. We all ought to remember that, in every situation lets learn from our mistakes and move on because: "Marriage is beautiful and mine must work."

by Brenda Ochieng

MINE MUST WORK

Dear Readers,
My name is Brenda Ochieng and I am married to one great and loving husband Kevin Ochieng (Thank you Kevin for loving me for who i am it never mattered to you what people said) and together we have two lovely children Randy and Janelle Ochieng. We will be celebrating our six years in marriage on the 14th of February 2013 and my marriage must work! By now i know some of us are already raising their eye brows asking how have we managed to get this far and some of us also are celebrating with us especially if you know our back grounds. Well, i must be quick to say its not by our own strength but God has been the pillar that holds our marriage.We have had our share of bad times and it was not easy at all. I know most of us would love to hear that marriages comprise of only good times but am sorry to say, that is half truth the complete truth is if we have God as the pillar that holds our marriages then even in bad times He directs your path. Ephesians 5:21-33 I know this is one of the very familiar verses that every married couple can almost recite closing their eyes but is it a living word in us? Have we made it our life style to live according to the  instructions of God?

²¹ Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.
²² Wives, submit yourselves to your own husbands as you do to the Lord. ²³ For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior. ²⁴ Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything.
²⁵ Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her ²⁶ to make her holy, cleansing^[a] her by the washing with water through the word, ²⁷ and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. ²⁸ In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. ²⁹ After all, no one ever hated their own body, but they feed and care for their body, just as Christ does the church— ³⁰ for we are members of his body. ³¹ “For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.”^{[b] 32} This is a profound mystery—but I am talking about Christ and the church. ³³ However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.

This is not what we all want to hear but the fact is that it is what we are expected to do :) I want to tell you a bit of my story. I have a very strong personality and sometimes in marriage its a good thing and sometimes its a bad thing. My parents got separated when i was the age of 14 it probably didn't hit me hard because at that time, i had my share of teenage hood problems to take care of. It wasn't until i was old enough to understand marriage that i realized actually we really suffered as children just because of the choices my parents made. That was my past i don't live in it any more but sometimes it haunts me to think of all trouble we went through. My dad was an alcoholic and also the bread winner of the home and my mum was a house wife but it was not easy for her when they got separated because she had to learn to work to feed us.We were born seven children of which my mum had to take care of all of us since my dad had abandoned all his responsibilities. It was not an easy task to take but she tried.

Having lived with my mum as the provider of all our needs at some point made me think that women don't need men in their lives they can actually do it by themselves. This is not true its very wrong to bring up your children without a father figure in their lives because they will grow up not respecting men in the society. I became very dominant and brought that to my marriage and since my husband has a very quiet personality, it became a problem that only God is still helping us. I wanted to be the one who said how things should be done and reaped off my husband his priesthood. All this time i didn't realize what i was doing until when my husband talked to me and reminded me that he was the head of the family. How was i supposed to trust in his leadership when i saw my dad bring everything down? How was i supposed to sit down and be led while i saw my mother lead all the way? Only God can help us. We are now all grown ups and thanking our mum so much for working hard to see we went through school, ate, dressed, played, and lived like the rest of the other children. I just want us to know that our past can be one of the major hindrances to our marriages and we should always sit down and choose to pick the good attributes and leave the bad ones so that we can be better spouses in our marriages.

My husband comes from a polygamous family and i come from a broken home nothing worked for my parents there are many forces that want to ensure that my marriage wont work but am here to say "MINE MUST WORK" not by my own strength but by the strength of Jesus Christ who is the author and finisher of my life. 

Brenda Ochieng