Paraphrase of James 1: 2-12 for Married Couples

There is real joy in the story of a marriage where trials are faced and overcome.

For we realize that as our faith is challenged and our marriages confront hardship we are actually made stronger. This blessing comes as an outcome of our not giving up…..our refusing to give in. As a result, we become mature as a couple, learning that overcoming our difficulties makes us stronger and better equipped to meet future challenges.

When we are hard pressed for answers, we have learned to ask God for help. And God responds by giving us wisdom and insight just because we asked Him. As a couple, we have accepted that God wants us to believe in His adequacy to overcome anything we encounter. We are to resist negativity and pessimism. God’s blessings are limited severely by couples who refuse to put full trust in Him. If we doubt Him, we are like a wave of the ocean which gets swept to and fro by the wind. Couples whose faith in God is weak, will find themselves unsteady in all they attempt to do.

As couples who embrace our own inadequacies, we are actually elevated in God’s eyes as being reverently confident in His power and not deceived into thinking it is all up to our own effort. We heed the warning to avoid being overconfident in our own power. For if we do so, we just wind up being like a bouquet of pretty flowers which comes to wilt over time. The beauty of an enduring marriage only comes when couples refuse to act independently of God and resist the tendency to live according to their own selfish standards.

A marriage is blessed when the couple holds fast to one another and God even through the tough times. The crowning achievement comes in the form of being blessed of God, both as an individual and as a couple. These blessings are manifested both now and in eternity.

Because of these things, we know that when we love one another it is just one more way of expressing our love for Him.

Our love, our commitment and perseverance as couples, go up to Him as honor and praise.

From http://southmoon.wordpress.com/2009/11/02/paraphrase-of-james-1-2-12-for-married-couples/