Those are good ones. I was wondering if there were any bible verse(s) that can help me understand myself in this marriage. I have Borderline Personality Disorder, PTSD and anxiety. He has anxiety so that makes our marriage I guess you can say special. Another forum I have posted on has a BPD board and people have spouses with this disorders and they have gotten divorces from it. I don't want to be one of those people. I want to have Christ in the middle of our relationship always and that I can over this and my fears.
Thank you & blessings,
Army Wife :angel:
Honestly, I don't think you'll find anything specific to those conditions.
What I can say (having been married 18 years and gone through a number of rough patches) is that love is a choice rather than a feeling. When couples base their decisions on how they feel about each other it's inevitable that sooner or later one is going to get bored of the other, the feelings fade away and they conclude they made a horrible mistake. Some time after that some hunk/babe (delete as appropriate) appears on the scene and triggers the feelings they once had for their spouse, causing them to conclude that they have the right to be happy, they want those feelings back, so they run away with the hunk/babe only to find the same thing happens over and over again.
To love someone is a decision, a specific action that we choose to take regardless of how we feel about the situation. There have been many times over the last 18 years when I really haven't liked my wife all that much but still couldn't imagine life without her (and, just to be fair, if you asked her she'd say the exact same thing about me). When Jesus died for us out of love it was an active decision, I don't suppose he felt particularly good about being nailed to a tree but he did it out of love. In the same way, just as Christ loved the church so husbands are to love their wives (some say husbands get the better deal out of the passage in Ephesians I posted, but as husbands we are supposed to lay down our lives for our wives - on balance I think my wife gets the easier deal).
Looking to Scripture maybe a few of these will help:
Php 4:8 NKJV Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things.
Php 4:12-13 NKJV I know how to be abased, and I know how to abound. Everywhere and in all things I have learned both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. (13) I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.
1Co 10:13 NKJV No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it.
2Co 12:7-10 NKJV And lest I should be exalted above measure by the abundance of the revelations, a thorn in the flesh was given to me, a messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I be exalted above measure. (8) Concerning this thing I pleaded with the Lord three times that it might depart from me. (9) And He said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness." Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. (10) Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ's sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
... and I always find having this to look forward to very encouraging ...
Rev 21:1-7 NKJV Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. Also there was no more sea. (2) Then I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. (3) And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, "Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God. (4) And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away." (5) Then He who sat on the throne said, "Behold, I make all things new." And He said to me, "Write, for these words are true and faithful." (6) And He said to me, "It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. I will give of the fountain of the water of life freely to him who thirsts. (7) He who overcomes shall inherit all things, and I will be his God and he shall be My son.
