Tag: support

Family is Important to God

Have you ever wondered why family is so important to God. From the beginning of the Bible, you can see that God wanted to be able to enjoy the benefits of family. Following God’s example, we should value it too. 

The family unit is a part of our lives that we don’t regularly attend to. While we plan for a lot of things when it comes to our social life and our career life, when it comes to our family there can be a lack of planning. 

In recent years there has been more of a push to have balance in life. People are recognizing the value of family. They don’t want to work 60 or 70 hours a week. There are too many stories out there of successful people who worked so hard, but in the process they lost their marriages, families, health or a combination of things. 

We can plan everything in our lives, but still leave our family out Click To Tweet

Why work so hard to achieve a financial or career status and get there not have anyone to enjoy it with?  The family unit is important for 3 reasons.

 

  1. The foundation

 

Our families are foundational to our lives. When everything can seem like it is going out of control, your family can serve as an anchor in the storm. Christians are often referred to as the Body of Christ. Showing that we are all connected. 

 

  1. Support & Celebrate

 

We know how valuable a support group can be. When we need support to get through a difficult situation our family members tend to be the ones to pick us up. The same can be said of when we celebrate significant moments in our life. Think of the milestone birthdays, the promotions, the bonuses, marriages, children being born and all the things that are important to us. Who are the people that are most likely to be there and celebrate with us? Family. 

 

  1. God at the Center

 

When it comes to organizing and evaluating our lives, it makes it easy to compartmentalize everything. We can treat our lives like rooms in a house. One room is our career.  A room for our family. The basement is where all the things we don’t want to deal with go. There’s a room for our emotions and there is a room for God. 

What we have failed to realize is that God is in every room. He is the foundation that our house is built on. God doesn’t want to be regulated to just one room. He wants to be involved in every area of life. 

 

Discussion Question:

Why is family important to you?

The Value of a Support Group

Be strong, be fearless, be beautiful. And believe that anything is possible when you have the right people there to support you. - Misty Copeland Click To Tweet

I am the oldest of five in my family. On my mother’s side of the family, I have five sets of aunts and uncles, who each have at least five kids. We’re all older now and have our own families and kids. As you know I have pretty decent size immediate family and a bigger and growing extended family.

Father and Kids
Loving Father

My immediate family is very close and we’ve all stayed close as we have grown up. At the time I didn’t know that every family wasn’t close. Going to college, making new friends, and working in the social work field, I came to know how fortunate I was to have this growing up. The support that I have received from my family over the years has been priceless.

Not everyone has that family support, but now that I have a family of my own I want to provide this type of support for my spouse, children. This family support is so important. Here are three ways that family support is valuable:

 

  1. Support is not always family

 

I mentioned it above, but it bears repeating. I had and continue to have a strong support system from my family. What I came to realize is that not everyone has their family as a support system.

When family isn’t an option you have to have the support system that is made up of friends. We sometimes think that our support system has to automatically be our family. That’s not a guarantee. Look at all of your family and friends and take an inventory on who is adding value to your life. Those that are adding the most value will be the ones who make up your support system.

 

  1. Support helps you cope

 

Life can be stressful. There are so many aspects, situations, and parts of life that can be stressful for us. It feels like the weight of the world can be on your shoulders. As close as we can think that Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, makes us, it also isolates us. We may be on social media, but we tend to have more feelings of isolation than genuine connections.

This is where our support system is crucial. They are the people that will talk with us on the phone, counsel us, calm us, and help us to see the ray of sunshine when everything looks cloudy and dark.

 

  1. Support is Personal

 

When you don’t have a support group it can be hard to begin to develop one. Developing a support group requires time and effort. Both of which you have to carry the load of until the relationship is established. Establishing those relationships requires personable interactions. Commenting on posts is great, but for a lasting relationship and a support system to be established requires that you may have to go through hard times together.

Hard times and good times are what make the foundation of a support system. People that will celebrate with you when things are good, but will also be there when you need picking up are priceless.

 

Discussion Question:

How have you developed your support system?

3 Easy Ways to Make Your Spouse a Priority

When you really matter to someone, that person will always make time for you. No excuses. No lies. And no broken promises – Anonymous

Man, life is busy. There are so many things on our agenda and our to-do list that something is bound to fall through the cracks. How do we make sure that our marriages are not the things that we allow to fall through the crack? So, how do we, in a busy and fast paced world make our spouse a priority? How do we make sure that the person that we value the most doesn’t feel like an afterthought?

spousal support

If people are honest there are times in the marriage where each person may not feel like they are a priority for the other person. This comes from the ups and downs that come with our self-esteem and being married. Marriage can have its ups and downs. The key word that I mentioned before is “feel.” Our feelings can betray us. We can think or perceive an action from our spouse one way and it was intended a completely different way.

There have been times in my marriage where I perceived an action from my wife one way. Because I felt a certain way and perceived those actions a certain way, I then felt like I wasn’t a priority for my spouse. Was there anything that she actually did? Was she trying to make me feel that way? The answer to that question is a resounding NO. It was just my feelings and my emotions. While we can’t always help how someone perceives our actions, we can make sure that we do our part to make sure that our spouse is a priority.

 

  1. Connect with them throughout the day.

If you are trying to establish or reestablish the place that your spouse has in your life, there isn’t a better way to do than to check in with them throughout the day. If your spouse hasn’t always been the priority, you may experience some blowback. Don’t let this deter you. This is a change in your behavior.

Connecting throughout the day should be viewed at paving a new road. You’ve got to bulldoze the path first before you can put down the asphalt and drive on it.

 

  1. Invite your spouse in.

Marriage is one of those things where because you spend so much of our time with another person it can be easy to assume that you know what they will think. We have to take a step back and not assume that we know how our spouse will react or think. Stepping back allows you to include them. Making your spouse a priority means including them, sometimes even in the small decisions.

 

  1. It’s the small things

Big gestures are great and they have their place in your marriage. The small gestures can be just as impactful when it comes to making your spouse a priority. Grabbing their favorite candy bar at the grocery store, or a card that communicates that you are thinking about them. It’s those thoughts and corresponding actions that will communicate to your spouse that you’re making them a priority.

 

Discussion Question:

How do you make your spouse a priority?