Life’s twists and turns can leave you and your spouse on two different paths or tangled in knots you don’t know how to undo. When you learn to live intentionally, you’ll get on the same page and untangle your relationship’s struggles. Read this entry from the Relationship Goals Bible Plan written by Brian, who has been married to Maureen for over 17 years.
Prior to leading the YouVersion team, my wife and I spent years in cross-cultural ministry overseas. While we faced some of our biggest challenges during those years, it was so natural for us to have a common mission together. Together, we learned new languages, sought out community, and tackled some of life’s most basic tasks, like buying food and learning how to get utilities up and running in a different country. We didn’t have to think about how to live intentionally, because living our lives apart from one another simply wasn’t an option. Our circumstances forced us to depend on one another and help one another.
We returned to the United States nearly a decade ago. In that time, we’ve come to realize that, while life and ministry might come more easily to us in our own culture, doing those things together is actually more difficult.
Still, the unity that comes with a common mission is just as crucial now as it was then. Without Maureen’s wise encouragement and shared passion to see people transformed by God’s Word, many of my challenges leading the Bible App team would have been far more difficult to navigate. Likewise, I know that when I show interest and support in her moms’ group and her work teaching our kids, I’m similarly encouraging to her.
So, in order to live mission-driven lives together, we have to live intentionally in the things we say and do. It doesn’t happen automatically. Between homeschooling, mothering, and mentoring, Maureen has a full-time job, but she still takes the time to pray for each of our YouVersion team members and their spouses. This is her way of staying connected to the work God has tasked me with. Likewise, I’ve found that if I simply talk to Maureen about her moms’ group, that interest on my part means so much to her. It turns her mission into our mission.
Life is busy, and it’s easy to drift apart if you’re not careful. But when you’re able to come together and find a common mission together, your relationship will be better for it.
