This Building Strong Families series is not about creating perfect families. It’s about becoming stronger and better every year. We want to grow in our relationships, learn from our challenges, and allow God to continue working in us so that our marriages and families become healthier and stronger with each passing year.
Because Jesus overcame the trials and tribulations of His life, we can overcome the trials and tribulations we face in ours. God has given us everything we need to build strong families, healthy marriages, and lasting relationships. But we must understand who He created us to be, recognize what He has placed within us, and take responsibility for nurturing the people and promises He has entrusted to our care.
You are created in the image of God.
Genesis 1:27 tells us that we are created in the image and likeness of God. That is a powerful truth! We were created by a God who speaks things into existence, calling things into being before they ever appear.
Because we are made in His image, we can face life's challenges with confidence, knowing that our circumstances do not have the final word. The same God who created us is able to bring new life, renewed strength, and fresh beginnings into our lives.
I want you to remember this: Eden is inside of you.
God placed Adam in a garden and gave him the responsibility of tending and caring for it. In the same way, God has placed things within our lives that require our attention and care. Our faith, our marriages, our families, and our relationships are gifts from God, but they must be nurtured if they are going to flourish.
This past Sunday, I shared that in Genesis, four rivers flowed out of Eden to water the garden. These rivers give us a picture of what God desires to produce in our lives.
Pishon — To bring forth. God wants to bring forth something new in you. His living water is at work in your heart, bringing new life and allowing old things to pass away. You do not have to remain where you have always been. God is able to do a new thing in you.
Gihon — Freshness. God wants to keep you refreshed. We cannot live today on yesterday's strength. We need His presence working in us daily, renewing our hearts and refreshing our spirits. This also happens every Sunday when you gather with the body of Christ.
Tigris — Strength. God wants to strengthen you from the inside out. Life will bring challenges, and families will face difficult seasons, but we do not have to face them in our own strength.
Euphrates — Fulfillment. God desires to bring His purposes to fruition in our lives. As we remain faithful and care for what He has entrusted to us, we can trust Him to continue working in us and through us.
God has placed a garden in your life. He has given you something worth tending to and protecting.
Sometimes we think it is the big things that destroy a marriage or weaken a family. But often, it is the little things we allow to go unattended. Song of Solomon 2:15 talks about the little foxes that spoil the vines. Small offenses, careless words, and a lack of appreciation can slowly hurt a relationship if we allow them to remain.
Take care of the garden. Take care of the promises. Pull up the weeds.
We need to actively guard our marriages and families. We need to extend grace when someone falls short, and refuse to let resentment take root in our hearts.
We must also remember to appreciate the people God has placed in our lives. Like I said Sunday, when we lose our adoration for other people and stop appreciating the beauty of God's creation, we lose something valuable. It is easy to become so familiar with the people we love that we stop noticing the things that made us love them in the first place.
Don't allow familiarity to replace appreciation. Don't become so focused on what your children are doing wrong that you forget to celebrate what they are doing right.
Keep tending the garden. Keep nurturing what matters. Keep investing in the relationships God has given you.
Let's be intentional about tending our gardens, nurturing our relationships, and building strong families—one choice, one day, and one act of love at a time.
Blessings,
Buren Goss
