Stop taking on responsibility that isn’t yours. Anxiety fails to acknowledge that God is sovereign over your life. You are not sovereign over your life. You cannot control the future. Only God can.

How much peace would enter our souls if we just released our white-knuckle grip on what should happen tomorrow, next week, or next year and trust that God is in control?

So much of our anxiety comes from our unwillingness to be reasonable or gentle. We get stuck on things that HAVE to be “this” way to be good, and our blood pressure rises when our spouse insists on having it their way. What if you just let your expectations go and trusted that God is in charge?

We were never meant to live with the stress we allow in our lives—we weren’t created to physically endure the stress. God tells us over and over to not worry or to not be anxious in Scripture because He knows the damage it will cause.

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.Galatians 5:22-23 ESV The final fruit of the Spirit in this list is self-control. Self-control is stopping. It is literally standing in the way of our enemies having a hold on us. There... Continue Reading →

In order to allow the Holy Spirit to fill our souls with gentleness, we not only need to stop fighting God's plan and submit our will for His will, we need to confess our desire to take control of our spouses, of our marriages, of our agendas.

Faith is believing the Word of God and acting on it no matter how we feel. We must choose to obey God even when we don’t feel like obeying. If we allow our emotions to dictate our response, we remain on the roller-coaster of life. We have to learn to obey His commands despite how we feel.

Kindness is a tender heart and a nurturing spirit. When the Spirit fills us, our hearts become soft toward our spouses, and our desire is to bring them goodness.

When you notice the peace has been disrupted in your marriage, don’t ignore it or walk away from it. Pause and pray. Ask God to reveal to you where you need to confess and where you need to forgive, then ask Him to restore your relationship. He will.

We grow His Spirit by doing those things He calls us to do—spending time in the Word and in prayer, serving others, meeting with other believers in church and small group, storing His Word in our hearts. When we do these things, our fruits, or behaviors, will naturally change.