Silas
Beloved of All
Thank you for sharing your heart and for inviting prayer over these plans. I have lifted you up before the Lord and asked Him to cover every detail you mentioned with His wisdom, protection and provision.
Your desire to place this journey into God's hands and to want His will above your own is the right place to begin. Scripture teaches that our relationship with God is primary. When that relationship is right, other relationships have a way of coming into balance. When it is not right, we can trace many of our struggles back to that root. God wants not a forced or ritual connection with you, but a loving, living relationship as a Father with His children, through faith in Jesus Christ. He invites you to walk with Him in love, not in mere duty, and to rest in the finished work Christ has already accomplished for your salvation, rather than trusting in your own efforts.
Part of that walk is allowing God to work in you before He works through you. Often as He shapes us He chips away rough edges, and we do not always understand or enjoy the process. Yet that shaping is necessary and purposeful. He has a plan and a work He wants to accomplish in and through your life, and He is faithful to complete what He begins. Because this new covenant rests on His work and His promise and the gift of His Spirit, it is sure. His work will not fail. For that reason we can count it joy even when we face testing and uncertainty, knowing He is preparing us and drawing us nearer to Himself.
I have prayed for your travels, for safety on the way, for peace in transit, and for the Lord to provide for every practical need including work leave and finances. God knows your needs and He stirs willing hearts to accomplish His purposes. Leave room for Him to work in ways you may not expect, and trust Him as your provider to open the doors that should be opened and to close those that should be closed, so that worry does not carry the weight that trust should carry. I have also prayed for those you love who remain at home, for peace and care over family and over the animals entrusted to you, asking the Lord to keep them in His care.
Regarding the time you will share together, I have prayed that above all else you would seek the Lord's clear guidance. A deep and genuine love is a beautiful gift when it grows within God's design. His word shows us that marriage is a lifelong covenant of one man and one woman, and that intimacy and living together belong within that covenant. Our relationship with Jesus should enhance every other relationship, bringing unity, compassion, courtesy and purity, not rendering what dishonors Him. So I have asked that your time together would be marked by grace, mutual understanding, wisdom and self control, with appropriate boundaries and with family and friends around you for encouragement and accountability. Rather than simply asking God to create a spark, ask Him to reveal whether this relationship can grow into that kind of Christ honoring, lifelong commitment, and to give you both clarity, joy and cherished memories that are holy and good if it is His will, and clear direction if it is not.
May you continue to rest not in your own plans or feelings, but in Christ and His finished work, loving God foremost and trusting that as you love Him, He will fulfill His loving purposes for you and guide every other relationship according to His perfect will.
Your desire to place this journey into God's hands and to want His will above your own is the right place to begin. Scripture teaches that our relationship with God is primary. When that relationship is right, other relationships have a way of coming into balance. When it is not right, we can trace many of our struggles back to that root. God wants not a forced or ritual connection with you, but a loving, living relationship as a Father with His children, through faith in Jesus Christ. He invites you to walk with Him in love, not in mere duty, and to rest in the finished work Christ has already accomplished for your salvation, rather than trusting in your own efforts.
Part of that walk is allowing God to work in you before He works through you. Often as He shapes us He chips away rough edges, and we do not always understand or enjoy the process. Yet that shaping is necessary and purposeful. He has a plan and a work He wants to accomplish in and through your life, and He is faithful to complete what He begins. Because this new covenant rests on His work and His promise and the gift of His Spirit, it is sure. His work will not fail. For that reason we can count it joy even when we face testing and uncertainty, knowing He is preparing us and drawing us nearer to Himself.
I have prayed for your travels, for safety on the way, for peace in transit, and for the Lord to provide for every practical need including work leave and finances. God knows your needs and He stirs willing hearts to accomplish His purposes. Leave room for Him to work in ways you may not expect, and trust Him as your provider to open the doors that should be opened and to close those that should be closed, so that worry does not carry the weight that trust should carry. I have also prayed for those you love who remain at home, for peace and care over family and over the animals entrusted to you, asking the Lord to keep them in His care.
Regarding the time you will share together, I have prayed that above all else you would seek the Lord's clear guidance. A deep and genuine love is a beautiful gift when it grows within God's design. His word shows us that marriage is a lifelong covenant of one man and one woman, and that intimacy and living together belong within that covenant. Our relationship with Jesus should enhance every other relationship, bringing unity, compassion, courtesy and purity, not rendering what dishonors Him. So I have asked that your time together would be marked by grace, mutual understanding, wisdom and self control, with appropriate boundaries and with family and friends around you for encouragement and accountability. Rather than simply asking God to create a spark, ask Him to reveal whether this relationship can grow into that kind of Christ honoring, lifelong commitment, and to give you both clarity, joy and cherished memories that are holy and good if it is His will, and clear direction if it is not.
May you continue to rest not in your own plans or feelings, but in Christ and His finished work, loving God foremost and trusting that as you love Him, He will fulfill His loving purposes for you and guide every other relationship according to His perfect will.
