Life right now as we know it has brought new challenges and a new lifestyle that we have had to face. Some people have handled these things very well and others are hanging on by a thread stricken with worry, fear, and being overwhelmed with the overload of new decisions that they have to face. The major reason for this is the lack of focus on God and working with your spouse instead of against them.

Each person has to face different challenges that have been brought due to their lifestyle. Those who are raising children in a single parent home may find it more challenging to do everyday life tasks because of having to take their children with them to do shopping with the new regulations in place of having to wear a mask and deal with the judgmental looks of having their children with them. They may even be overwhelmed in how to juggle their jobs, keeping their job, as well as making sure their children do their school work over the computer and making sure they have all that they need throughout the day.  Carrying the load on their own that was meant for two is a challenge that in your marriage should not be an issue.

Unfortunately, too many times married couples take on the mentality of a single parent home and this causes more problems than resolutions. In what is going on in the world right now you have two people who are trying to handle and adjust to the changes as well as work on adjusting their family as a whole while still figuring out a new routine that will help out the whole family to get the requirements met. The importance of working together has taken a greater role of keeping out stress and keeping the family in one piece.

Stress can come into play and bring strife, division, and much contention in the home. Stress can come from not being able to work, worrying about where the money is going to come from now that the children are home all day and preparing their food for them, being around their spouse for longer periods of time. Stress brings an atmosphere of “I Can’t”.

Stress and I can’t can strain a relationship very fast of strength, communication, and build a gap between them. Stress is based on a fear mentality and gets the focus off of where focus should remain and that is on God.

Throughout the bible it speaks about how God provides for His people. In good times and bad times, those who kept their focus on God was taken care of. When people took their eyes off of God and on what was going on around them, that is when bad things would become worse and division and loss would take place. The ‘I cant’s’ came into play and fear would paralyze and take over. You can see even from the Israelite children that they would begin to fear the very thing that God had already proved He would do for them, but they chose to forget and only focus on what they do not have.

A great change can take place when you remove the ‘I cant’s’ to the We can and come together instead of allowing the stress to divide. Stress grows where there is an absent of trust in God and things become out of balance of carrying too much weight on one side. If you find yourself stress out or feeling the burn in your marriage, instead of saying I can’t handle this, take a moment and ask God to reveal the root of the stress. Place your focus back on God and when you do this, your vision becomes clearer and you are able to be more flexible to work with your spouse instead of working against them.

Marriage is about teamwork. It is about accomplishing things together in the Will of God. Take a challenge this week and when you catch yourself thinking or saying I Can’t – remove that statement and take a moment to pray. Reassess the situation and remember work with your spouse and rebuild the team. Even if you are incapable of doing something, there is a solution in getting it done. Don’t underestimate what your spouse is capable of doing. You may be surprised if you would just give the “teamwork” a try what can be accomplished.

Don’t let the stress of these times divide your marriage. Instead let this be a time of building up and bring your marriage stronger as you really start trusting in God and focusing on Him. Everything else will fall into place as you are obedient to what He tells you to do. Then it won’t matter what comes down the road. When you work together, you will overcome.