Photo Credit: Young House Love
We are spending three weeks at Barefoot Cabin getting it ready for the rental program. We started the long, arduous task of painting the interior walls. Most were either hunter green or red. We want to lighten and brighten the cabin, which means we need to apply a good coat of primer on all the walls before we can begin the fun part of adding the new color. The primer process not only covers the old paint, but it bonds to the wall allowing the new color to stick.
Tom and I were talking about how well this applies to marriage. The old must be completely covered, which includes the sins of the past. Have you given your spouse a primer coat? Or do you bring up past sins or failures on a regular basis?
Not only are we called to provide forgiveness to our spouse (covering), but we’re called to support and encourage every day after (bonding). In other words, our forgiveness should stick!
We encourage you to examine your own heart. How primed is your marriage? Are you allowing the hunter greens and reds of your or your spouse’s past sins to bleed through? If so, you need to apply a fresh coat of forgiveness. This time make sure it’s the kind that adheres permanently. The only way to do this is to remember how Christ has covered your own sin and has blocked your stains permanently. What a Savior!
Pray and ask God to help you forgive your spouse in the same way for this is the foundation of a healthy marriage.
The Romantic Vineyard 
Presume innocence, forgive, move on and never stop loving throughout it all. That is definitely our motto! The first part of that equation allows us to be successful in the other three. Fortunate are we to have learned what you are reminding us through this wonderful cabin analogy, that our hearts must be primed and then covered.
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Fawn,
Excellent comment! Again thank you for your regular encouragement. I have a feeling there will be many more analogies to share. 🙂
Blessings,
Debi
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Thank you for supporting such an important institution as marriage. We believe this might be something you are interested in:
The Sunrise Promotes Marriage by Releasing First Official Music Video, “We Have Not Heard”
The official music video, “We Have Not Heard,” follows a husband and wife through a crisis in their marriage and highlights the success that only a reliance on God can bring to a marriage.
The music video can be watched here:
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I love this post and it is actually something I was struggling with for a little while. We’ve been married 2 years and I just recently brought up things to by husband that had been bothering me, not in a “I-don’t-forgive-you” manner, but just things that hurt or I was concerned about or that just needed to be talked through. It was really good and I wished I had done it sooner.
I’d love for you to pop on over to my blog and check it out. 🙂 http://forgivenbygracee.blogspot.com/
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