EP 14. PT 2 Plans, Dreams, Goals, Purpose, Tips for Your Marriage Journey

Welcome to the Married and Love it podcast.

We are Greg and Linda Smith, your hosts from Raleigh, North Carolina.

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Hi.

On today's episode 14 we're going to be talking about plans, dreams, goals and purpose tips for your marriage journey.

And this is part two.

Now in episode 13 we talked about our plans, the dreams, the goals, purpose and different tips for this marriage journey.

And we talked about having a vision and also Jeremiah 29:11 that God's got a future and a hope for you.

And you know that scripture.

We seem to talk about it quite a bit.

Then we started talking about three steps to work on your vision.

Number one, we talked about God wants you to experience his blessings and his promises in your marriage.

Then we go to step two which talks about God's got plans for you, a purpose for you being here, a purpose for your marriage, some things that to accomplish together as a couple or maybe as an individual.

And we also talked a little bit about our story, Greg and I, and how our purpose together, what God's plan was for our marriage.

And I remember you.

We talked about how you tracked me down at that under 21 disco and said I want to marry that guy.

Yes.

And my that is where our sturdy started at Rated g in Orlando, Florida.

That's right, 1975.

And Linda tracked me down.

Of course I had my eye on her already, but just that we're going to talk about a couple of divine appointments and I believe that was because I'd been going there for about four nights and had noticed her and then I was standing there not taking action and then she sent her friend over which we talked about last week.

Yeah, go to go to the episode 13.

But that's where it started.

That's where our plan start.

God's plan.

Plan for us.

So how did so what was your life all about before you met me?

Well, see, I was out of high school for about a year, but I continued to go to these high school meetings.

Our, our youth ministry then had about close to a thousand people, something like that in it.

And they would meet on one night, and then the high school split off and had another meeting for their own at another time, a little smaller group.

And I would go in there for that type of Bible study, and I would just observe and sit in there.

I was out of high school about a half a year, whatever, and then one day I'd gone to the restroom, and then the youth pastor for the high school youth pastor came in and we were washing our hands, and he just said, hey, Greg, I'm glad to see you.

Came back tonight to visit, whatever.

He goes, you know, I'd like to have lunch with you sometime.

And I said, sure.

So we set up a time to have lunch, and I was like, wow, he wants to have lunch with me.

1.

I wonder why he wants to have lunch with me.

So we got together and at this point I was going to college, didn't really have any plans going on for my life other than I think at that point I wanted to be a police officer.

And.

And so we had lunch, went back to his office.

You know, Greg, I really like talking with you, and I have something I'd like for you to consider.

Okay.

Okay.

I guess I would like to bring you in and let you just be one of our recreational directors.

So when we have a.

An activity, you can come in and help run the games or the activities, pass out volleyballs, whatever it can, compass.

He says, why don't you think about it and we'll get together again.

So I said, okay.

So I went, went home, thought about, prayed about it.

We met again, and I said, yeah, I think I can do that.

See, that didn't take me out of my comfort zone.

I could pass out a football, do something, coordinate people.

And then he goes, great.

So we shook hands and talked, probably prayed about it.

And then we got up, and I remember we got up and he kind of put his hand on my shoulder and Greg, I think we're going to also probably want to have you maybe work into being a home Bible study.

We called them cell groups back then, a Bible study with the high school kids.

And my heart about stopped.

I about fell over.

And I went from total comfort zone to, like, almost dying because fear galore.

Fear galore.

The fact that I would be leading a group of kids just totally wiped Me out.

You see, I was going to change colleges.

I went to ftu, which is now called University of Central Florida back when it was first starting and they didn't make you take speech class.

So I was, I found out Florida State University, you didn't take have to have speech.

At least that's what I heard.

So I said, well, maybe I'll transfer my senior year.

And I never got that far.

So that didn't happen.

But that's how paranoid I was of public speaking.

I know a lot of people don't like it, but I didn't like it to the max.

So right then, which is like, wow, I don't know if I can do this.

So going down the roadways and I met Linda, which we talked about last week and we started going to the high school meetings together.

And then the time came for us to do a high school home group, which I did.

And maybe sometime in the future this podcast will talk about how we developed in that.

But, but Robert, whose name was Robert Spradley and he, he took me from there and started our journey.

See, this is all part of our marriage journey and personal journey.

That was a divine appointment I had with Linda.

And then in that restroom we were washing hands with Robert, with me.

Yeah.

And that conversation literally changed the trajectory of my course.

And God has that for you.

There can be those moments when you make a decision, you meet somebody, you decide something that can change.

Now God can come in and still try to do something later, who knows.

But that's what happened with me and got me going in the ministry to where now 47 years later, Linda and I are doing married and love it ministry, doing a podcast, traveling, talking to people, teaching.

And a lot has happened during that 47 years, which is too much to go on on how God took us one step at a time through journey.

So Linda and I got married.

We were doing high school ministry.

We're home group leaders and helping minister to the overall high school with the full time youth pastor.

And we were like, hey, this is great.

Will this be young married couple will volunteer and work with the youth and then we'll support the church whatever way God wants us financially.

All that and this at that point I was going into business with my dad and we'll just be good business owners just minding our own business.

And then God took us to the next next level where we moved, stepped out of our comfort zone and then we felt the call to go into full time ministry from one divine appointment.

So God's got a purpose for you.

And he.

He led us along the way to where we're at now.

We didn't know that was going to happen.

But my point being is God's got a purpose for you.

And if you don't know what it is, because a lot of people, they don't know, they.

They can hear message.

Go out and do God's purpose.

He's got a purpose for you.

You're going to change the world.

Well, not everybody's called to be Billy Graham or a pastor or even a nursery worker or whatever, but God's got something in specific, something specifically for you to do.

But sometimes you have to take that step of faith.

The volunteer.

Somebody asks you to volunteer.

Well, maybe that doesn't sound.

I don't know if I want to work in the nursery or I want to usher.

I don't know if I want to cook cookies for my neighbor next door and these other people.

But if you just take that one step of faith, God will take you to the next step.

We took that one step of faith.

It took us in Winter Park, Florida.

Orlando took us to Charleston, South Carolina.

Fort Worth, Texas, now to Raleigh.

All because I told Robert I wanted to pass out footballs and help direct sports activities.

Be careful for what you.

What you volunteer for.

And Linda said, be careful on who you marry.

You don't know where you're going to go.

But God, as far as our purpose, I had an individual purpose.

And then she came on board.

That's what was cool.

We ended up flowing together.

And so basic takeaway from all this.

God's got a purpose for you.

Do something.

Yeah, just do something.

Take the first step.

Yeah.

Like.

Like Greg said, cook a meal for your neighbors or maybe volunteer at a nursing home or, you know, help somebody that might be sick or do visitations at the hospital.

Just get creative.

And as you step out like that, then you're going to feel you're going to be led in different directions.

Yeah.

And, you know, a lot of people, they.

They torment themselves thinking, what is my purpose in life?

Yeah, they just go round and round and round, and they never.

But, you know, just.

They don't realize that if they're taking that step of faith and just volunteering here, there, you know, serving at a homeless meal place or whatever it may be that might ignite the passion that's in your heart, in their heart, you know, of what to do.

Yeah.

And that brought me back to our.

Our pastor Micah, here at our church here in Raleigh.

He was talking on purpose recently, and he said you'll usually know if you're tapping into your purpose, if it scares.

You, if it's way too big for you.

Now, see, when God asked me, when Robert asked me to do the sporting stuff, that I was still in my comfort zone.

That was easy.

That was the door that cracked open to say, hey, you want to lead Bible studies?

Oh, yeah.

And.

And I about freaked out.

So that was like.

That was my big thing, that this is bigger than I am, and I was going to spaz out and some of y'all that.

That are nervous about doing things.

I remember the first one of the few meetings we went with the leaders there, and we were sitting in a circle and everybody was sharing scriptures.

And I remember I was scared to talk in front of people.

And I remembered I had this scripture I wanted to share, and I said, this is a good scripture.

God gave it to me, but I would not share it because I thought people would think it was dumb.

It was off the wall, it wouldn't come out right.

So I just sat there like a bump on the log.

And then somebody else raised their hand and they shared the exact same scripture.

And everybody was going, oh, that is good.

That is.

Oh, man, that is a good scripture.

What was it again?

They were writing it down.

And I'm thinking, I wanted to go, I had that scripture.

I had that scripture.

You missed your chance, but I missed my chance.

Don't miss your chance with what God's calling you to do.

Well, here's a few keys to fulfilling your journey that we have to.

To get what?

Diversity, number three.

Well, God wants you to realize that there's a future and a hope, but he also wants to remind us that he said in Ephesians 3.

20.

Hold on a minute.

This is part number three.

So you got to say number three.

I didn't say it.

You didn't say that.

So start there.

Remember, we got number one.

Number two is you have a purpose.

And number three, he wants number one.

Number two, number three.

Okay.

Go.

Just go ahead.

So, number three, God wants you to realize there's a future.

But also remember that Ephesians 3:20, he said he wants to do exceedingly, abundantly, above all that you could think or ask in your life.

And whatever that purpose may be, he wants to go above and beyond what you could think about that or even ask.

Yeah.

You know, so key there is.

We got to be thinking about it.

Yeah, whatever.

And you know what?

Go back up just a little bit.

And what tugs on your heart, that would be the question to Ask yourself, what kind of movies do you like to watch?

You know, are they the wrong scary?

No.

Well, I don't know about that, but.

Or what kind of activities do you like to get involved in?

What actually what tickles your fancy?

Yeah.

You can have things.

And that is what she said is true.

The books you read, the movies you like to watch.

Some people like documentaries, some people like mysteries, some people like romantic.

I happen to like romantic comedies, and I just like romantic comedies in love.

But also that's an interest because I listen to them and I know a lot of people say all they're all fluff, but if you listen to them, there's a lot of good points.

Yeah.

And plus, they always have a happy ending.

And not everybody's getting killed and blown up and looks like a devil, you know, so.

But this look at what things tug on your heart.

Yeah.

You know, helps to identify what your purpose might be.

Yeah.

So some keys, though, to fulfilling your journey.

There's seven of them.

There are.

And key one of the keys, key one is to strengthen your foundation.

So Matthew 7:24 through 27, and then I'm going to paraphrase it is build your marriage on the foundation of God's word, be a doer of the word, and then your marriage is going to stand up to the storms of life and equip you to be a family, a destiny.

That's kind of like the God factor.

Yeah.

You know, put God in the middle of all of what's going on in your life.

Let him be a part of it.

God factor changes things.

Yes.

He wants to strengthen your mount Marriage foundation and to build on that and then to do preventive maintenance, which would be to continually be working on your foundation to make sure there's no cracks in it.

So a big part of that is like the continuing education of our marriage podcast.

Yeah.

I'll put a little plug in there for married and love it podcast.

So that would be part of preventive maintenance, your strong foundation, along with your commitment to each other along the way.

Well, God can help you overcome the storms of life and those marriage busters that we've been talking about when we were in our earlier episodes.

But the key here is to do all this to sure up your foundation before any of the storms of life hit.

Because a lot of times it's the steps of faith, because if you know your purpose that things you want to accomplish as a purpose.

But maybe you're believing God for a bigger house, maybe you're believing God for healing, maybe you're you're wanting to take care of your parents.

There's you, you've got things you want to do.

They take faith because the enemy is going to come in and try to steal and kill.

There's going to be obstacles.

So that's why you got to have that foundation.

Plus, if the storms come and they will, then you want to be prepared for them.

Yeah.

I like a story of Joshua and Caleb.

And Joshua 14, 6 through 14 is 45 years later after they did not go into the promised land.

And Joshua comes up to Caleb says, hey, it's time to get your mountain.

And Caleb said, I am ready to take my mountain.

He says, I'm as strong now as I was 45 years ago.

Caleb stayed in focus for his dream.

He didn't waver, he didn't slack off.

So when God said go, he's ready, he's ready to go.

Yes.

So if you've got some things in your life that you're believing for, maybe it's a house, maybe it's your ministry that you're called to do whatever, it might be something you're believing God for, maybe you're, you're saying maybe at work you're wanting to get a raise or get a promotion.

Do you got your go bag ready?

So if they call you in at work and say, hey, we want to promote you to this supervisor position or vice president, have you been prepping?

Have you studied, have you taken extra classes?

Do you have your go bag ready?

So when they say come on in, you just grab your go bag because you, you prepared to go.

So Caleb, he said, I am strong, fit and able to do this because he stayed in focus and he was prepared.

He was 85 years old, something like that, and he was ready to take his promised land and go in and battle and get it because he didn't let go of his promise.

Another example now how what you do prepares you for later in life.

I.

Well back in 2013, I had lost 60 pounds of weight.

I was chunky.

They used to call me the Mitchell, Mitchell and tire man.

You're plump and.

But what happened is I was to the point where I couldn't sit down without like it was cutting off my breath.

Walking was bad.

I was just out of shape.

Everything I lost that weight and that's.

That same year is when Linda had her back surgery.

It's like an eight hour surgery.

Then in the next 10 years, another back surgery, heart attack, hip replacement, all sorts of things happened.

And I was her caretaker.

A lot of Times it was all day long.

Sometimes it was, she would get better and then another surgery or hit.

But what I realized, if I hadn't lost that weight, I would not have been in the position physically, mentally or emotionally to do what I had to go through to take care of her and keep us afloat with all the things that hit.

We had all sorts of stuff, spirit, soul and body and finances and everything hit.

But I was prepared, spiritually and physically.

So prepare yourself to get into the promised land.

Key number two, we ready to move on to that?

Well, this one point, get your faith walk ready.

Your physical health.

Yeah.

Your spiritual health and your financial health and your marriage all running smooth.

So you can go where God's called you to go.

So you can grab that, go back.

All right.

And go.

Right.

All right, let's look at the number two.

So before you can experience a rewarding future, you have to let go of the past.

Really?

Yeah.

Because otherwise you're going to be dragging.

Dragging it behind.

You can have a pity party.

No pity parties.

You got to just let go of the past, whatever it is.

Let go and let God.

Let go and let God.

And I love to say that that's exactly right.

You gotta forget the past.

Because God says in Isaiah 43, 18 and 19 that we are to forget the past.

He's doing something new.

And we can put that scripture reference in our show notes.

Right.

So here are a few things that you can.

What you might be saying, well, I'm not holding on to the past, but here are some things that you're doing that may be saying, yeah, you are.

We can say to our spouse, because I did this, I would say to Greg, you are always doing that.

You're forever doing that.

Can you just, you know.

Well, that was me not letting go of the past and letting go of, however, what kind of behavior it was that I was holding against Greg.

Well, so it's going to take time, you know, to like to let go of the past and let healing take place.

And it's going to take time for the marriage relationship to heal, whatever it may be.

Right.

To get that marriage strong, you're going to have to let go of the past offenses and bitterness because that's going to keep you from getting to where God wants you to go on your marriage journey.

Right.

Yeah.

If you have bitterness or unforgiveness, any kind of failures that you might be pointing your finger at your spouse, disappointments.

Yeah.

You know, things from the past that have left you disappointed and you not letting go of it.

And it can even be positive things.

Yeah.

That you're not letting go of.

Maybe you're.

Maybe you're not walking in something that, like past positive job or something.

And maybe you lost it and you mourn over the fact that that job was lost.

Yeah.

Instead of maybe God wants to open the doors up for a new and better position for you.

A new job out there, a new.

To expand your borders even.

Right.

Yeah.

Yeah.

It can be financial problems.

Anything that you.

Keeps you from moving forward in your relationships, your finances, your health, your business, whatever.

You've got to let go of those things.

Because God says he'll do something new if we quit pondering and dwelling on the past.

Right.

Don't look behind to look ahead.

Yes.

Also, let go of the words should have, would have, could have.

That's staying in the past a lot.

There's times I look back at some things I could, maybe even Linda and I could have done differently last 10 or 13 years with some decisions we made.

And I go, what if we could have done this?

Or even years ago, what if we would have done this one thing?

But you can't hang on to that.

You're saying to yourself, I should have done this.

Right.

You gotta forget the past and move on.

Yeah.

So now you can lift up your eyes and look to the future.

You're gonna go to num key number three.

Number three.

Now that you've let go of the past, lift up your eyes and look to the Future.

In Genesis 13:13, Abram's getting.

Abram's getting ready to move into the land.

Him and Lot had split up some land.

And God said, all right, Moses, I want.

Not Moses, excuse me, Abram.

Time.

Lift up your eyes and look to the place where you are.

Northward, southward, eastward and westward.

In other words, he was saying, look at the possibilities.

Where are you standing at today, you and your wife or husband?

God saying, stand up.

I, I when we would do this message in churches or places, I tell people to stand on their chair and look around because you see past obstacles over.

Yeah, you can see over.

But look at the possibilities in your future.

Look all the different directions.

Dream.

Begin to dream.

Look at your purpose.

Look at what your goals and dreams are.

But lift up your eyes.

So that means forget the past.

Maybe you're, maybe you've just been stagnant.

So God's just saying, quit looking down at the ground.

Quit looking at the TV all the time.

Quit looking at your.

The negatives or people telling you can't do it.

Lift up your eyes.

So lift up your eyes.

Put your shoulders back and say, God, I'm going to take this land.

So don't stagnate.

Don't stay the same.

Stagnation brings death.

Also, when you looked up your eyes, just like me when I got involved in the high school ministry, I was in my comfort zone.

But that changed and I had to get into out of my comfort zone.

And sometimes when you lift up your eyes, you're going to get out of that zone.

And when you're through improving in your life, you're through.

Yeah.

Don't settle for good.

Yeah.

Because good is the enemy of best.

That's right.

So you want to move forward in your life and reach for the best.

Yes.

The reason you don't have more is because you have settled for less.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

So lift up your eyes.

And then key number four is believe you can do whatever it is you're wanting to do or believing for by looking past the obstacles.

Yep.

And there will be some.

So what's going to happen is you're going to.

You stand up and you're looking around, but all of a sudden you start seeing the giants in the land.

I don't have enough education.

We don't have enough money.

We don't know enough people.

They're not hiring anymore.

I could never cook enough, good enough food to serve the people that need food, whatever it is.

But now you got to look past obstacles.

What can you do?

You can trust God and stand on his word like Abraham, Joshua, Caleb and Paul did.

In Romans 4:18, it said, Abram did not consider his own body because he couldn't have kids.

He looked at that and he said, but yet was the promise in spite of that, in respect to the promise of God.

He believed God for the promise that God gave him.

He saw what his body was, but he still believed that God was going to make him the father of many nations.

And numbers 13, 10, Joshua and Caleb looked at the promised land.

And we said, we shall by all means go in and do it.

Take it in spite of the giants because of what God told them they can do.

And then Philippians 4:19 says, I can do all things through Christ Jesus who strengthens me.

So believe you can do what your goals are, your purpose is, and your dreams are because you got God on your side.

It's never too late and you're never too old.

That's right.

You know, that's what those scriptures right there.

That's right.

You're never too old.

And the key when you get older, and we've learned as we've gotten older, the better you, the better you take care of yourself.

Like Caleb said, when you're younger, the better it's going to be when you're older.

Yeah.

So that way you don't have to say, I wish I would have.

Wish I could have, would have.

You can say, I did.

I did.

All right, let's go to number five.

Work together as a team.

Yes, a husband and wife team.

You know, like in the home.

Work together as getting the kids to bed, getting the homework done, getting, you know, lunches for the next day, getting the house cleaned up.

Everybody works together as a team.

Basically what it is, is you don't come home and that's your job.

And that's your job, and I'm not going to do your job.

You come home and like didn't.

Everybody's together.

You may have your, you may have your assignments, so to speak, but everybody comes together and they cross.

What do you call it?

You cross.

Contaminate.

I don't like that word.

You're cross trained.

Everybody does.

Everybody does everything.

You can forget the home in order.

That's right.

So Genesis 11:6.

They are one people.

Nothing which they purpose to do will be impossible to them.

So you can accomplish anything.

That's proof right there in Genesis talks about that.

And then there's the strength of two.

When you got husband and wife together, you got the strength of two.

Ecclesiastes 4, verse 9 through 12.

And we'll put all these scriptures in our show notes for you.

Then we've got the power of agreement in prayer.

Just say a little prayer, you know.

Yeah.

And we went into that real good on episode.

Yes.

One through three, I think.

Yeah, I think that was, that was Matthew 18:19 talks about the power of agreement.

Oh, that's powerful.

Two or more gathered together.

I will be in the midst of them.

When you got that spiritual working with all the other types of things in your marriage, you're unstoppable.

Yeah.

Then you can believe you can do anything.

Now all, all that you got to do is just go for it, get.

On the same pages.

That's right.

I just got down here.

There's the household team which we just talked about, where everything in the house, you work together.

It's not your job or my job.

It's our job to get everything taken care of so you can do the things you want to do and have peace in your home.

Then you got the purpose team.

Both of you all may have the same Purpose ever.

What it is.

If one of you cooks the cookies, the other one delivers the cookies, whatever.

But you're a team that way.

Or you both.

You both may have your own desires and purpose.

And God, you got you doing different things.

So then you can come together and talk about your dreams, but you become a support player to your spouse's dream.

Yeah, that's.

They need you.

You need support from each other a lot of times.

Yeah.

So those are parts of that.

Work together as a team.

And then key number six is pursue your future.

You know, we can talk about this podcast after podcast.

You can sit down and talk about it.

You can learn about different things, but you got to pursue your future.

This is what's neat.

After Moses got up and looked all around.

Abraham.

Abraham.

Man of some reason.

Well, Moses did some neat things, too.

Quite a bit of neat things.

He had to step out of his.

Comfort zone quite a bit.

You try to park the Red Sea.

Yeah.

With a million people or whatever it was.

Genesis 13:17.

After Abram looked all over the place and.

And saw what he was going to do, God told him, arise and walk.

In other words, you got to get off the couch, get off your device.

Take that step of faith.

After you've dreamed, after you began to figure out your purpose, you've got to do something.

Proverbs 14:33 says, in all labor there is profit, but mere talk leads only to poverty.

Don't be where later down the road, you gotta say, you.

You say, I shoulda woulda could have.

Pursue your dreams.

Find that purpose.

Step out of your comfort zone.

Arise.

That means you got to get out and do something and walk.

What's a plan of action that you're going to take to improve your marriage?

You know, Yo.

Yeah, Go ahead.

Yeah.

What?

Yeah.

Raise your children.

What.

What's your plan of action about enjoying good health?

Yeah.

What?

You're playing like a weight loss.

Yeah.

What's your plan of action?

I lost my weight.

I had a plan about plan.

Didn't you had.

I had to change what I put on my plate and how much I put on my plate.

I had to get up and do the treadmill or do the weight.

You had to do something.

What is your plan?

So figure out your plan.

And then the difference.

This was an author unknown.

A quote.

The difference between a successful person and others is not a lack of strength or knowledge, but a rather.

It's a lack of will.

Yeah.

Got to get up and do it.

Another one that's an author unknown.

I love this quote.

A man, the man on top of a mountain didn't fall there.

Yeah, that's pretty cool.

And step number seven, after you rise and walk and you do everything, you step out, you've shook it in your pants because you're getting ready to talk.

You've made that food, you don't know if the people are going to like it or not.

You're, you're volunteering.

Maybe you're preaching, getting ready to lead a Sunday school class.

You're, you're taking a step, going for a new job, and you're not sure if you're qualified.

Number seven is dare to dream.

Dare to do that today.

Yep.

Dare to do it.

So kind of summon it all.

Summing, rising it.

As you begin to reach for your dreams and visions, remember these following points.

You want to enjoy the process.

Yeah.

You know, make it fun.

And then focus on the rewards of you might be making some sacrifices.

Like Greg had to sacrifice that Oreo cookie.

Cookies.

Oh, yes, cookies.

Or the chocolate chip.

That's a sacrifice.

But think, but he was thinking the reward and what it would, that sacrifice would do for him.

Right.

When I was losing that weight, I would, I would go in the refrigerator and grab something and I say, do I want this temporary pleasure or do I want to get in these size 32 or 34 pants when I've been in a 44 pants.

Big difference.

I had to decide what you want.

Decide what you want, actually.

That is true.

And to hang in there and to continue dreaming and doing.

You know, you just don't stop with that one dream.

Keep going building a future with it.

So in summary for you and your spouse together, you both have a future and a hope and a purpose.

Your marriage does strengthen your foundation.

So you're ready during the battle, before the battles, or just feeling good for the fun of it.

Let go of the past.

Whether it's towards each other, circumstances, family members, a failed business.

You didn't graduate school the way you wanted to.

Whatever it is, let go of the past.

Look to the future, believe you can do it.

God wouldn't put a desire in your heart.

He doesn't expect you to have the, that you can do it.

Maybe he knows you can do it, but he knows you're going to have to grow and get involved in the growth stage, like I had to do when I first got in the ministry.

Be a team.

Whether you're together, separate, separate goals, but be a team.

The Smith team.

We're gonna win.

Whatever your team is and pursue, you've got to Pursue.

Enjoy your journey.

Remember, you're driving your car, not your circumstances.

Life's not.

You are.

So you're ready for the curves, the mountains, the bridges, the bumps like we talked about in episode 13.

You're in control.

Dare to dream and dare to do it.

So, honeydews.

Honeydews.

Yes.

Got a little bit of homework.

Yes.

Sit down with your spouse and talk about what these goals and dreams might be.

What do you feel like your purpose in life is?

What do you feel like your marriage together?

You asking me?

No.

Oh, okay.

Yes.

Yes.

You want a date and we can sit down and do the homework together.

Let's do that.

Okay.

So ask yourself, as a marriage, you know, talk about, discuss it with your spouse as a marriage relationship, what are these purposes?

What's your purpose?

And as an individual, you know, because like when I was going through the nutritional certifications, getting certified, Greg would encourage me all the way, and that was an individual goal that I had, and he encouraged me all the way through it.

Okay, so back to the homework.

Talk about it and then let go of your past.

Talk about that, whether it's things of the past as a couple or personally, things that you got to let go of.

And then what areas?

Ask yourself, can you work together as a team?

Yeah, you know, just part of your conversation.

And what are some action steps?

You know, go ahead and volunteer for, you know, adopt a pet for that one weekend, that one thing.

Just go do that together and make it a fun.

Maybe make it a date time or, you know, and then pray over these things that you talk about and commit your plans to the Lord.

Quit talking about it and thinking about it and dreaming about it and just do it.

Plans, dreams, goals and purpose your marriage journey.

It can be successful.

You can flourish in it.

And now let's celebrate.

Last part of your homework.

The ten second part.

Yeah.

Give yourself extra credit.

Do it twice.

Grab your spouse.

Set your timer for 10 seconds.

At least give them.

Pull them all up and give them a good old kiss in the morning.

Do it when you come home.

And if, matter of fact, listen to the episode on the kiss.

I think that was episode 12, I think.

Yes.

The power of the kiss.

Valentine's Day is coming up.

Listen to that again.

Yes.

And just remember this, you can be.

Married, married in love, on purpose.

Talk to you next week.

Thank you for investing into your marriage by listening to the Married and Love it podcast.

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And remember with God that you have a future and a hope and you can be married and Love it on purpose.