Lord, what are the desires and dreams You have for my marriage? Am I seeing them, pondering them, speaking them, and acting on them as You desire me to?

Vision - Lord, I see a puzzle that is half done. Puzzle pieces are scattered all over the floor. The picture of the puzzle is a bride and groom on their wedding day in a beautiful garden with fruit trees all around.

Jesus - The day of your marriage is not the completed puzzle, but the starting place for all those interlocking pieces to begin coming together. There are specific pieces that link you together, and there are other pieces that represent the groom or the bride individually. Every piece is necessary for the picture to be complete. Beloved, do not be careless but look for the value in every piece. Love every piece, honor every piece, guard and protect every piece.

Jesus - My desire for your marriage is for it to be a picture to the world of My love for you, My union with you, My willing sacrifice for you, and the undeniable display of all the fruit of My Spirit. Beloved, in your world right now marriage has not been honored, because I have not been honored. My dream for you and Dennis is that you would embrace your differences, for I made you differently to complement each other and that together you would be stronger than you are separately. My dream for your marriage is the completed puzzle with every piece in place, surrounded by an abundance of fruit.

Mark's question: I asked Linda if I could publish this journaling and offered to remove the names.

Linda's response: After the Lord gave me this word I told Dennis (my husband) about it and we both sat and read it together. We feel like it was meant for both of us. No need to remove names. God is counseling both of us.

Mark's reflections: God is surely the Wonderful Counselor, and His counsel is FREE for the asking. I remember when I began journaling, God told me to stop pressing Patti to be more like me. I did, and Patti said her marriage improved greatly. I recently talked with a couple. The wife was an extremely gifted right-brain prophetic seer and pressured her left-brain husband to also become such a seer and he was frustrated and unable. On the other hand, the husband was pressuring his extremely right-brain wife to read maps while they were in the car taking road trips and she found that impossible to do. My suggestion was, to bless your marriage by not pressuring each other to function in the gifts that you have and they don't have. Celebrate your giftedness without projecting it on your spouse. I sure do love God's counsel which heals hearts, marriages, and lives!