The Other Man

A Recipe for Disaster.

When the world speaks about “The Other Man,” all kinds of connotations spring forth.  I guess those connotations are “positive” or “negative,” depending on who embraces them — the Betrayer(s) or the Betrayed.

Tantalizing Tempter.  Fantasy Feeder.  Clandestine Charmer.  Sensuality Specialist.  Deception Magnet.  Advantage Taker.  Rule Bender.  Heart Breaker.  Home Wrecker.

But what about when You, Lord, are “The Other Man?”  When You captivate someone’s heart and “move in” permanently and passionately?

A Recipe for Deliverance!

Temptation Toppler.  Reality Restorer.  Transparent Transformer.  Intimacy Igniter.  Truth Magnifier.  Advantage Giver.  Rule Blesser.  Heart Mender.  Home Builder.

It’s another one of the paradoxes of Life with You… isn’t it, Lord?  Where You turn the world on its head and do the opposite of what it promotes.  In the world, embracing another man — whether in body, heart or both — is a sure path to marriage destruction.

But with You, Lord, as “My Other Man”…

… the more I fall in love with You, the more my love for my husband grows.

… the more time I “steal away” to be with You, the more I have to offer my husband.

… the more time I spend with You, the more I become a wife who blesses — who desires to bless — my husband.

… the more You “rub off” on me through our intimate encounters, the more my heart confirms that words like Dissatisfaction, Disrespect and Divorce are no longer in my marriage vocabulary.

This doesn’t just happen when married life is easy, or when both partners love You and seek You, Lord.  Rarely is any season of married life “easy.”  Two imperfect people learning to live beyond themselves and stick together… no matter what?  Even in the midst of fleshly desires, wordly stresses, and a scheming enemy whose sole agenda is to divide and conquer?

“… each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed…”  (James 1:14)

“Anxiety weighs down the heart…”  (Proverbs 12:25a)

“The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy…”  (John 10:10a)

At times, even the best of marriages can be thrown into circumstances that seem more like a desert wasteland than a garden of roses.  A desert wilderness where the relationship gets parched… desperate for Life-giving Water.

“Let anyone who is thirsty come to Me and drink.”  (John 7:37b)

Yes, Lord.  You create beautiful, fragrant gardens for us… AND You meet us in every wilderness.  Yet what You can do for us — what You promise to do for us — is available to us despite those wildernesses.  Despite the worst our flesh, the world and the devil can throw at us… even when it takes a miracle.

But only if —  ONLY IF — we will believe and receive and embrace one Treasure with our whole heart:  A Treasure that is sure to transform us forever.

The Treasure of Your Unfailing Love.

I know.  Because I have experienced this Love from You, Lord.  Because of this truth, You are the only “Other Man” I ever want to have in my future.  Because You, alone, are truly The Lover of My Soul.

“I pray that out of His glorious riches He may strengthen you with power through His Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith.  And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power… to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge — that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.”  (Ephesians 3:16-19)

Grateful beyond words,

Abba’s Girl

p.s.  Oh, my precious Lord and Lover… There you go again!  How You fill my “cup” to overflowing!  As I finished this blog, I whispered from my heart to Yours:  “Lord, would You add Your own exclamation point to this post… right now?” Then I opened the Bible randomly and read this:  “The wild animals honor me, the jackals and the owls, because I provide water in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland, to give drink to My people, My chosen, the people I formed for Myself that they may proclaim My praise.”  (Isaiah 43:20-21)

!!!

Drinking deep,

Abba’s Girl

 

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