The Relationship Cycle with God
The relationship cycle with your spouse, or your teenagers can be tricky … (I know I have 4 teenagers in my house currently).
But the relationship cycle with your Heavenly Father isn’t that complicated.
Because we know that He is perfect, and He knows how to perfectly navigate HIS end of the relationship in any circumstance.
So, if we feel our relationship with Him isn’t going the way we think it should…
We know, it’s our end that is struggling not His.
God will not abandon His relationship with you, He loves you much more than that and will wait for you! In fact – He stands ready to help you every step of the way. Not to manipulate you, but to offer help and guidance as you make new choices.
How he shows us what we can work on to strengthen our relationship with Him isn’t easy to recognize…
Our relationship with Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ is reflected back to us most often in the relationships we have already created with our spouse and children (or those we are closest to).
If you are somehow resenting your spouse, how then are you somehow resenting Heavenly Father?
If you are not willing to listen and have conversations with your teenagers, how are you stubbornly avoiding conversations with Heavenly Father?
If you are so overwhelmed you don’t have time for your family relationships, how is that affecting the time you could be spending with your Heavenly Father – and in turn, your ability to #hearhim when He is talking to you.
This isn’t to call you out and make you feel bad about yourself, it is simple a tool to help you SEE what your relationship looks like, so you can decide to work on making it better.
In fact, “the Savior invites us to SEE our lives through Him in order to see more of Him…” -Tracy Y. Browning
What if you made time for more expressions of gratitude in your relationships? Would you see that reflected back to you as you also find more time to thank Heavenly Father?
In asking us to improve our family relations, as we can and in whatever circumstance you are in… The Lord is calling us to live a higher and holier law…
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Now that we have a better understanding of how the relationship cycle works, let’s talk about the importance of covenants.
As we practice having faith in Jesus Christ and repent, we grow closer to Him…
We invite Him into our journey of overcoming the natural man and becoming like Him.
We ask Him to be in our thoughts and how to manage our emotions.
We ask for inspired action and trust His guidance.
When we desire MORE relationship with Jesus Christ, we make COVENANTS.
What is a covenant then?
From our primary years we learn that a covenant is a two-way promise…
A promise between us and God.
This is more than just having faith and repenting…
IF we do what he asks us to…
THEN He will give us MORE blessings.
Sometimes this sounds like a check list or set of rules…
However, covenants are more than just rules or a checklist to mark off…
Covenants are a sacred agreement between the ruler of the heavens and His children (don’t you love how that sounds).
When we make and keep covenants with Heavenly Father WE are choosing to strengthen our relationship with Him.
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We make covenants with God when we desire more guidance or additional help in our lives.
Life is riddled with overwhelmed schedules, confusing times, uncertainty about the future, resentment about the past, disappointment from unmet expectations, and so much more.
Sometimes we feel abandoned by God, or like He isn’t listening to our pleas for help?
To overcome many of the struggles in life we need additional help and power.
Power to climb that mountain of doubt, uncertainty, heartache, anxiety, depression, etc.
That power comes from making and keeping covenants.
Many of us have already made those additional covenants in the temple.
That additional power is ours to claim…
But, do we know how to claim it?
Like I said, it’s not a checklist…
Sometimes we say, “I made the covenant Father – why is my life still so hard?”
Perhaps we don’t understand… It’s more like a daily renewing of the covenant…
We get to make the choice, again and again, to uphold our end of the covenant so we can access the promised power.
Have we taken the time to study and really understand the covenants we are making?
How are WE supposed to be living to access that power?
Are we working on OUR end of the relationship cycle?
–What covenant comes to mind that you could work on a little bit today?
