When you think about what you want the foundation of your relationship to be, what comes to mind? Trust? Honesty? Fun? We all have different things that we deem important to the foundation of a great relationship. For me, faith is the foundation I look for in my relationships. In my mind, an amazing guy was going to come along one day, we would share the same faith and God would be at the center of the relationship.
So the guy came along (Check), we shared the same faith (Check), but then he moved (What?!).
Obviously, I wasn’t thrilled about this. How were we supposed to spend time growing in our faith together if he was over 800 miles away? For a moment, I’ll admit I was upset. Then I realized that I was overreacting a bit. Just because we were far apart didn’t mean we couldn’t still keep God at the center of what we were building. Without even thinking, we naturally kept God’s presence…present.
Now I know you may be reading this and you’re not in a long distance relationship, but even so, sometimes we need ideas about how to keep God in our relationships:
Read Scripture Together
We choose a book of the Bible and every week we read and study one chapter separately. Then we picked a consistent day out of the week where we come together on Facetime to talk about what we studied, what was revealed to us etc. When I added it to our calendars I called it “Bible With Bae”. Doing this helps you gain understanding of how the other person interprets scripture and also is a great opportunity to dialogue about what God is doing in your life.
Pray
Pray together and separately for one another. This was something that my significant other took the lead on. Very early on he would call every morning before work to pray over our day or week. Seek God about your relationship and about life in general. He cares about who you date and how you date so don’t leave it out of your prayer time.
Send Each Other Encouraging Texts
Sometimes throughout the week, God will just lead me to a scripture and I’ll feel compelled to send it to him. Think about the things your significant other may have mentioned they might be dealing with, and send them some encouragement. This will not only let them know you are thinking of them, but also points them back to faith in the process.
Share Sermon Notes
If you’re attending different worship experiences, have a conversation about what was taught, what you learned from it and how it can be applied in your life. Because he still considers the church we met at his church home, I try and make sure to send him notes, and update him on whatever is happening to keep him involved.
Grace
One of the biggest things I’ve learned is understanding that the grace that is freely given to us, should be extended. When one of us does something that may have hurt the other, we try not to allow our emotions to get involved and take the time to hear each other out and work through the issue. It’s important that we remember we are both flawed and extending that grace is important.
These are just a few simple, but impactful ways you keep God at the center of your relationship. Honestly, many of these tips work within friendships and with family members as well. It’s all about intentionality. Just like you make time for your personal growth with God, make time to make sure you and bae are also growing in God together!
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