James 5:16 Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.

We’ve been talking about getting tripped up. I thought I would make something really clear. Just publishing a devotional or being associated with the word “ministry” doesn’t make you immune to falling. The steps we laid out yesterday are familiar to us because we use them. We need them. Thankfully, God doesn’t give us a timetable to show when His grace runs out; however, we need to fall less as time goes on because that’s growth.

You might remember that there was a step towards the end that involved another person. Empower someone else to help you stay true to your plan. You might have thought, “No way is there anyone I can tell about this area in my life. They’ll hate me! They’ll give up on me.” I think this is where couples, especially, can get really messed up. One can have something they are battling and the other doesn’t know anything about it. And the one who isn’t battling at the time (because everyone will be battling at some point) isn’t sensitive to what the other is going through. I know that wives, especially, can be very over-reactive when a husband tries to share something, so that maybe he eventually won’t want to share anything at all. (I can say that because I’m a wife!)

There is a lot of power and strength that God gives us when we are willing to share our struggle with someone else. Pray for your spouse to be that person, if you have one. Be that person for your spouse. “Little foxes” can steal the foundation of a marriage when a spouse is not entirely truthful. And if you’re not married, pray for a trustworthy friend who can “stand in the gap” for you when you’re not batting a thousand. Respond to your confidante the way you would want them to respond to you.

Any battle in this life is half won already with a partner covering your back. Be ready to share and ready to care. God can do the healing part.

Jennifer

Biblical Meditation: 1 John 1:9