believing ahead of time
“I do believe. Help my unbelief.” Mark 9:24
My Mom gave me a prayer to pray over 20 years ago when Mike and I were struggling in our marriage. Every marriage has struggles at one time or another. I remember looking into my Mom’s beautiful brown eyes saying, “I’m not sure I believe all this right now.” In her gentle wisdom, she replied, “Do it anyway. Pray it out loud every day and watch what happens.”
I did as she suggested deciding to believe every word and it all came true within a short time.
I chose to believe my Mom standing on her shoulders of faith and loved my husband through a bleak period. Now, 32 years married, I easily believe every single line.
The Marriage Prayer
Lord God of Love,
I thank you from the depths of my heart
For the husband you have given me.
And for the life we have shared together.
Thank you for the joys of loving him,
For the warmth that comes from his gracious
and unselfish love, and for our children—the fruits of that love.
Help me always to know the beauty of our marriage.
And the tender moments that have passed between us.
Help me always to realize that he has given
to me what he has given to no other—himself, his love,
and his children.
I beg the grace to be able to make his life
as joyous as he has made mine.
Let our love bring us together to your heart,
and, there, with our children around us,
let us adore you forever.
Amen.
Decide to believe ahead of time.
Deciding to believe ahead of time is one of the main parts of The Model and our Catholic Faith. What you focus on grows. It begins with the knowledge that you can choose your thoughts. This is free will.
Writing your thoughts down gets them out of your brain and onto the paper where you can see them. This is the first step towards awareness of what thoughts you are thinking.
Thoughts that you think over and over again create belief. When you become aware of your thoughts, then you can take a look at them and “prosecute” them with your higher intellect.
Are they serving my highest good? Are they morally good thoughts? If I hold them up against Truth, are they producing good fruit through my emotions and actions?
Take your thoughts to the Lord.
If your thoughts are not producing actions that you are proud of then you can take those thoughts to the Lord, one at a time. He can guide you in shifting over to better thoughts that help instead of harm you.
Over time, when repeated, these new thoughts become beliefs and you form new neural pathways. It does take time, lots of grace, and great faith to believe ahead of time that what you are saying and choosing to believe is True.
You can do this with your marriage, your weight, and your ability to spiritually fast. Nothing is impossible with God.