From B : At the time of this article, Texas is still reeling from Hurricane Harvey. Now, Florida and Georgia is facing the largest Hurricane on record…Hurricane Irma.

On a personal note, our son; Jake, left Florida and is heading to North Carolina to get out of Irma’s path.

We’ve been keeping a close watch on the Hurricane and doing our best to stay connected with Jake.

Yvonne and I began a conversation about how preparing for this storm is much like marriage and life.

See, we have read how some local residents in these storm’s paths are refusing to leave.
I understand that mentality to a degree. I probably wouldn’t want to leave everything I own either. However, at the end of the day, those are just THINGS. Those THINGS can be replaced.

Is the reason for their refusal to leave, that they think “everything will be fine!” Or “It can’t happen to us!”?

Sadly, some couples just go about their everyday lives not realizing that we have a real enemy and he wants to destroy our marriage.

He (the enemy) uses situations and storms to tear marriages apart. They aren’t preparing or setting boundaries in place so that the bond of the marriage will be protected.

We can’t wait till the Flood Waters are Rising to begin to make a plan. We must make a plan BEFORE it begins to storm and then “work the plan.”

I think there is a misconception about marriage counselors or marriage workshops. Most believe that a marriage has to be on the rocks before help is sought.

Couples need to learn how to communicate, how to problem solve, set boundaries, handle finances and raise children. These are just a few of the issues that married couples face. There are many more.

Your marriage is at stake. The stronger your marriage is, the better prepared you will be.

From Y:

The recent natural disasters have really pulled at my emotions. Trying to help in any way possible just doesn’t seem to cut it for me. My heart hurts with each and every story I read. The question of “how could this happen?”. There are multiple reasons and different levels of devastation. The bottom line is that the destruction was not biased to race, class, gender, age, political party or religious beliefs. It started me thinking about how the enemy seeks and destroys the foundation of our homes; our families. The enemy goes about this in many different ways depending on our level of preparedness. A lesson for me is that we should always be prepared and ready.

I know all too well about folks not wanting to leave their entire lives behind while the flood waters rose and what a painful thing that is due to the two floods my parents have been through. We have also have had a child threatened by Hurricane Irma and the emotional toll that takes on everyone involved is enormous. I understand the emotion and struggle. While reading storms stories it was apparent it wasn’t so cut and dry.

In some cases, yes folks chose to stay in dangers path. Those cases were a small percent. The majority of evacuees fell into two categories; preparing to evacuate and the water levels rising so quickly no one could have imagined their garage flooded and car floating down their neighborhood in 90 seconds or evacuees were preparing but in previous flooding their property was not in flood/evacuate zones.

It struck me that these are also the exact ways our homes and families are attacked/destroyed by the enemy from a spiritual aspect as well. Most of us know the traps, circumstances and temptations that can put our family at risk. How we react to the potential danger often times directly affects the outcome.

Many couples refuse help. They believe they can weather a trial without any help from professionals who see or do family counseling everyday. There are resources available and it certainly does not imply weakness to reach out to your pastor, a like minded same sex spiritual mentor or a professional counselor. In my opinion, it shows strength and commitment.

“Plans fail for lack of counsel, but with many advisers they succeed.”
‭‭Proverbs‬ ‭15:22‬ ‭NIV‬‬

“Plans are established by seeking advice; so if you wage war, obtain guidance.”
‭‭Proverbs‬ ‭20:18‬ ‭NIV

There are those families who know the precautions to take at the first sign of danger or threat and start doing all the things to protect their relationships but never thought it could creep in so fast. They see all the warning signs , they start protection plans and aren’t completed with those plans before the enemy sweeps in to destroy.

“For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.”
‭‭Ephesians‬ ‭6:12‬ ‭NIV‬‬

There are then situations where a family may think- “this could never happen to us”. We’ve been through trials before and we’ve been fine. Everything will be okay. That type of situation won’t affect our home. Then before you know it the situation has, in fact, crept into your home and your family indeed is wounded when all is said and done.

We as humans are prone to thinking we can rationalize situations or think we can figure our own way out of it. The flaw in that way of thinking is that we are not fighting against things of this world or not of our own understanding.

“See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the elemental spiritual forces of this world rather than on Christ.”
‭‭Colossians‬ ‭2:8‬ ‭NIV‬‬

“Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.”
‭‭1 Peter‬ ‭5:8‬ ‭NIV‬‬

“Be on your guard; stand firm in the faith; be courageous; be strong.”
‭‭1 Corinthians‬ ‭16:13‬ ‭NIV‬‬

“but whoever listens to me will live in safety and be at ease, without fear of harm.””
‭‭Proverbs‬ ‭1:33‬ ‭NIV

“And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. ’”
‭‭Matthew‬ ‭6:13‬ ‭NIV‬‬

From Both:

We are excited to announce that we (Bryan & Yvonne Hutson/Rescue Me Ministries) have partnered with FamilyLife to take part in “The Weekend To Remember” in Louisville, KY on November 3, 4 and 5th 2017. This is great time to invest in your marriage and reconnect with your spouse.

We’d love for you to go with us! Reach out to us at rescuemeministries988@gmail.com or to schedule US to host a marriage enrichment event at your church.