Hey y’all! It’s Mark and Abby, Resident Coaches here at Metanoia Catholic. We’re hopping on the blog today to share with you a raw part of our journey…
As a newly married couple, it seemed like we were up against the world. It wasn’t long before we started having children, and we struggled to stay involved in our community with littles at home. It felt so isolating, and we really felt the negative effects from sin, the lack of mentorship, and, therefore, a lack of human formation in our lives.
We tried to work through our struggles together, but we were speaking two different languages and, inevitably, instead of controlling our emotions, we let our emotions control us. There were many days where our home felt so lonely and like never-ending chaos, rather than a place full of peace, connection, and creativity that we had hoped to raise our family in.
We read in scripture about Jonah, who’s sometimes referred to as “The Wrong-Way Prophet.” God is calling him to go to Nineveh, but instead, Jonah jumps on a boat headed to Tarshish in an attempt to flee and get “away from the presence of the Lord” (yea right). His choices wreak havoc (I’m shocked!), not only on himself, but also on the rest of the crew. He’s eventually found out and thrown overboard, where he gets swallowed up by a whale.
From the belly of the whale, Jonah cries out to God, oddly with a prayer of thanksgiving. Through a seemingly very unfortunate encounter between Jonah and the whale, Jonah experiences a change of heart… his very own metanoia moment. The next time God asks him to go to Nineveh, this time his heart is more closely conformed to God’s, and off to Nineveh he goes!
Have you ever experienced a moment in your life where there was a dramatic change of heart? Like there’s no other way to explain it besides God just doing his thing and showing off his abundant love and mercy for you…?
Our “moment” was beginning our journey with Metanoia Catholic.
The mentorship and formation we received through coaching took our marriage from barely surviving to thriving. Our hearts were being more closely conformed to God’s, we began to speak the same language, and so naturally, we experienced a greater connection in our marriage than ever before.
Trials in marriage (and life) never quit coming, but we were finally playing on the same team, heading in a unified direction. The intimacy we experienced with one another and with God in the trials gave us a whole new perception of our marriage and the trials themselves. We were able to love one another, truly, like never before because we knew in a much deeper way the love God first had for us first. (1 John 4:19)
Like St. Paul, we’re convinced we’ve learned the secret to being content in every circumstance we find ourselves in (Philippians 4:12), and it’s not rocket science. It’s actually quite simple. Anyone can learn it!
This Lent, we’re inviting married Catholics to join our interactive group coaching experience, LENTtogether (https://linktr.ee/lenttogether ), to learn and apply the same skills to your marriage that helped us discover new depths in ours.
We’d love to help you stay on track this Lent and experience the greater connection and intimacy you’ve desired in your marriage and in your relationship with God.
God always honors our free will. He won’t pick us up and force us to our own respective “Ninevehs”. He waits for our “yes” and, as we turn our hearts to Him, we come to know in a much deeper way the love and mercy He is willing and ready to share with us.
What about you?
Is your marriage heading in the right direction? Or could it be going the wrong way?
Regardless, God’s invitation to more abundant love and mercy is yours for the taking this Lent.
Do you accept it?
We’re ready to journey with you this Lent and show you how Catholic Coaching can help you turn your sail and have you traveling full steam towards a “more abundant” marriage (John 10:10).
Are you in??? To learn more, check out: https://linktr.ee/lenttogether
