Living My Vocation of Marriage Better
By Gina Sternfels
God has me present in my vocation as a mother and a wife. To do my best for my family, I must be sure I care for myself and my relationship with my husband. For us, that is time together to focus on our relationship with God, our father.
I signed us up for a weekend away almost a year ahead, praying we would be able to attend. At the time, we did not have weekend care for our son with autism, but we took that leap of faith.
I was excited to spend time with couples from our church. From the busyness of our lives to the Willwoods weekend at St. Joseph’s Abbey, it was a great opportunity. We would be surrounded by the peace of nature, the beautiful church and our community, which I knew God wanted for us and our relationship.
“But Jesus Himself would often slip away to the wilderness and pray”
Luke 5:16.
Like Jesus, we, too, need to take that time away to live out our vocation. As a mother, I often need to pay attention to how God wants to pour into me, but, as a married couple, we also do God’s will by investing in each other to learn and grow together.
Most importantly, we were reminded that we are here to assist our spouse in becoming a saint. It is our vocation to be life-giving and love our spouse as Jesus loved his church.
The weekend immersed our relationship with our church community, bringing God’s refreshing graces to our marriage. The Holy Spirit put on my heart to pray more with and for my husband.
The primary focus of our vocation is not living by the circumstances in my life and isolating myself. By trusting our loving and faithful father more, he reminds me of my primary role as a wife and to choose to love more like him and see Jesus in my husband.
