Webster defines faith as a strong belief or trust in someone or something. There are a million different things to put your faith in. Your neighbor, your education, your spouse, science, other people – the list goes on. I put my faith in God and so does my husband. That might seem like a no brainer, but in reality, having something to put your faith in is so important for many different reasons. I believe that putting your faith into something gives you a solid ground to stand on.
While I do believe that having faith in something is extremely important for personal growth, I also believe that it is important to share the same faith as your spouse. That isn’t the say that two different people with two different faiths can’t have a successful life together because they can. I just think that that sharing the same faith as your spouse can help other things move along.
One reason why I think it’s important is because it affects how you work through things. When you hit a wall and have no idea what your next move is, if your spouse has the same faith as you, you’ll work through the problem easier. When my husband and I hit a problem in our lives, we take time to think about the different solutions, we pray about it and we come up with the best plan to solve the problem. It works for us because we have the same faith. If we had different faiths, it would probably take twice as long to come to an agreement on something because we would have different morals and reasonings.
Not only is sharing the same faith as your spouse important for working through your marital issues, but it’s also import when it comes to raising your kids. Kids are the most impressionable people you’re ever going to meet. If your faith is important to you and your spouse, then you should make it important for your kids as well. If you have the same faith as your partner, then some of the difficult stuff with kids aren’t going to seem so difficult. Everything from punishments and rewards to life goals and plans are going to fall in line with what you and your spouse have faith in. That helps setting your kids up for success knowing that you’re all on the same page. Sharing your faith with your kids should also help create a trusting bond so they’ll always be able to come to you for anything.
Someday, your kids aren’t going to be kids anymore. They’re eventually going to grow up, leave the house and be productive members of society. If your faith is important to you and you show them that, then your kids will go off into the world sharing their faith with other people. Some kids will expand out beyond your faith and figure out their own faith, and there is nothing wrong with that. They also might share your faith, but also find someone who has a different faith, and that’s okay too! As a parent you’d like to think that you can make every decision for your child, but as long as you share your faith with them, then there really shouldn’t be a problem…right?
When all else fails and there seems to be no light at the end of the tunnel, it’s important to fall back on your faith. If your faith falls on science, then you know the most logical answer to everything. If your faith falls back on education, then you know that you can find the answer somewhere. If your faith falls on your spouse, then you literally have to rely on your spouse to figure everything out. My faith falls on God and I share that common faith with my husband. We fall back on him every time we have issues. We pray about a lot of things. We have faith that God will help us figure our way out of things. Sharing the same faith has made everything else seem so small.