This month, my husband and I will celebrate our tenth wedding anniversary. Many of you know our "love story" began way before that. (you can read about our beginning
here)
Marriage.
The butt of so many jokes. So much negativity. So many fairy tales. What's real, what isn't...
I don't know about you, but I want REAL.
...Marriage is like a triangle. Want to grow close to your man? Grow closer to God. As both of you reach upward you’ll not only come close to God, you’ll grow closer to each other. And if you are in a marriage where your husband doesn’t want to draw near to the Lord, you keep on anyhow. In Him, you’ll find the support, love and hope your heart desires.
Marriage can be hard, but it’s easier when we spend more time focusing on God’s encouraging truths and less time concentrating on each other's faults. ...
Mark 10:6-9,
“But at the beginning of creation God ‘made them male and female.’ ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.’ So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate.”
Ten years.
We're still young. We've got lots to learn of life and each other. And we're not the same people who fell in love all those years ago. We're not the same people who stood on that alter and spoke those vows all those years ago. We carried baggage into the relationship. We carried baggage into our marriage.
It was only
after salvation and experiencing God's amazing grace that we let that baggage go. That we shed those former selves like a snake sheds and leaves behind it's old skin. And with God's consistent grace and mercies, we've never looked back.
Over the years.
We've had a wild ride.
High school. Well, that was just fun.
Graduation and moving out. That was fun, too. For awhile.
Careers, buying a house at twenty years of age. Again, fun, but only for awhile. Then came the bills, home repairs, job-changing, life-changes, you know all that "grown-up" stuff.
Then came marriage. That's right. B and I didn't get married until later. Statistically, our marriage will not survive because of this fact.
And we almost didn't.
“‘Do not call to mind the former things, or ponder things of the past. Behold I will do something new, now it will spring forth; Will you not be aware of it? I will even make a roadway in the wilderness, rivers in the desert.’” Isaiah 43:18-19 (NAS)
But, God.
God cut right in and
reigned our parade.
Ahh, the sweet sound of salvation.
And you know what? The real fun begin.
When you can love without limits. When you can truly give your heart to someone without worry. Because God is the One who truly holds your heart. Because God oversees all that happens, all that you go through.
When you can let go of unrealistic expectations because He frees you from all that junk.
Forgiveness. Grace. Mercy.
Then, and only then, can marital love be pure, true.
Becoming Parents.
Well, this changes EVERYTHING. Again.
We prayed for babies for so many years. And through those waiting years, we learned so much about each other, God's faithfulness and our own strength through Him. God fulfilled His promise when he blessed us with not one, but three beautiful, healthy boys.
He is constantly growing us and teaching us through these precious lives.
Patience. Humble-ness. Trust. Self-control. Compassion. Empathy.
Grace. Lots and lots of grace.
And when things get rough? Because we're human and we mess up?
What works. Every time.
"I'm sorry"
"I was wrong."
"I forgive you."
"I love you."
"Let's make up."
“Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves.” Romans 12:10 (NIV)
.....
