A Love that Lasts

This is a picture I got from the CWO Blogroll page. I love it because it reminds me of marriage. "A cord of three strands"--Tony, me, and God. Marriage is suppose to be a strong cord. That is what God intended. It is a man leaving his family and joining with his wife to make their own new family. It is two becoming one flesh. It is never to be separated until death. Atleast that is what God intended.

I never knew how much I loved my husband until I had to go several days without communication with him. When Tony was in Ukraine on the mission trip with our college group he was not able to communicate with me at all. All I knew was he was on the other side of the world. I knew he was in God's hands and God is whose he is. I knew I was in God's hands and that I also belonged to God. It amazed me that God would be looking so intently and personally after each one of us on different sides of the world. It gave me an even bigger picture of God.

The incredible thing is about 6 days into his trip I got the deepest ache of my life. It was not a physical pain. Its source was a deep felt emotion that came from the depths of my very being. I felt as if a piece of me had been torn out. I have never experienced a feeling like that before. At that moment I knew my other half was missing and I could do nothing about it. God had to be enough at that time and He was. I realized at that moment just how much I really loved my husband. Don't get me wrong, I love this man with all my being but this was different. This was the forever love. That deep connection love that comes from the pit of your soul. It is what Dee Brestin talks about having with her husband in her book "Falling in Love with Jesus." It is a love I always desired to have but was a love that I could not make happen. It is a love that comes with time. It comes when we become less and God becomes more. It comes when two really do become one. One heart, one love, one life--the way marriage should be. This incredible love is what ties all things together. It is the love I had been praying for in my marriage. It is funny that I would probably not even realized it was there if my man was never gone. Isn't it funny how we take those who are closest to us the most for granted? Let it make us our goal to love well. Love our spouses, love our kids, love our family, love our friends, and love our enemies. Let us be a people who above all else love.