Marriage Monday

Trying to remember those trusty old vows we took 12 years ago. I was just a kid. Just fresh out of high school. I was not really understanding the challenges that were ahead. Challenges of becoming one with someone. Challenges of attending college and working to provide for us. I was just a young girl who desperately wanting a knight in shining armor who would ride up on his white horse and swoop me off my feet. One who would never disappoint--one who would always make me happy.

There was a huge problem in this thinking. Marriage is not about someone making you happy. That was one of the first unrealistic dreams of marriage I had. It was shattered all to fast. Every human would eventually disappoint. Why could I not accept that? I was just a kid after all. Too young really to get married. The statistics are not great when a kid gets married to another kid. The divorce rates in these situations are very high. All odds were against us.

To make matters worse I married an unbeliever. I was such a worldly Christian at the time. My life looked just like his so I thought we were on the same page. However, I was greatly mistaken and dived in head first. I now know what God meant by not being unequally yoked with someone. I was living the life. This was probably the worst misery of my life. But, I was too stubborn to get out. No one in my family has ever divorced and I would not be the first.

What were those vows? For better or worse. For richer or poorer. For in sickness and in health. Til death do us part. Those were the vows. I took those before God and everyone else. I would not break them. We had a rough start and rough times.

After three years of marriage, my husband came to the Lord. I started to get serious and follow God. I asked God to do whatever He needed to get us to a place where we would be sold out to Him. I believe God answered my prayer through allowing me to get sick. I battled a 7 year illness of a life threatening condition. It was through that that I really saw first hand how much my husband loved me. God used this time as a boot camp for us. We grew leaps and bounds through this trial.

God got us to a place where He could really use us! He then put us into ministry work together as a team. That is the biggest blessing of my life. God brought us full circle. We are a miracle. We beat the odds. We made it. However, this was only possible through the power of Christ. He changed us and made us whole. All praise and glory to Him!