Dear Reader,
This morning, I had good fellowship with a friend from church. When my husband and I got engaged, she stepped up and offered to help keep us organized. Anyone who has planned a wedding (especially in a short time period) knows the importance of being organized. I got to know her as we met to discuss our progress, and she got to know a very cranky version of me. Still, she pressed on, and in spite of the near arrival of her grandson (he was delivered four days after the wedding), she helped us to and through our "big day." Needless to say, I was grateful to be able to sit down and really talk for the first time after the wedding.
Today, she and her husband are celebrating their 30th anniversary. Where I come from, exchanging the wrong glance warrants divorce. It wasn't until I moved to San Jose and started attending Grace Bible Fellowship that I really got to know people who carry out long and successful marriages. Of course, that was my aspiration (and now my commitment) as I dated my husband. But toward the end of our engagement, fear crept in and I started wondering if I would be able to accomplish anything but the cycle of divorce that runs generations deep in my family. I knew that when I got married, that would be that. After, the choice couldn't be whether or not to stay, but whether to allow myself to be miserable through our future trials together, or whether to accept everything from God with thanksgiving (Ecclesiastes 7:14). Obviously, the fear subsided and I realized that the Lord had provided this man to be my husband. And I was able to step forward and make my second biggest commitment (my first being to God).
Today, Josh and I have been married for three months. Small potatoes, I know. But anyone who has celebrated a 30th, 40th or 50th anniversary started out with one month, one year, one decade. I so look forward to all of the milestones my husband and I will share. Unlike the secular world, I am able to say that my marriage and my commitment before God will not fail. Because Josh and I united on the foundation of Christ with the Holy Spirit dwelling within each of us, we will be able to live out our vowed love for one another. We will struggle through the trials set before us together. We must! What is the alternative? I know I didn't have one in mind as I vowed to love, honor and submit to my husband, til death do us part.
I am grateful for my friend's openness about her marriage and the trials they have pushed through. I admire her strength and will to submit to her husband in spite of his many years without the Lord. Praise Jesus for saving Him several years ago! It sounds like we're both working on the same things in our marriages, which teaches me that Josh and I will never be perfect. But oddly, it's very encouraging to hear that even though my friend has been married for so long, she and her husband are still working together to be better. I pray that I never reach a state of complacency in my marriage; I pray that I will always make growing together toward Jesus and glorifying Him my utmost priority. And while that means we are bound to face trials and growing pains, I hope I will stumble upon this message again in the midst of that tribulation, and that I will be encouraged by my current vigor.
I hope to encourage you, as well. Always feel free to leave comments and let me know what you're thinking. I pray that the Lord blesses you in your marriage as He has blessed me. Remember today that intense hope and love you felt on your wedding day, and may you carry that through to an act of love (a simple kiss on the cheek will suffice) toward your husband.
God bless you,
adguglielmo
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