Friday, October 3, 2008

Ten Years of Marriage

Celebrating ten years of marriage today. Ten years ago I walked barefoot down the banks of a river to meet up with the man I would marry. I know that we would not have made it to this point without the grace of God and our commitment to the covenant we made with him.

There was a time, probably five or six years ago, that Howard and I were on the verge of divorce. We'd talked about who would get the kids, how things would work, etc. We were both caught up in our own lives and in our sin. We'd given our lives to Christ, but we weren't living our lives for Him. We were still completely focused on ourselves. As a last ditch effort I signed us up for a covenant marriage small group at our local church. This wasn't the church we attended, but instead was the church we were scared of. It was big. It was southern Baptist, and we were living in the buckle of the bible belt. It was scary for two people who grew up in a church labeled as a cult by mainstream Christians (it was a cult but we weren't quite ready to admit that). Anyway, I signed us up for this class. We got there and knew the facilitators. They were the couple that owned the local pharmacy I always went to. Long story short those two studies (both on aspects of the covenant marriage) changed our marriage forever.

We still have a long road. And some days are harder than others. Heck, today I'm trying to figure out how to get our checking account back into the positive before the three other checks out there come thru. Anyway, Howard and I are both committed to each other and to God. That's the difference. Yes, we're still flawed humans who still lose our focus and make it about us. But then we remember that Christ is the center of our marriage.

Lord Jesus, thank you for loving us enough to die for us. Thank you for reminding us that you are the center of our marriage. Thank you for giving us each the strength to fight for ten years. Please continue to give us strength to fight for this marriage everyday. We know that everyday we will be attacked with ideas of easier ways and selfish things. Please keep our minds and our hearts focused on you alone. We love you Lord. Amen.

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