This next weekend Chris & I are FINALLY getting baptized! I was supposed to get baptized a year ago, but Chris was deployed and wanted me to wait until we could go together. Although I selfishly just wanted to get it done sooner rather than later, I'm soo glad I waited for my husband because I believe now we are both spiritually ready for it... and it will be in the OCEAN!!! I do not want to boast about my husband because I only want to boast in my God, but man! I want to speak positive things over him and our marriage, so let me just say that my husband is so loving, strong, determined and compassionate. I am so proud that he is allowing God to shape him into the man he is called to be. (not to mention, he's easy on the eyes, haha). But really, I would do anything for my love.
and on that note :) ....
You know how it's really exciting to be bombarded with facebook posts/announcements of people getting engaged and then their millions of wedding pictures? (I am guilty of this...). And then we all know how many marriages actually last in our culture today (apparently 50% of all marriages end in divorce and who knows how many people are happily married that stay together?). I'm not here to dishearten anyone about marriage, especially if you're still in your honeymoon phase, but rather to be a light for your future/current marriage. So, nobody told me just how hard it would be. My parents did an amazing job at hiding all the difficulties they may have faced; in fact, people often called them the "perfect couple". So this is what I've felt I've had to live up to in my own marriage: perfection. Great. We cannot, however, compare our marriages. In fact, I love how my pastor phrased it: "Don't compare your insides to another person's outsides."
All people and therefore, all marriages, are going through SOME form of trial or struggle.. and not because God likes it that way or causes it even, but because of our own human nature we "miss the mark" (sin) and bring on our own consequences. The amazing thing about us missing that mark of perfection, is what God DOES do with it... if you step back from your circumstance, you actually see that He will allow some good to come of it. (This is revelation was taken from a pastor at my church). When we finally accept that we all are dealing with some sort of challenges, even if we don't expose these "issues" to other people, it's awesome to see how God uses it to shape and refine us.
Nobody hardly ever talks openly about what's going on in their marriage if it's something not so positive whether it be because we don't want people to think of us as failures or because we don't want to be "THAT" person who's always complaining/whining about their problems. But I WILL BE HONEST for those of you who don't already know: MARRIAGE IS HARD. . . . but it's SO WORTH IT. This quote says it well:
“It is the illusion that if we find our one true soul mate, everything wrong with us will be healed; but that makes the lover into God, and no human being can live up to that.” {T.Keller}
No one ever told me that (and I'm not blaming anyone for it) whatever we were giving up before, it would be double that when you get married. Why is that worth it? Because when you give up your own happiness to serve your spouse and put their needs before yours (AKA giving 100%, NOT 50%), then you will receive true happiness. In the book "The Meaning of Marriage", the author explains this so well, that we were never meant to be on this earth to serve our own self-centered-ness, and it makes sense because if you try to do this, you will notice you are STILL EMPTY. But, when you give to others, there is some form of supernatural high which is indescribable. This greatest form of love, shown by God giving his only begotten Son who never "misses the mark", completely innocent and dying for and IN PLACE OF all of us who have fallen short (k, this is the gospel folks!) is what we were meant to imitate in our own lives ESPECIALLY in our marriages.
It's true, we all have seasons where we just feel we need to do things for ourselves, after all, you're important too! But, sooner or later we will see that we can only live for ourselves for so long until our body starts to feel emptiness. We all fill that empty hole in different ways, but there is only one way to keep it filled, and that is by doing some serious soul searching & finding the true lover of our life: our CREATOR. When our husband/wife isn't giving us the love we need, we can't take it out on them that they are not perfect like God, the one whose love will never go away when we are living in His light. We can't give up on our spouse because they are only human, and we NEVER marry Mr. or Mrs. Right/Perfect because that person doesn't exist. . . instead, we are called to love & serve them no matter what and then we will have the victory. Only then can we see just how AWESOME marriage is, and how even GREATER our God is! It's such a tragedy that people are supposedly "ruining" the institution of marriage with topics I won't get into, but we can't focus on those things. Instead, we need to focus on our own covenant made with God & our spouse.
It is my hopes that you will endure trials in your marriage by allowing the Spirit to fill you and not giving into anything God has spoken against. But we are only human, so take your marriage to the Supernatural level, give to your spouse even when they are supposedly undeserving of it, and cling on to every last bit of hope. Be an inspiration to every other marriage, not so that they can think we are perfect (because lets face it, we're not!), but so that we can provide the best foundation for our families and to be the person/couple we are called to be.
*Only good can come out of loving others and being children of the light. XOXO*
Read more - > http://unveiledwife.com/book-review-the-meaning-of-marriage-by-timothy-kathy-keller-chapter-1-the-secret-of-marriage/
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