For Better or For Worse

Today I am going to be talking a little about my husband and our marriage. We have been married 12 years - we have had our ups and our downs, but I am very blessed to have the husband that I have. We were very young when we got married - I was 20 and he was 18! I know that God knew what He was doing when He put us together when He did - He knew that we would need each other more than we could fathom at the time.

Our first year of marriage was one of the most trying times in both of our lives - not because of our marriage, but because of circumstances outside of our control. Some of our biggest support systems were ripped away from us that very first year. Both of our churches were undergoing huge problems and splits and Dennis' family was experiencing the same. As I look back on it I see what a truly hard time in our lives that was. However, our saving grace in it all was that we had each other and we had God. We did not live "happily ever after" right after we were married. Things got very hard and very lonely for a while, but in reflecting back on it I see how those situations really drew Dennis and I closer together. We had to learn how to stand strong as a couple, even if we were standing alone. We had to figure out who we were and what we stood for. I believe that much of what happened in that first year has molded us into who we are today as people and as a couple.

So many times today people take the easy way out - things get hard and instead of digging their heels in and sticking things out they just decide to run away. Instead of dealing with the problem at hand they neglect it and ignore it and pretend it was never there. Faithfulness is not easy. Marriage is not easy. Sometimes it is going to seem like the whole world is against you - that you are losing everyone you were ever close to. But God gives us a promise: He is there! Isaiah 58:9 says, "Then you shall call and the Lord will answer; you shall cry and He will say 'Here I am'". That first year of marriage brought a lot of tears for both of us, but the foundation that we built during that year will never crumble. Our foundation was not built on any person or any church or any support system other than Jesus Christ our Lord. He was the Rock that we stood on when everything else around us seemed to be crumbling. It was painful to walk through but as I look back I am truly thankful for what God did in us during that time. This week is Thanksgiving and it is easy to be thankful for the victories in life - the good times and our material possessions. But this Thanksgiving I am thankful for those hard times in life too - those times that truly built not my comfort, but my character. Earthly comforts are temporary, but our character will remain. This Thanksgiving be thankful for those things that will remain - those things that this world cannot steal away from you. Those are the things that truly matter.