Til Death Do Us Part…It sounds so cliche, so sweet, so touching. But marriage is hard work. We have gone through financial difficulty, job losses, health issues, extramarital affairs, chemical imbalances, and fierce disagreements, and it's hard. There is comfort in knowing someone so completely. The fact that we have weathered these things together has brought a depth that no new relationship or fling on the side could ever compare to. But, again. It is work. It takes unselfish sacrifice and energy. It takes putting aside who you are for a moment to speak in a way that your spouse can hear. I have never put so much of my heart, so much of my sweat and tears into a relationship before. I have never opened my heart so wide to someone before that the fleshly, tender parts are exposed. I have some scar tissue, and some wounds that still bleed once in a while.
Regardless, I am so thankful for my Father. My Father in heaven who has seen us through all of these things. He has watched shaking his head when we ignored his warnings and then dried our tears in the aftermath. I don't know how to do it any other way. I don't know how to navigate life, and confusion, and fear and pain and decisions without his guidance. I am thankful for him. I am thankful that he never has left me even when most of the important people in my life have disappointed or hurt or failed me in some way. I am thankful for a perfect God who is always the same and never decides one day he doesn't love me anymore, or that someone else deserves more of his devotion than I do. I am thankful for hope and joy and beauty that can spring up in my tattered and bruised heart. Life is hard. Marriage is hard. But, I am thankful.
"And this same God who takes care of me will supply all your needs from his glorious riches, which have been given to us in Christ Jesus."
Philippians 4:19
