The Tough Stuff of Marriage

They don't tell you in all the glittery pastel-y cards you get by the boat load - you know the kind that speak of the magic & wonder & stardust & castles & true love bit of getting married.  They byway the true stuff & go for the fluff we all love.  Truth is, in my neck of the woods, marriage is hard.

I know we are all human {That's the problem, right?}, but when time & time again another Christian marriage crumbles in the spotlight, or in our small community of believers, it hits me where my fear is so strong.  I could end up hurt.  Another statistic, like the other couples we thought were unbreakable - the couples who vowed on their wedding days & wholeheartedly thought they meant it... until one or both of them didn't.

It's true, the enemy hates godly marriages.  It's scary in this messed up world to know you & your husband have targets on your back.  But, in actuality, all Christ followers have these targets, &, in turn, we all have all we need with Jesus as our strength & His holy Spirit as our power.  But, can I be honest, I'm still scared sometimes.  In all utter honesty, sometimes the fear of the possibility of my marriage failing & my heart being broken into bits freezes my soul & begs me to take the easy way out - end it now, when there's no children to be harmed, & no more chance of my own pain that could be down this unknown road.  Isn't that so wrong?  Isn't, even this, the very tactic of the enemy in my life?  That in the end, I cannot control what my husband does, or make him love me forever, or be his enough.  It terrifies me, this loss of control that I never really had in the 1st place.

God is in control.  Let me just repeat that to myself & breathe: God is in control & He is good.  That is all I know right now.  I don't know if my marriage will end happily ever after.  I only know I promised a good & faithful God that I would love this man with all I have for all our days.  And, I know the only way I can do it in this world where marriages are thrown out with yesterday's leftovers, is through Christ.  In Him, my husband & I, find our cord of 3 that cannot easily be broken {Ecclesiastes 4:12}.  Marriage is tough, but our heavenly Daddy is bigger than our biggest mess, & that is an abundance of hope that carries me through way better than any Hallmark card poetry ever could.

P.S.: Romans 8:28!