- Marriage is an incredible commitment and step of faith. Think about it: you are committing to love someone for the rest.of.your.life. For most of us, we anticipate that will be a long time! And it won't be easy.
- You will sacrifice countless desires, some of which will be really big and significant.
- You will go through incredible changes. Lives, deaths, moves, career changes. You just don't know what sort of changes you -- even your spouse's very personality -- will undergo. But God calls the commitment to be constant.
- You will go through countless hurts. Little hurts, big hurts. Betrayals, forgetfulness, intentional, mean-spirited words and actions.
- In light of much of this, I'm amazed that HH is having another go at it. What faith. And certainly not faith in me.
- In light of all this, I also marvel as I look at lots of strong marriages around me. In fact, as I was driving home feeling heavier and heavier, I was amazed that as many marriages stay in tact as they do! (a 50% divorce rate also means a 50% survival rate!) Apart from the grace of God, I would not give myself very good odds of being a part of a marriage that would last. ("Oh to grace how great a debtor, daily I'm constrained to be!").
- Not only did I end up amazed that there are many strong marriages, and that HH dove into that big commitment with me, but I'm amazed that these marriages seem to be getting sweeter as the years go by. I'm blessed to see that in my parents' life, and the life of my new in-laws, not to mention many others. The years, the hurts and healings, the changes in situation and people have conspired not to tear them apart but to give them a depth of relationship and a sweetness that I can only pray will be ours.
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
Molly is Marveling at the Mystery of Marriage
Today was a day of heavy news and thought processes, and I just couldn't leave it behind when I left work. Instead, I found myself contemplating some of the heavier things about marriage. Here are a couple of sample thoughts:
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3 comments:
I want to be like HH.
Great post Molly. A couple weeks ago when Steve preached on brokenness and publicly shared some of our personal brokenness I commented on the way home that it's pretty amazing we're still married. We've both hurt each other, badly at times, and yet we persevere. Some marriages survive without ever working through it but the healthy ones work through it and go one just as happy, if not happier than before. That, Steve remarked, was the true miracle.
Molly,
Just encouraging you to raise your eyes toward the Lord, who has created this plan for your life -- and trust in His redemptive love.
One of the reasons I think Christian marriages are sustained throughout the many years and trials, and sin, is that the Lord brings to mind the many answered prayers from those times of brokenness -- which encourages the perseverance. He Is Able...
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