I happened upon a social media post by a young woman who said she is about to get married and bemoaning the fact of how many people had told her, “It is the hardest thing you will ever do!” She said those were not the words she needed to hear…. and I agree. There are definitely moments in some marriages where that feels like the case, but in those moments one has to remember why she fell in love with her beloved, what they are building together as a family, and have confident trust that God will be with them both in the midst of the hard times…. and some hard times will come. But so will many more joys, successes, celebrations, and victories will build through the years.
July 22nd is the 50-year anniversary of my marriage to Bill, my husband who died of COVID complications on 8/6/2020, 2 wks after our 48th anniversary.
Marriage is a journey in growing individually, growing together, and most importantly, growing in Christ. There’s nothing like it for soul growth, refining character, teaching mature love, rising above suffering, and finding joy. May God greatly bless those who stick with it, as God most assuredly did with us!
Few, especially me, would have given us much of a chance of making it past our 25th year… without a doubt the most difficult we faced. But God knew what was needed and God provided for us in some miraculous ways that still leave me shaking my head about ways in which Christ worked to draw us back into joyful union with Himself…. I wouldn’t take anything even for the hard times. It made the sweet times all the more precious. So many cherished memories comfort me now in solitary widowhood but I am never lonely. Christ has blessed me with such sweet Presence and demonstrated the truth of His promise to be a Husband to the widow and a Father to the orphan … and also how He worked in and through my husband and me for one another through the years to make us each better spouses for one another. It is a holy and miraculous thing…. marriage in covenant with Christ.
Marriage is not the hardest thing you’ll ever do. Saying goodbye to the one you have grown to love deeply, like happily, and have lived with through better or worse for decades is so much harder. But Christ will still be present with you both and keep the connection that exists between you still alive in one another’s hearts and minds.