43 Years And Still Going!

43 Years and Still Going

My husband and I just celebrated our 43rd Wedding Anniversary. We went to Sizzler for dinner and spend a quiet evening together.

Thankfully we have both grown leaps and bounds in all those years.

I was 18 and he was 22 when we tied the knot. I praise God that He orchestrated things in our life that no human could have concocted. We were not believers when we married, over time the Lord presented us with many challenges that showed us our need for Him.

I became born again first and ten years later my husband did too. We did not always lives as we should, nor did we understand give and take in the beginning. Our love was emotional and dependent, after we became born again the basis for our love changed, it became deeper and more Christ like after our salvation.

For those who think that a couple must be madly emotionally in love to make a marriage work, do not understand God's kind of love or human nature.

It is impossible to "feel" gooy toward anyone forever. There comes a time when the challenges appear, children, illness and other things that divert our attentions, making us tired, irritable and selfish if we let them. We become "accustomed to the other spouse", the fantasy wears off and real life begins.

If a couple goes into marriage knowing that there is no way out, that this union is for life, then they are more likely to work out the troubles rather than bail out of them.

Our marriage has been wonderful, not because it was perfect or without challenges, but because we walked through them with Christ. Before we were believers it was very hard, we were taught all the wrong attitudes about marriage, and focused on useless things.

After becoming born again our perspective changed entirely from those useless things to the deeper purposes of God. It took spankings from God and broken hearts to see our need for change.

I feel sorry for those who claim their marriage has always been wonderful, they are not helping the young people who need to be taught to expect difficulties and how to address them.

Christ is the answer to all of life!

Even if one of the spouses is not born again the one who is saved, can live at peace in a marriage such as this, when they are continually in God's Word and resolving to confess their own things while seeking to be transformed into whatever God wants them to be.

Of course there is the warning God gives not to marry unequally, however there are many marriages such as our, where one person becomes saved after marriage while the other spouse remains unsaved.

A believing spouse cannot expect anything from an unbeliever, they don't have the power to live as they should. Those who are born again must focus on God cleansing themselves, and pray for God to do His Work on their unsaved spouse.

AND, no, I did not do all the right things after I became born again! I pushed, shoved, badgered and prayed. One day I gave up and confessed to the Lord that I was trying to do the job of saving my husband myself, and that I was going to let go and let Christ.

Shortly after I prayed these things, God saved my husband. Christ in me, was saying to me, "When you are ready to stop playing God, then I will begin My work." What an amazing lesson and blessing that was.

God is a wonderful God and will never leave an earnest humble prayer go unanswered, when we pray in His Will.

Hallelujah!!!

I must share how deeply God worked in my husband and myself over the years.

One night we were sleeping lightly because it was a warm night. My husband turned to me in a half dazzed state shocked and excited and said, "listen, listen." I began to wake up and tried to hear what he had, and I did. It was a sound much like a trumpet.

Rodger said to me, "is that the trump of the Lord, are we going up now."

I turned to him with excitement, he grabbed my hand and we laid there with anticipation of what might be coming next. He wanted to be sure we were going up together.

We realized after a few minutes that it was the sound of the fog horns from the ships on the river. After realizing what we were hearing we were silent a few minutes and then we laughed. We were so disappointed that it wasn't the rapture, but reveled that we believed it so completely that we were ready to go!!!

I guess that's when you really know you believe in something!