53 years of marriage today. My husband and I waited until I was 18 and he had finished college to marry in 1971. We were engaged when I was 16. I remained with my parents until he finished college except the few months I was away at college.
Over the years God entered our lives, changed us into new creations and directed our lives since that time when we were born again.
God was working on our behalf even before we trusted in Him. We have had many adventures, and changes and met many people, all of this grew and changed us and we continue to grow and change. Every day is a blessing because all things teach us even the difficult things.
Anyone who tells you they had a wonderful marriage for 50 years without any problems is lying or playing a role. Life is hard often for everyone, denying it to appear superior to others does nothing, it doesn't help others learn to trust Christ as they slog through life's challenges.
May we see the challenges and trials as blessings from God as well as the easy times. Both are present and both teach lessons, but the greatest lessons come from enduring the difficulties as God shows us the lessons that give us wisdom.
James 1:2-16 "2 Consider it all joy, my brothers and sisters, when you encounter various trials,
3 knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance.
4 And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.
5 But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him.
6 But he must ask in faith without any doubting, for the one who doubts is like the surf of the sea, driven and tossed by the wind.
7 For that person ought not to expect that he will receive anything from the Lord,
8 being a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.
9 Now the brother or sister of humble circumstances is to glory in his high position;
10 but the rich person is to glory in his humiliation, because like flowering grass he will pass away.
11 For the sun rises with its scorching heat and withers the grass; and its flower falls off and the beauty of its appearance is destroyed; so also the rich person, in the midst of his pursuits, will die out.
12 Blessed is a man who perseveres under trial; for once he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him.
13 No one is to say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God”; for God cannot be tempted by evil, and He Himself does not tempt anyone.
14 But each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust.
15 Then when lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it has run its course, brings forth death.
16 Do not be deceived, my beloved brothers and sisters.
17 Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow.
18 In the exercise of His will He gave us birth by the word of truth, so that we would be a kind of first fruits among His creatures."
No one can grow in wisdom without trials. No one can learn important lessons without trials. Focusing on the happy times doesn't teach much to others. There are lots of happy times, but the most important times are those that teach great and lasting lessons that change our hearts and our lives.
Christ is the answer in life, the answer to everything all the time. Those who credit themselves with their life will miss the blessings of wisdom and godly knowledge that make every portion of life have meaning. And, when we trust Christ we have joy through everything, even though the tears and emotion that comes from the trials.
Weeping is cleansing, it is necessary to release the tension that comes from life experiences. Praise God not only in the easy times bur even more in the difficult ones.
Psalm 30:5 "For his anger is but for a moment,
and his favor is for a lifetime.
Weeping may tarry for the night,
but joy comes with the morning."
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