Happy Anniversary My Love!

Just as you always say, I too look forward to the day when we have been married longer than we have been apart before marriage... only 15 years to go! When that day comes, can we go on an Alaskan cruise to celebrate? (Who says you can only celebrate big every 5 years?)

Instead of barfing all over you lovey-dovey mush... I thought I'd go the other direction...

Throughout these 8 years I have learned a lot about what marriage is and isn't. One of the things I have been most thankful for over those years has been the trials and the struggles.

My verse when we were first married was, "Consider it pure joy my brothers when you face trials of many kinds because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish it's work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking in anything." James 1:2-3?

This was a time when our backs were against each other's, everything life could throw at us, it did - job losses, death, new company, mortgage, birth, no money, etc. Being an eternal optimist, I trusted in God's good during that time, and clung to the fact that He would work all these things for good and it was ok if I never got to see what the "good" was. Looking back, it was those intense years of hardships and struggles in the beginning that truly united Josh and I closer than if life had been all peaches and cream. And since then as life continues to throws things a new at us, we are locked and loaded.

(An aside - Writing that reminded me of that scene in Mr & Mrs Smith, in the end, when they are fighting all the people trying to kill them while back to back, spinning around, somehow finding more ammo and weapons but still firing at their enemies... yeah, just like that. And just think, if we were all of a sudden on separate teams and we did fire on each other during that time, think how terrible the damage would be?)

(A second aside - This also reminds me of my friend who had an arranged marriage. Within months of marriage, life got very intense for the 2 of them and instead of fighting against each other, they clung together and fought together and now they, who hardly knew each other, are completely melded together for life. How beautiful!)

In all honesty, we are human and when it is the two of us throwing things figuratively at each other (which thankfully are generally minor things but still)... I always remember a pastor telling us a marriage conference, "Go home, and die some more." And a book I read called "Marriage takes more than Love." And a good verse I read, "WHEN the storms of life come." And another good verse I read, "Better to live on the corner of the roof than share a house with a quarrelsome wife." And then the ultimate thought that Josh is dying again and again for me as much as (if not more) than I am for him.

Marriage is tough and I don't even want to pretend to have it all together. I am putting my hope in the grace of God and with every year, I thank Him for being the King of our hearts and lives. I am thankful that we do each have the Spirit of the Living God inside of us, Who is molding us and shaping us and transforming us. I am also really blessed that the man I get to go though all this with, the incredibly good, the pretty bad and the really ugly is my best friend, my soul mate, my lover... wow, what more could a girl ask for?

(And one more thing... A Happy Birthday to a Mr. Gourley! Uncle Chad, the boys miss you! Hope you have a great day today!)