lasting love?

I was reading a devotional on marriage today. About how problems can occur at any point in your marriage and you have to work hard at your marriage every day of your life. You know me well enough to know that this got me thinking. Why is it that we work so hard at our jobs, our friendships, the gossip chain around the water cooler, we work hard at church but when it comes to our marriages we give up so easily? I spent a long time as a single mom thinking that God needed to throw my future spouse in my lap because I was done. When He did that, I was thrilled. I would no longer be alone, i wouldn't be a single mom. I wouldn't have to face life on my own any longer. I had someone beside me that God had handpicked who would support me and love me no matter what.

So we married, and can I tell you honestly, marriage is hard work. I had a child that had to adjust to having a dad and a brother. He had a child with an ex-wife, custody issues and parents who lived with us. we both had baggage and the first few years were hard as we blended. But we did it with God right in the middle of us. It couldn't have been done any other way. We were so united as a couple and a family. Then he started traveling. A spouse that travels a lot can be difficult, you can feel like you're alone again and you can feel like a single mom. That's when the hard work really begins, being one and united while you're apart. But it can be done. Just because things start going well does not mean that trouble won't come again. The enemy is constantly trying to tear marriages apart. You see it every day, divorce is common where having your 2 original heterosexual parents still married after all these years is uncommon. We need to turn that around.

Let's take a stand for our marriages. For the sake of our children and our grandchildren, let's get in there and fight. And let's not fight for passivity or just keeping the peace. Let's make our homes so fun and full of love that the kids don't want to hit the road as soon as they turn 18. Let's make our husbands feel like that are important and loved and wanted.

We need to first go to the Father and ask Him to reveal where we have passive. We need to ask Him to show us how to love our husbands and what our role in the family needs to be. As He reveals that, let's be quick to respond in obedience to Him. And then, let the children see your love for one another. Your children will learn from what they see, let's fight for our marriages, for our families, for God.
We know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose
Romans 8:28