If ever anyone needed proof of a living and vibrant God, they need to look no further than my marriage. For it is by His grace alone that Monday we will be celebrating our 24th wedding anniversary. Without airing dirty laundry, let's just say that our marriage has had more stormy nights with lots of thunder and lighting than the calm, sunny days of summer. Lately, as I ponder about life's choices and directions...I have been able to see with much more clarity the mistakes that I had made in my marriage. What really stinks, is that I thought I was the "good" one...loving God and serving my family. I was so wrong! Neither one of us were the "bad" or the "good" one...we both were just two ships who got off course. Thankfully we had the same commander and after a few challenging months of marital seperation, we were introduced to a couple who became our marriage mentors. Through God's love, forgiveness and advise from our mentors, we were able to reconnect and try to repair the brokeness. I would like to say the "recovery phase" was smooth and blessed, but it too has had many pot holes. I think one of the biggest turning points in our marriage has been since I was diagnosed with breast cancer. There are several reasons for my thoughts: 1) Cancer puts a very real reality on death 2) I learned to trust that my husband was going to be there when the road was really yucky 3) both of our faiths have gotten much stronger 4) It was in the brokeness of my cancer journey that I was healed spritually and emotionally and with that healing came the ability to love freely without conditions or "strings" 5) we both have learned to appreciate and love the differences in each other that makes us unique and 6) we have learned to put the "fun" back in our lives.
I hope that this post will encourage anyone who is in a broken relationship (either with a spouse, child, parent, sibling, friend)...to pray, to trust, believe and hope! Trust me, if God can let two very broken and very different individuals remain married...He can do anything!
Thanks Ferlin for being my David--a man after God's heart. I love you and hope this anniversary day and birthday is a special one!
5 comments:
Hi! Found you over at mary's Play off the Page. Great blog! You have an inspriting story. Stay strong :)
Kim, your post screams of Grace, Grace, God's Grace! My husband and I have certainly had our shares of ups and downs and what I have to say about cancer is it will either bring you closer together or further apart. So glad it brought you together. Happy Birthday Ferlin! P.S. The jelly was great:) Thank you so much! Luann
Kim, I love your new blog look! It's been too long since I've stopped by and I'm happy to be back. This is a beautiful post, and one that I can relate to quite well, Kim. Boy, I think we have even more similarities than I realized before. If only SD and ND were a little closer. :) Thanks for being such a faithful reader. I hope the birthday was wonderful!
Terrific post which really spoke to my own marital ups and downs. Happy Anniverserary to you and may you be blessed with many, many more years of happiness and comfort to each other.
great post kim! happy birthday to your hubs and happy anniversary!!
ps-just wanted to let you know you will do GREAT at she speaks. the lord has something special for you and you will be forever moved into the powerful purpose HE has for your life! don't be nervous. :) can't wait to to meet you!
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