{"id":25706,"date":"2020-08-04T08:22:59","date_gmt":"2020-08-04T12:22:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/debmillswriter.com\/?p=25706"},"modified":"2020-08-04T08:22:59","modified_gmt":"2020-08-04T12:22:59","slug":"another-anniversary-a-walk-with-god-as-much-as-with-each-other","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/debmillswriter.com\/?p=25706","title":{"rendered":"Another Anniversary – a Walk with God as Much as With Each Other"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"2009<\/a><\/p>\n

[Adapted from the Archives]<\/p>\n

And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. Wives, submit to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord. Husbands, love your wives, and do not be harsh with them.<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0 \u2013 Colossians 3:15-20<\/p>\n

36 years.<\/p>\n

The flight of years shows in our bodies and minds, but for us, it is most apparent in the launch of adult children into their own lives and marriages. Then\u2026it comes back to just the two of us\u2026and I am grateful for his company.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_0001<\/a>\"IMG_0009<\/a><\/p>\n

Our marriage has never been the stuff\u00a0that would draw much interest\u00a0on\u00a0Instagram\u00a0 or even Facebook. My husband and I married best friends. We were polar opposites in many ways, except our faith and being raised in Southern families. Opposites. \u201cRead and follow directions\u201d marrying \u201cfly by the seat of her pants.\u201d It was definitely a match made in Heaven because we would need\u00a0the God of\u00a0Heaven to keep us on course as we figured marriage out\u2026both without and, later, with children.<\/p>\n

This morning we woke to the last winds and rains of Hurricane Isaias<\/a> (downgraded to a tropical storm, thankfully). As we shared breakfast, Dave observed that we came through the storm intact.<\/p>\n

“Intact through the storm” is a great picture of the hard times in our marriage. I journalled all of it, through the years. In fact, our daughter has been advised about future days when she reads my journals (which she would more than the boys, probably). I told her to read with grace her mom’s emotional and angsty processing of the early years of marriage. [If Dave journalled such things, his would hold as much or more struggle with marriage to me.] We weathered those years, because we were more committed to God than even each other…and we hoped not to leave our children with the legacy of vows broken and relationships torn. God has given grace.<\/p>\n

[I know it takes two to hold a marriage together, and there are people we love who suffered divorce never wanting it…so I write carefully, knowing the hardness of that…in my own birth family and with friends persevering past the pain of divorce.]<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve often quoted Elisabeth Elliot on love and marriage. Two thoughts come to mind. She speaks of love as being a \u201claid-down life.\u201d She also talks of marriage as being good for Christians to mature in their walk with God, because [in marriage] \u201cthere\u2019s so much scope for sinning.\u201d My husband has taught me a lot in both of these areas, and I, him \u2013 hopefully more on the lines of laying down our lives for each other, rather than the scope for sinning part\u2026sigh.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>\"2005<\/a><\/p>\n

Whatever these thirty-plus years have produced with us together,\u00a0the best of it\u00a0has been 3 great young people (and the extra children who\u2019ve joined our family through them, so far)\u2026and GRANDCHILDREN! Alongside those treasures is the unalterable way\u00a0the Lord has knit us together, my husband and me, with each other and with Him.<\/p>\n

\"2012<\/a><\/p>\n

I have no idea what is ahead, except for what is promised through God\u2019s Word. Whatever is ahead, I am so grateful for what I\u2019ve learned through this man who married me 36 years ago. He has given me a face of one who does not give up, of one who fights for what is right, of one who is tender toward the weak, of one who loves no matter what. I have been both the recipient of this and the one on his side as he extends himself to others.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Now, we are two again\u2026as in the beginning of our relationship.\u00a0\u00a0Yet we are at a very different place. God has shown Himself to be ever-present in all these years of our lives. He\u2019s given me exactly what I needed in this husband of mine \u2013 a man as true as steel in his walk with God and with his family. We count on him; he counts on God.<\/strong> Whatever happens out there in front of us\u2026I have peace, on this 36th. anniversary that God will be there for each of us, to show us how to live\u2026as He has in all these years thus far<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n

Through the Years \u2013 YouTube video of Kenny Rogers Ballad<\/a><\/p>\n

YouTube Video \u2013 Jesus and You<\/em> \u2013 Matthew West<\/a><\/p>\n

YouTube Video – Will the Circle Be Unbroken<\/em> – Beyond the Guitar<\/a><\/p>\n

Sacred Marriage \u2013 What if God Designed Marriage to Make us Holy More Than to Make Us Happy<\/em> \u2013 by Gary Thomas \u2013 Such a great book!<\/a><\/p>\n

An example of Elisabeth Elliot\u2019s counsel to one marrying \u2013 Always forgive.<\/a><\/p>\n

Elisabeth Elliot Quotes<\/a><\/p>\n

Thus Far the Lord has Helped Us<\/em> – Lisa Nichols Hickman<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n