Marriage life was not an easy path. It takes a whole lot of hard work, commitment and lots of prayers.
To be honest, whenever I attend weddings, at the back of my mind, I would ask myself if the couple really knew what they are getting themselves into because it is so easy to get sucked into the fantasies and glamour of getting married and falling in 'love'.
God's timing is so wonderful as during my wedding anniversary week, my Bible Study Fellowship (BSF) lesson was on marriage and divorce. About how God hates divorce and how the Bible talks about God's intention and importance of marriage- procreation and the most intimate union of love and companionship.
Let me share with you a snippet of my BSF notes about the importance of marriage..
"Marriage is so important that it overrides all other relationships, even the relationship of a child to father and mother. In marriage, God joins a man and a woman together as "one flesh"- body, soul and spirit. When Jesus said that no human being has the right to separate this union, He laid down the principle that divorce is not God's will....Like God's relationship with His people, marriage is a covenant relationship...Marriage points to the eternal reality of Christ and the Church. Christ loved the Church and died for the Church; the Church loves and submits to Christ... God rejects divorce because it damages His picture of His own faithful love for His people."
Marriage is one of God's good gifts. But it requires unwavering commitment and repeated forgiveness.
Will marriage give you happiness and personal fulfilment? My answer is no. So, don't go into it looking for it in your marriage. I remembered an author once said in her book that "marriage is not about being happy, but being holy."
So back to my marriage with CT.. it is still a "work in progress" but I have seen fruits and watched how my cries to God has been answered as I watch my wonderful husband shower me with kisses before I sleep every night and before he leaves for work in the early morning, a wonderful father who plays with our children after dinner, a more patient father who instils discipline with love when it is due and a loving father who prays with his children before bedtime every night.
God is good for answering my prayers and how He has moulded my husband to be what he is today.
Dear Heavenly Father,
I pray and expect more good things to come from you, Lord as I claim on Your promises in the Bible that you will answer my prayers! You are a good God and I pray that You will use my marriage as a blessing to others and to bring you glory!
In Jesus' Name, Amen
"Which of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!" (Matthew 7:10,11)
"I tell you the truth, at the renewal of all things, when the Son of Man sits on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or fields for my sake will receive a hundred times as much and will inherit eternal life. But many who are first will be last and many who are last will be first. " (Matthew 19:28-30)
