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Mike and I recently went to dinner with some dear friends who are newlyweds. They are a precious couple and it was so fun watching how giddy they were with each other after being married for just a few weeks. And that got me thinking about married life...
This summer Mike and I celebrated our 5th anniversary--that is craziness!! Those 5 years have flown by!!! It really seems like yesterday we were still dating! I really love being married to my best friend. We have so much fun together. In our 5 years of being married we have gotten to...
- go to Maui
- go to London, England
- go to countless Bama games
- serve and minister to a great group of students and their families
- go to Jamaica on a mission trip
- survive a bathroom remodel at our house
- walk through the trenches with each other as we both completed graduate school
- go on 3 mission trips with our students to the Gulf Coast after Hurricane Katrina
- and the list could go on and on...
But, that is just a short list of the fun or cool stuff that we have gotten to do or be a part of. There have, however, been some lows in those 5 years. Thankfully, we have each other to lean on as we sometimes have to "walk through the valley of the shadow of death." I really don't know what I would do without Mike. He is my biggest and strongest encourager. He can always make me laugh and make a bad day better. I'm looking forward to our happily ever after.
I teach the high school girls Sunday School class at church and I have an amazing group of girls to study Word with each week. It seems like a recurring theme I share about is that God always keeps His promises. He never fails on His word and will never fail His children. I share with my girls that when we experience trials we have trust Him and lean on His promises in order to make it through. Well, I have a confession to make...I haven't been paying attention to my own Sunday School lessons. I have been wavering on believing a promise that has been spoken to Mike and me through the Scripture.
About a year ago,
the Lord revealed a piece of scripture to Mike and me that we have claimed as a promise and we are still waiting for that promise to be fulfilled. Throughout the course of this year I have doubted God's promise and have battled through my doubt. However, through my doubt, the Lord has given me a song that has been my anthem...
Oh, my God, He will not delay
My refuge and strength always
I will not fear, His promise is true
My God will come through always, always
("Always" by Kristian Stanfill)
So, regardless of my doubt, my God is unwavering. He is sovereign and His Word is stronger than any pinky promise anyone can offer.
Recently my sweet husband gave me the greatest compliment. I asked him if I looked okay and his words were, "Yeah, you look great. And Erin, you have never looked as good as you do now at this time in your life." I melted and swooned, and then we laughed because I could have definitely taken that as an insult...I mean, what was he trying to say about how I looked 5 years ago!
Mike and I have spent a decade of our lives together. We started dating in March of 2001 and got married in June 2006. I can honestly say the time that I have spent with him has been the time of my life. I knew before our first date that I would marry him and I am so grateful that the Lord set him a part for me. Mike loves me completely and totally for who I am--blond moments and all! And in return, I love him completely and totally for who he is--football obsession and all.
However, marriage isn't always peaches and cream, and I think if marriage requires one thing of us it is perseverance. In our society today it is too easy to get married and definitely too easy to get divorced. Our culture looks for an easy way out and doesn't make any excuses for it. However, the Scriptures tell us something different...
...suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope...
Perseverance is something that the Lord has taught me a lot about in the last several years--not necessarily about persevering in my marriage, but in other areas of my life. I can only pray that through my perseverance that I have developed character and a hope that reflects my Lord.
