Just Us: When Loving Isn't Easy

Some days marriage is just hard isn't it? There is no way to sugar-coat the pain and frustration or the raw and bleeding heart that precedes you in each moment. It feels hopeless and you feel stuck. Friend, if that is you today, you are not alone. You may feel alone in the midst of others whose marriages seem to be more together than your own, and there may even be a cloud of shame hanging over you as you wonder what you did to deserve this or how you ended up here. 

I want you to hear these words no matter where you are in the midst of the difficulty. You are not alone. Maybe you've heard words of condemnation. Maybe you've experienced isolation. I may not know your story but I do know that you are daughter to a big God. And He is there, in the midst of those moments you feel most alone, loving you. In the petty fights with your husband that seem to occur again and again, He is there. In the screaming matches that leave you raw and ashamed, He is there. In the aching loneliness that seems to consume all of your joy, He is there. In the inability to communicate with the man you thought it would be so easy to love, He is there. In the sea of isolation that leaves you clawing for breathe, He is there. In the betrayal that tears you apart and breaks you down, He is there. When you are left to pick up the pieces and have no idea how this puzzle can ever be put back together, He is there friend. He. Is. There. You don't have to do this alone, beloved. You do not have to do it alone.

I have no idea where you are in your marital journey, but I do know that there is one who walks beside you through the muck and will never leave you to go it alone. There is one who goes before you to take the brunt of whatever gets thrown your way. There is one who goes behind you to cushion the blows that try to knock you down. When we can grab a hold of this God--this One True Love who is the only one who can love us fully and completely without a hidden agenda--we can be more free to love the spouse who often falls short of loving us in the way we ache to be loved. 

Wherever your footsteps take you today, oh dear sister I pray that you walk in the truth of This Love. In This Love we are capable of moving mountains. Mountains in our marriages, absolutely. But before that, I promise you that you and God can move--can level--the mountains that are building in your own heart. Let Him.

You, my friend, have an epic love story. Own it. 

We love because He first loved us. ~John 4:19