10 YEARS!

As of yesterday, our marriage is ten whole years old and I'm proud of how far we've come as a couple. We did not have an easy first few years having dated long distance and for not very long. We didn't live together until we were married and both have very strong personalities, so there was a lot of learning and forgiving to do in those early years! We had explosive arguments and said things that fill us with regret to this day, but all along we held fast to the vows we made on that cold October morning and trusted that God knit us together and wouldn't desert us.

We aren't married today because it's the easiest option, or because marriage always makes us happy, or because the person we married treats us like gold every day of our lives (I'm sadly not that great of a wife, I'm afraid).  God's design for marriage is to mimic his deep, abiding, forgiving, protective love for his "bride", the church. We fail at representing that symbolism on a daily basis, but it still keeps us with our eyes off of ourselves and onto a greater thing, with a greater purpose. I can tell you this; I'm a better woman for being Brad's wife and he's a better man for being my husband. We are better together, and that's the whole point. Today I'm so thankful for marriage and for my groom, and for ten years of sharpening and bettering and supporting one another. As the old exhortation goes, what God has joined together let no man put asunder.