Married life has been such a blast! And really has motivated me to pray for awesome men of God to come along and sweep Shannon, Jojo and Tiffani off their feet. It is so fun to have someone to share life with in such a deeply connected way. It has also been a great challenge in learning selflessness, humility, and submission (not that I’m there yet).
As much fun as we are having, sometimes people respond to my joy with, “oh just wait until you get past 6 or 8 months”. This dismissal of my joy really makes me cringe. We experienced a similar thing prior to marriage. Some people were encouraging and talked about the joys of marriage, but others would simply talk about how hard it was. Well, I’ve decided that its all about perception. You can look at the challenges of marriage (or life in general) and say, “what a great challenge, oh how I am learning and growing”. Or you can think, “oh what a struggle, this life is so hard…”. So, I’ve decided to go with the former. And with this in mind, I’ll pose a few questions: For those who are married: what do you enjoy about married life? For those who are single: what do you enjoy about being single? For those with children: what do you enjoy about being a parent?
Lastly, since being married I have become very aware of how appropriate it is to pray for significant others who might come into the lives of our single family members and friends. So, for those who are single, what can we ask God to provide you with? As an example, though I’m not entirely sure I ever asked for this specifically, I have loved having Jordan’s sense of humor in the house. Just last night I was feeling a little down when I looked over at my husband who made the goofiest face just at that moment. I burst out in laughter as a good portion of my anxiety was relieved. Awesome how God knew just what I would need in a mate.
slb633 Said:
on March 1, 2010 at 10:01 am
Great blog Tina and I am so glad that you started it again. You will get so many different answers from many people when you talk about marriage. Yes, you still are in the honeymoon stage as most people would call it, so people may say to you wait for a few years then come back and see if it is the same. What I believe is different with you and Jordan, Josh and Lindsey and Tyler and Donna is that you found the perfect mates. Not that the mates are perfect, that is not what I am saying and not just because they are Christians.
My number one advice to my children when they were/are seeking their mate is this. Just because they are a Christian doesn’t mean that they are the one for you. That when you look for a mate, find the one that has the same mission in life you have. One that will work with your calling, and not against it. Also one that is pretty much on the same level of your walk, that has the same desire to serve God like you do. I will use Jordan as an example, his heart is in missions, it always had been. He will make a life living, or going overseas alot to help in missions. That is why his mate had to have the same heart, if she didn’t, she would make life miserable for him, he needed someone who was willing to go overseas, and not one that said I just want to stay in America. Josh needed someone who was willing to be a pastor’s wife, someone called to that. I am not saying that they needed someone to just fulfill their call, but as they become one, that both of their callings are fulfilled.
When I got married I believed it was for life, but as I found out it takes two to believe that same way to stay married. I will be honest, when I got married I didn’t ask God, it was something I just wanted to do. God gave me 3 beautiful children from it, but now I am reaping from not listening to God. As I have found myself single again after suffering the worst kind of hurt I have to say God has been so good to me. About 7 years ago I was praying really hard for a husband and this is what God spoke to me. He said be careful what you pray for because I might grant it, but it really isn’t in my perfect will for you. So I have decided to leave it all in God’s hands now. I have learned to be content in my singleness.
Being a parent is wonderful, especially when you have the 3 children I do, and my niece and nephew who are like mine too. Watching all 5 go through life, making right choices, bring up beautiful families, is what parenting is all about. I am now reaping all the hard work of when they were young. My prayers are that all five will never know the heartbreak of divorce, that their children will grow up to be even stronger Christians, world changers, and find their perfect mates. My prayers are also that each one will enjoy the blessings that marriage brings, and the ones that are still single, that they don’t ever just settle, but make sure that their marriage is God ordained.
Jolie