“I HAVE FOUND THE ONE WHOM MY SOUL LOVES …”

SONG OF SOLOMON 3:4 ❤ (Verse on Bible Hub)

OUR STORY OF HOW GOD SAVED OUR MARRIAGE

Today my hubby and I will celebrate our 36th Anniversary. We’ve been sharing some memories this week and we were so humbled as we reflected back on all God has done for us. I am writing this post today with absolute humility in my heart because we did not get to this place in our marriage by anything we did in our own strength.

Many couples find themselves in the same boat we were in when they first married. We were hoping to find our “happily ever after” in each other. We were 19 and 20, both active duty Air Force, when we were married at the little court house on East Walnut Street in Goldsboro, NC. Our sweet baby girl Steffany was just shy of five months at the time.

We both came from broken families so when we stood before the Justice of the Peace, surrounded by a few close friends, we exchanged promises that were heartfelt but not anchored in truth. We were penniless but didn’t care because we thought our ‘love’ was strong enough to carry us through. But we truly didn’t know the first thing about love.

The military taught us accountability, priorities and our need to come under authority. But in our personal life, we didn’t have a clue how to establish life giving priorities in our marriage.

We made so many big mistakes that should have absolutely done us in.

We both selfishly put our own needs above all and didn’t nurture or honor each other. This led to alot of fighting and unresolved pain. After seven years of marriage, we separated. I am so thankful today for God’s grace and how He brought us back together.

God’s Faithfulness Wore Down My Defenses

I am so thankful God’s faithfulness wasn’t dependent on me.

He kept pursuing my heart and finally I was filled with His Holy Spirit in August of 2001. I was saved while soaking in the bathtub of all places.

Whenever I meditate on Bible Verses, I like to imagine myself entering the scene of the story being told. I ask the Holy Spirit to help me to observe and to listen to what is going on around me. On this day, I was meditating on Luke 22:54-62, the story of Peter denying Christ in the courtyard.

As I was watching Simon Peter warming his hands by the fire, I could hear the rooster crow when he denied Jesus for the third time. I saw Jesus begin to turn and I expected Him to look at Peter but instead He locked eyes with me. I never cried so hard in my entire life. Jesus lifted the weight of the world off of me and filled me with His peace when I surrendered that day.

My best friend at the time went with me as we searched and searched for a home church. We started listening to Chris Tomlin’s Passion Conference music, which really spoke to me. Finally the Lord led us to a Holy Spirit filled church where I couldn’t wait to attend every week, either by myself or with my younger daughter, Jennifer.

No matter what message was being preached, I desperately needed each and every one! When I looked around and saw other couples happily sitting together, I would feel a stab of sadness in my heart. I didn’t think at the time that my hubby would ever join me. But God …

God Pursued My Hubster’s Heart

I tried so hard to get hubby to come to church with me. After exhausting myself, Jesus asked me to stop and just be concerned with following Him myself. When I got out of His way, I untied the Lord’s hands to do what only He can do.

One day, as I was sitting on the sofa reading some verses, the Holy Spirit nudged me to hand my Bible over to my hubby and ask him to read to me. I remember thinking, the first time I felt the nudging, “Yeah right. This will go over really good.” lol.

But to my surprise, Rick read an entire chapter to me. And then … nothing. At least, I thought nothing was happening. My hubby continued to read the Word out loud to me over a period of time. And God knew what He was doing.

In 2004, Rick went to the theatre with me to watch Mel Gibson’s movie “The Passion of the Christ.” As we walked to the car afterwards, he quietly said to me, “Jesus did ALL THAT for me. FOR ME.” It was such a sweet moment.

On Father’s Day that same year, Rick came forward and prayed to receive Jesus into his heart.

What was so amazing is Jennifer stood up and followed her daddy up to the front that day. They both were baptized soon after. We can never underestimate the influence a father has over his daughter’s life.

All that time, God’s transforming Word was penetrating deep into my hubbies soul. Not long after being saved, Rick forgave his earthly father and never again experienced the nightmares he was enduring in his sleep. Last October, I was so blessed to be there when Rick met up with his father after almost 50 years of being apart. I am just in awe of God and His transforming love.

God Redeemed Our Marriage

Since those days, the Lord has done a God sized work in both of our hearts and transformed our marriage. My husband is like a brand new person, and I hope he can say the same about me.

We hope to always remember to put God first and center in our marriage.

He has taught us to put each other second only to Him, and our daughters (and their families) third before anything and everyone else in our life. The blood line of Christ has been drawn in the sand and Rick has declared that any generational curses be broken off of us (in Jesus’ Name) and would never have power over our kids going forward.

God has supernaturally held our marriage together and we could never have made it this far without Him. I look back and I’m so incredibly aware how very close we came to sliding down the slippery slope into the pit of hell.

Our marriage is a covenant between the three of us … God, my hubby and me. And a triple braided cord is not easily torn apart.

A person standing alone can be attacked and defeated, but two can
stand back-to-back and conquer. Three are even better, for a
triple-braided cord is not easily broken.
Ecclesiastes 4:12 NLT (Verse on Bible Hub)

Thank You Hubby

Happy Anniversary sweetheart! Thank you for being a man after God’s own heart. For loving me, never giving up on me and for your heart of forgiveness and grace. Thank you for supporting me and keeping me covered in prayer in everything I do.

I appreciate you for all the sweet little things you do, like bringing me coffee and making me breakfast on the weekends. Thank you for always working so hard for our family and being such a good steward with our money. And also for modeling what childlike faith looks like. 

I can see God’s hand of protection all over the fabric of our lives now.

If our marriage was a tapestry, all I could ever see before was the snarly knots and warped threads on the underside. But now the Holy Spirit is revealing to me little glimpses of the front side where He is weaving together a beautiful picture of our lives together.

God’s Great Love For Us

God has completely redeemed our marriage.

Because of what He has done and continues to do, our marriage is now more solid in Him than it ever was. And, because of God, we ended up finding our “Happily Ever After” in Christ.

Last week our Pastor spoke on love and had us take a closer look at 1 Corinthians 13:5-8 by replacing the words ‘love’ and ‘it’ with ‘God’.

I’ve never felt the impact of these verses like this before.

I will write it out here for anyone who may be reading this and hope it touches you as much as it did me.

God is patient, God is kind. God does not envy, God does not boast, God is not proud.
God does not dishonor others, God is not self-seeking, God is not easily angered, God
keeps no record of wrongs. God does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.
God always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. God never fails ..
1 Corinthians 13:4-8 (Passage on Bible Gateway)

Father God, thank You for redeeming my marriage. I ask for Your healing presence and power to fall on anyone who is reading this and needs You to step into a broken situation today, Lord. I love our story of how God saved our marriage and I know You want the same for them. Thank You for Your mercy and grace, which are new every morning. In Your Name, Jesus, I pray. Amen

Blessings,

❤

Our Story | How God Saved our Marriage @ freshgracefortoday.com

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