Surviving Marriage - One Day at a Time

If I could use one word to sum up what marriage has been like this year, I would chose the word: SURVIVING.

It hasn't been great for the obvious reason of the effects of the corona virus on all of our lives. Marriage has been, well...complicated for reasons like...homeschooling, not really being able to date outside of our house, financial strains, missing the fellowship of our churches and so, so much loss of life.

Has it been this way for you too?

We know that God is with us and that a virus is no reason for a divorce or anything, but some of us have seen parts of our spouses that we have never seen. They are still mourning the loss of loved ones and everyone deals with death differently. They are stressed over the fact that jobs are lost or changed or just a horrible atmosphere right now. They are tired of the additional weight that teaching their children has caused when they were unprepared to do so. The back and forth of "lock down" and or "quarantine" situations in their place of residence as well as travel restrictions has been difficult. And even the emotional toil of watching others going through it all has taken a toll on us and our spouses.

The Lord never promised perfect days, but this is has never happened before. That also means that God's grace and mercy have never been extended to us in this same way before.

It's never been so dark, so we have never had a greater opportunity to shine His light!

Our marriages are just....surviving. Not that our relationships were close to ending, but we are certainly not in the most thriving state. However, just because a storm comes does not mean that the seeds that we have planted in the ground will die. Some things in our marriages may be in a more dormant state at the moment, but everything that God has equipped us with to make it through the storm is still there. HE is still there.

Tough times in life are inevitable but they make our marriages stronger and more resilient. If we can make it through 2020 together with our marriages intact, we can most certainly keep our heads above water for whatever comes next. Just keep swimming. As long as we can move and breathe we can stay afloat AND, we can help other marriages to do so as well.

 If we can be survivors, we can be rescuers too!

You see...just as your marriage is not one-sided and just for your benefit, neither is it just for you two alone. Others (not just your children) are watching and learning about how to navigate through hard times. We are teaching by our actions. We are mentoring.

So what can we show the world about marriage as this very different year comes to a close? -  let's show them a unprecedented love in unprecedented times one day at a time.