And the two shall become one

I took the kids to the pool today and decided to enjoy the fact (don't faint here Matt) that as long as Serah has her arm floaties on I can just let them swim and sit in the sun and read, problem is I don't have a fiction book to read. So today I figured I'd pick up the book that has been sitting on my bedside table for way too long. I started it a while back but never got real far in. I don't know why I put it down, I started reading the first chapter and it just resonated in me. It's one many of you have heard of and probably read already. Stormie Omartian's The Power of a Praying Wife.
I've been so reminded lately of just how important our marriages are and how under attack they are each day, in big and subtle ways. We have so many friends who either are or have been on the brink of divorce and it's scary how they got there. I pray often for my marriage and for those around me.
I have to share some of the things that stuck out the most to me because if I wrote down them all you'd be here all night. First I could just pray these sentences and it would probably be enough... they say it all.
"I will not allow anything to destroy my marriage."
"I will not stand my and watch my husband be wearied, beaten down, or destroyed."
"I will not sit idle while and invisible wall goes up between us."
" I will not allow confusion, miscommunication, wrong attitudes, and bad choices to erode what we are trying to build together."
"I will not tolerate hurt and unforgiveness leading us to divorce."

this is so important: We are a team, one unit, unified in the Spirit. Our strength as a man and wife joined together in God's sight is far greater than the sum of our individual strengths because it was the Holy Spirit that unites us and gives us power to our prayers. And the power that resurrected Jesus (Holy Spirit) is the very same power that will resurrect the dead placed of our marriage and put life back into it. "God both raised up the Lord and will also raise us up by His power" 1 Corinthians 6:14

Another cool thing that I came across that God was able to show me the growth and change in our marriage was this passage in Joel. "I will restore to you the years that the swarming locust has eaten" Joel 2:25 He took me back to our early years and let me tell you the locust weren't just swarming they were thick on the ground. Then He showed me how he has completely restored those years because the closeness and joy we have in each other now is a complete opposite to the separation and sorrow from those first couple of years. We sometimes joke that we've finally gotten to have our "honeymoon period" 13 years later but what a testament to His ability to keep two people so dissimilar together. I love where she says "God is big enough to accomplish all this and more". God and his grace and power is what has kept us together and nothing else.

If I could figure out how to add more songs to my playlist I'd put all of Steven Curtis Chapman's all about love on it. I love this album and the promise of many more years together.

Don't end your day without telling your love how much they mean to you. Find some way to show them you care and are praying for them.