What Makes Marriage Work?

Let me start out by saying I am no expert! I am simply a wife of 14 years. My husband and I recently celebrated our 14 year anniversary and it got me thinking – why is it so rare to here about wedding anniversaries anymore? Why is it that you hear more about divorce than about successful marriages? What truly makes a marriage work?

I can tell you this no matter who you are marriage is no walk in the park. Marriage is NOT easy! It takes work – hard work! There will be tough times, but even more so there will be some really excellent times.

So here is the deal – you have to be willing to work through it. Don’t give up so easy. Yes you are both going to change through the years, you are going to have different opinions, you will not always agree and well honestly it is guaranteed you will totally annoy each other sometimes. But that’s the beauty of marriage.

Marriage is beautiful! It is like a slowly evolving painting. With the very first brush stroke it is totally unique and beautiful. As the picture develops mistakes happen, colors merge and slowly the image begins to emerge. It’s the final picture at the very end that is most valuable, the most costly – irreplaceable!

Marriage is always worth fighting for! When my husband and I headed to Vegas to get married (yes we eloped at 19 years old) we prayed along the way and talked about what we wanted our marriage to look like. The one thing I remember vividly discussing was that divorce would not be a word in our vocabulary. We would never quit. No matter what we would fight for our marriage. Through our 14 years of marriage we have had some extremely tough times. We have shed many tears. We have wanted to give up. There have been moment when we felt like we could not stand the site of each other for one more moment, but it was through all of those tough times that we have a better and stronger marriage now.

The tough times make your marriage stronger. I know it sounds stereotypical – but it’s totally true. Quitting is so much easier. But when you learn how to love each other, grow with each other, change for each other – your love transforms into the most beautiful of colors. Blending only the best most amazing colors to ultimately make that irreplaceable – priceless painting.

No matter where you are in your marriage journey, I hope you take these words of encouragement to heart. When that next big fight comes hurling at you, remember it’s worth working thru, because marriage is beautiful. You marriage is priceless, unique and everything God intended it to be.

One of the best marriage books I have EVER read was Marriage On The Rock: God’s Design For Your Dream Marriage by Jimmy Evans. Honestly, I think it may have helped save my marriage at one point. If you are looking for a great book I highly recommend Marriage On The Rock!

***If you have stumbled upon this post because your marriage is in the rocks. I would love for you to comment below so I and others could pray for you!