So it may seem odd, but this week's post was inspired by the rapper Lecrae. It's actually a topic I've been wanting to write about for a while but for some reason haven't. This past Saturday I, Allen, took a couple of our kids to a Lecrae concert at Wild Adventures theme park. Between a couple of his songs he asked the audience, "who out there is in love? " he then proceeded to say that you young people who are all ushy gushy and feel like you've Got That Loving Feeling... "that feeling is just gas!" he said. Real Love is when you are going through some stuff! I just thought there's some real truth to that. Real Love is built when you're having to go through some trials, hard times, and tuff stuff. That's what makes your love stronger...when you come through it together and you don't give up. I can tell you right now that the reason Carol and I have such a great marriage, and we are so in love with each other, is because we've been through many trials together over 21 years of marriage. There's going to be plenty of trials and hard times you've got to get through when you're married. That's just life. If you've ever believed that marriage was going to be easy, and things would just be hunky-dory all the time, then you've been fooled by a lie! You've been fooled by Hollywood and the whole sexualized culture that's out there. Marriage just isn't always that ushy gooshy feeling. Some times you just have to be committed and determined that we're going to get through this together, no matter what.
It seems to be part of God's design that for things to get stronger, they have to be put through some kind of stress or heat. If you think about how a sword is made, the rough piece of steel has to be heated extremely hot and hammered into shape before it can cool down and become extremely strong, durable, unbendable, and beautiful. If you think about muscles, when you lift weights, you actually tear your muscles and then they have to heal back together. That's what makes them grow stronger and bigger.
When you think about it, most things that are just given to you, or you received easily, don't mean as much to you as something that you had to work really hard for. If you want to have an amazing, lifelong marriage, you're going to have to work for it. You're going to have to earn the respect and admiration and trust and love of your spouse. There's going to be times that you just hold on to each other tight and pray to God and ask Him to help you to get through this situation. Your marriage is worth fighting for! Don't ever give up! Don't let anything come between you and your spouse. You're on the same team. Love each other. Serve each other. Encourage each other. And don't forget...when the going gets tough, thats when LOVE happens.
Cheering you on,
Allen & Carol
