A Truth About Marriage: Part Two

Truth #2:  God is working to make you and your husband one.  He does this in weird ways...

On our wedding day, when we promise before God and a bunch of people, that we will love our spouses always and be faithful to them, God immediately makes our hearts one.  So oneness is an immediate state- but also a perpetually growing state.  It's a lifelong process.

We'd like to think that the things that develop intimacy between man and wife are fun things.  Sometimes they are.  Ross and I have ongoing conversations about things that are important to us.  If you were to jump into one of them, you might be lost- because we've already spent hours and hours thinking through things together.  Physical intimacy is a fun thing to develop.  Ross knows my body like no one else does.  And all of that discovering was always super fun, right?

Or did some of that intimacy- that oneness- come from not-so-fun endeavors?  Every couple has some experiences where someone felt pain or disappointment.  Someone may end up crying or blushing.  That's when true intimacy happens.

And a lot of intimacy happens outside the bedroom- in similar, not-so-perfect circumstances.  Sure, oneness comes as you celebrate a promotion together- but it comes way faster when someone faces unemployment.  Common friendships bond hearts- but the loss of a common friend can create a permanent tie.

I can think of three couples, off the top of my head, who have lost children at very young ages.  Praise God that both spouses knew the LORD and trusted Him.  While such a situation in a non-Christian marriage, almost always leads to divorce- these couples know an intimacy that the rest of us lack.  And that precious intimacy came from a horrible, tragic, heartbreaking event.

And that's how our good God works!

Satan sneaks in, ready to steal, kill and destroy and God says, "Thank you very much.  I will take this awful thing, use it to bind their hearts together and bring much glory to myself."

Remember this the next time something hard happens.  When you and your husband are pulling your hair out trying to discipline your children.  When money is too tight for a night out alone.  When you find out one of you is terminally ill.

Don't run away from those trials.  Hold hands tight and run to Jesus together.  Then be on the look-out for the intimacy He develops in your hearts.  He will do it.  For your good and for His glory.