Still Profound

I still find the mystery of marriage profound. On Sunday, we will celebrate our first anniversary! I find the following things to be true:

-God not only blessed, as the song goes, but kindly ordained the broken road that led me straight to my dear husband. There are plenty of godly guys in the world, but God so wisely designed my husband to complement me - help sanctify my weaknesses and sins, encourage my insecurities, and walk with me through the joys and trials upon our short pilgrimage here. Even in the issue of personalities, God prepared Dustin to "fit" with me so well. God is so good at orchestrating marriages wisely. He's a God to be trusted!

-I am a selfish sinner and marriage is wonderful, but not at all like the movies. Knowing this beforehand and experiencing it afterwards were two entirely different things. Like any other Christian discipline, self must be killed and grace must reign and Christ must be depended upon and His Word revered and obeyed.

-Communication is oftentimes difficult, but worth it. As the Tripp's new book's title explains, relationships are messes worth making. I love that title.

-Marriage is still profound because it is a strange design that God chooses marriage as a way to put the Gospel on display. As Piper says, and hear this, my single friends, marriage is NOT the point, but it is meant only to point to something. The Gospel.

-Younger women truly do need to be discipled, shown and taught by older women (old may mean season, not just age) how to love their husbands and children, manage their homes, etc. It doesn't just come naturally. God made us to need that training process. The Lord has given me excellent examples, both in TX and KY. If you don't have that, find it, seek it, pray for it.

Many other lessons come to mind, but how I thank the Lord for my husband. It's incredible to watch him grow in Christ and love for our family, the church, the Word, the lost, etc. And to see God use him to humble and grow me. We have so much fun together and laugh until we cry, we enjoy each other, but we do not have a "perfect" marriage. There is no such thing. We are blessed, but we continue to grow (this seems like an obvious point to me, but one to be made nonetheless). I'm learning to be content with exactly where God currently has us in the process of sanctification. We aren't seasoned yet like John and Noelle or Al and Mary, but we are Dustin and Jamie, sinners and fairly new at this marriage thing, and God is kind to be patient and teach us, use us and grow us.


That said, we're excited about a weekend getaway (Priceline.com, of course) to Indianapolis. It should be a sweet time, from the Superhero Museum to fun restaurants and just some time with cell phones off to reflect and rejoice. Our first year of marriage was full, fun and God remains faithful. AND... the mystery of marriage remains profound!