The air is full of love as wedding invitations fill our mailbox. Invitations from our children's friends' weddings, along with celebrating major anniversaries with our friends fill the coming months. In June, we will celebrate our 30th year of marriage.
As our Anniversary approaches, I watched John and Stasi Eldredge on Life Today talk about their 25 years of marriage and their new book Love and War - Finding the Marriage You've Dreamed Of. Although their conversation knocked on my heart, I wasn't sure that their book would be any different than the countless marriage conferences and books I had read throughout the years.
Words are so inadequate to describe all the Lord is doing in my heart through this very open view of realistic Christian marriage. John and Stasi just open their hearts to reveal the side of marriage so many of us keep quiet or don't want to admit.
What encouragement and healing is coming through this book. I am sure it isn't an appropriate book for newlyweds...they would run with horror. But for seasoned marriage couples, it is a drink of cold water. What newlyweds would hear..."this is going to be the hardest work you will ever do."
John Eldredge reminds us of our enemy who roams around, seeing whom he can devour, and therefore, never stops the fight to destroy our union. (I Peter 5:8) Eldridge also reminds us that we are not each others enemy, but we are to focus on the source of marital strife.
The book is co-written with his wife, so they go back and forth from the man's to the woman's point of view. They also draw examples from books and movies, which will impact the reader with visuals or past reading experiences.
The book is co-written with his wife, so they go back and forth from the man's to the woman's point of view. They also draw examples from books and movies, which will impact the reader with visuals or past reading experiences.
Here are just a few of the sentences I highlighted in this multi-endorsed marriage book...
If you cannot admit the disappointment of your marriage, you have made an idol of it.
God knows who you are going to marry. When you do marry the person, your spouse becomes the one person you were suppose to marry.
The best husband/wife for you is the husband/wife you have.
Marriage is the rushing stream God uses to shape us into more loving people.
Christian couples feel added pressure....We feel the pressure to be "Christlike" in our marriage - and since none of us are even close to that level of sainthood, we feel a lot of guilt and shame.
I look forward to seeing the new unions this summer and the refreshing of vows for those of us on this continued journey of marriage. I am also glad I didn't just step back and say, "hey, I know what we are doing, we are a seasoned married couple", but took the time to allow more work to be done in the most important union I have on this earth. What a precious gift to give my husband this year on our anniversary, a wife that is allowing God to renew her in many areas, and looking only to the Lord for her security.
