There is so much that could be said about love & marriage. I’m sure it has all been said already. It feels kind of silly to even write about something as familiar as love. You’ve heard it all before.

Love is wonderful & amazing & blissful…until it isn’t. & when it isn’t, it hurts with a pain so severe that you wish you hadn’t ever felt that wonderful & amazing & blissful to begin with.

Today is my 6th wedding anniversary & I am thinking not so much about my own anniversary today but about the anniversaries that have stopped counting for whatever reason. Whether it be from a death of a spouse, or a death of a marriage.

My marriage is “6 & counting” & there are so many beautiful & wonderful things I could say about my marriage to Tyler today. But I don’t feel led to write about those things.

It’s easy to be happy & content to the point where you close off all concerns of others. I sincerely don’t ever want to be that close minded or selfish. I want to be bothered by what bothers my Father. I want a spiritual heart transplant, His heart to replace mine.

& so, in asking God to give me a spiritual heart transplant, today my heart is hurting for my brothers & sisters who aren’t in a “& counting” marriage.

As I asked God to teach me in this day, He directed my thoughts toward: those who are struggling in their marriage, ending a marriage, just starting a marriage & those who have started the count over with someone new. I’m thinking & praying for all of you today.

I don’t know what lies ahead for my 6 years & counting marriage. I have hopes & prayers for health & happiness, of course.

But, if my “& counting” stops for whatever reason, I hope my brothers & sisters who are happy & content in their “& counting” marriages would love enough to think of me & pray for me as I am doing for them today.

My prayer today for my own marriage is for God to humble us & reveal more of Himself to us individually. That He would bring us closer to Himself first & then to each other second. That He would guide us in marriage & as parents. & That ultimately our marriage would reflect the nature of God.

In marriage, the two becoming one are a reflection, an image, of the deep mystery of the love of the Father, Son, and Spirit. Marriage is modeled after the love of God. Christ’s love for the church is portrayed in terms of marriage, as the apostle Paul says: Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord…Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her (Ephesians 5:22, 25).

My husband, Tyler sent me this this morning:

When two souls fall in love, there is nothing else but the yearning to be close to the other. The presence that is felt through a hand held, a voice heard, or a smile seen. Souls do not have calendars or clocks, nor do they understand the notion of time or distance. They only know it feels right to be with one another. This is the reason why you miss someone so much when they are not there— even if they are only in the very next room. Your soul only feels their absence— it doesn’t realize the separation is temporary. -Lang Leav

Regardless of your marriage circumstances here in this fallen world, we can rest in the peace of the promise that our true bridegroom is coming soon.

The separation is only temporary 💛

We are encouraged to be faithful & ready, waiting with anticipation for the glorious day in which we will be united with Jesus Christ as His beloved bride (Matthew 25:1-13; Revelation 21:1-2).

Let us rejoice and be glad
    and give him glory!
For the wedding of the Lamb has come,
    and his bride has made herself ready. Revelation 19:7

“Blessed are those who are invited to the banquet of the wedding celebration of the Lamb” Revelation 19:9