I decided when I said, "I DO" that I would do whatever possible to make it work and that is what I have done...

Through the years I've had many people comment that I'm "lucky" to have such a great marriage. The thing is that luck has nothing to do with it. Good marriages take dedication and work, end of story. No one has a fairy tale marriage every day, despite the Instagram posts or Facebook posts that some envy. A picture is a one second blink of time that may be beautiful, but never tells the full story. A good marriage doesn't need to prove they have a good marriage by posting a picture of their spouse every hour etc. Social Media does not truly deposit into your marriage, although some love to show love in front of others, which is very sweet, it does take away from the meaning and genuineness of it if one is doing it every single day. Every marriage has different ups and downs.Through being on Marriage Builders team for 4 years I've met so many great and different couples. Each marriage has its set of unique challenges and history that has made or broke where they are. We have our own unique history that is unlike many couples. What most don't know is our story includes a history of much marriage heart ache, years of tough battles to get where we are now. Most couples do not make it through the battles we have faced. Do we have a great marriage, yes! But that was not always our story. I decided when I said, "I DO" that I would do whatever possible to make it work. That hope and perseverance has only been sustained by being planted in church and having  a relationship with God. A person can not fulfill all our needs whether they are our spouse or not. They just can't. We are not meant to "complete" each other, but to complement each other, to bring out each other's strengths. Too many times women depend on men to make them happy and too many times men expect too much from women. We would not be together right now had we not had radical changes in our marriage by the transformation of faith in our life. So I say to those commenters that, yes we do have a great marriage, but good marriages don't start or stop in one day. It is an every day choice to deposit or withdrawal from the relationship. Neither of us are perfect but we are each other's best friends now. Being together almost half our life has taught us a lot about life, grace, forgiveness, mercy, and love. It is a DAILY choice to love someone, it is not a feeling. I am beyond blessed to have my husband but don't think for a second that is didn't take many years of dedication and sacrifice. Love covers all, and when we get to a point where we know we are forgiven of much we forgive freely and truly. One of the pastors today spoke on letting go of things from our past. It reminded me of many years ago when  I had to make a really difficult choice in our marriage. Had I not forgiven and "let go" the people who have been blessed by our marriage would not be where they are. We chose to break generational cycles. We chose to put in a lot of time, energy, effort, and tough work into our marriage. God truly works all things out for good when we let him use us and our past mistakes. Sharing a piece of my heart is truly about elevating God in our marriage because without him we wouldn't even have one. I am thankful to be loved by God first and then the rest of it just falls into place through marriage, children, friends, etc! If you have things you know you need to let go and forgive, truly forgive, please do that. Seek counseling if you need to. It is worth it. I promise you will thank yourself later for putting in the seeds and harvesting the small crops to wait for the big blessings. Remember time doesn't heal all wounds, God does. It is a continuous forgiving sometimes, but its worth it. You will empower and love on so many others by having a rich real genuine relationship. I refuse to give up hope, and on the hardest days I remember, we live one day at a time. 2 Cor 12:9 But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me.