30 Years
Hey friends,

Thanks for indulging me and all the wedding photos.
I promise to cut back on posting them at least until the professional photography returns. HA!

Tom and I just celebrated our 30th wedding anniversary on Tuesday.
It's hard to believe we've been married that many years.
I guess it's true what they say "Time flies when you're having fun!"
I'm very grateful the Lord has helped us get here, we could not have gotten to this place without HIS grace, mercy, faithfulness, patience, love and everything else HE is and offers us.

Working in a Christian counseling office I see broken marriages and broken families enter our doors every day and I must admit it makes my heart sad and at the same time it encourages me to rely on the Lord even more for my own marriage.

Let me say that our marriage is not perfect; NO marriage is because we are all sinners.
But we have managed to learn a lot of lessons in these 30 years and the biggest lesson has been this:
By putting God first and nurturing our individual relationships with God as well as our marriage relationship with HIM and each other we experience HIS very presence.
Even in the rough places, the not so nice places, the messy and awful places and the in between a rock and a hard place places.

HE is our rock.
HE is our strength.
HE is our answer.
HE is the ONE who loves unconditionally.
HE is the perfect ONE who loves us perfectly.

Lest you think Tom and I do this perfectly everyday let me remind you of what I said earlier
We are all sinners.
Yes, we fail, sometimes we even fail miserably.
BUT GOD continues to loves us even in the midst of our messiness.
God does not love our sin, BUT GOD loves us with an everlasting, unending, unfailing, perfect, indescribable, love.
So... if you're seeking answers to questions and difficulties in your marrige I want to encourage you that God is ready and available to help you.

What words of advice or encouragement can you offer?








6 Comments:

Blogger Joyful said...

Thanks for this encouragement tonight. My husband and I are attending a DVD series right now by Andy Stanley, "iMarriage". We have only had one session so far, but I'll share our take-away. Do not allow desires to become expectations.

Happy Anniversary to you and Tom!!
Hugs,
Joy
PS. And...feel free to post as many wedding photo's as you like - I'm enjoying them all!!!!

Blogger Chef Diane said...

Congratulations to you and Tom on 30 years! That is quite an accomplishment in today's time. It would appear that Josh and Kelsey have some good role models in front of them.

FYI: I love the wedding pics.
Diane

Anonymous Lynn Cowell said...

He is good all the time! Congratulations! I enjoyed the pics of the wedding. Girl...you looked AMAZING! So proud of you; all your hard work showed!
Looking forward to "bunking" together at She Speaks!
Lynn

Blogger Wendy Blight said...

Zoe,

What an encouraging post about marriage. Lately I have been feeling like such a failure at it...mostly because of my sharp tongue. Thank you for reminding me this is a journey and helping me to look at the great and wonderful things in our marriage.

I am learning that when I focus too much on the wrong things I do, I get down on myself and our marriage. One of the greatest things we do is that when one of us gets to that place (it usually is me!), we set aside time alone and have a LONG talk...asking forgiveness, sharing our questions, doubts, and thoughts, and then we pray. It brings us back to a good place.

Happy Anniversary to you and Tom!!!

I MISS you tons and can't wait until She Speaks,

Wendy

Blogger Julie Zine Coleman said...

Don't apologize for the pictures-- we are loving them!!

My husband and I will celebrate 29 years in July. We just finished teaching a ten week marriage class for some couples at our church.

Rereading 1 Corinthians 13 is always a good reminder to me of how to love God's way-- all are actions we can take in spite of how we might feel at the moment. It's about putting the other's needs above our own.

When you both strive to do this, marriage is a blessing.

Blogger Kim said...

Zoe,
Happy Anniversary friend! God is so amazing, isn't He? I've learned throughout the 22 years of my own marriage that I need to give 100%, regardless. I need to have joy in my heart, regardless. I need to extend Christ's love to my husband, regardless. Just as Christ does for me daily. I am as filthy rags, but Christ loves me, regardless!
Thanks for your constant encouragement and I'm so thankful to call you my sweet friend!

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