Why Listen To Us?

I love hearing from others who have been married for a few or more years than Kelly and I have been. Now there aren't many who have been married as long as us who are still as in love today (if not more so) as they were on the day they were married... For one, that's a MAJOR discouragement... For two, that makes the ones who are happily married that much more important to listen to... especially when they don't have that 'perfect life' facade going on. You know that 'We're so perfect, we make you wanna puke' kinda vibe?

Now, we have gone to marriage seminars like Love and Respect, and we all know that one couple at church or at work who have the appearance of having the perfect marriage and the perfect kids and the perfect house and cars and money flow and sex life and so on and so forth and just never seem to have any problems. These are the kind of people who make lots and lots of money and then tell the rest of us how to have a perfect marriage just like them... and a lot of times they are making money from telling you that they are perfect and you're not and to be more like them...

Kelly and I are by far not the 'perfect' image of a couple... We live paycheck to pay check most of the time and have seemingly more than our fair share of difficulties, what with finances, our parents, friends, sex, parenting prep, work, house work, car problems, not to mention trying to plan for the future (as if such a thing were possible... sounds like a blog post for another one of my blogs...). Point is we do have to live life just like everyone else, yet we are still happy with each other more often than not, and when we aren't, we still take joy in each other.

That is where the secrets lay to having a good relationship with your spouse... How to take joy in your spouse. And in these blog posts, I hope you will learn how to have a great marriage in spite of all the other junk going on in your life.

Why The Heck Of All Things A Marriage Blog?!?

Why indeed... Many people who we know have looked at Kelly and I and said that we have something that they don't have and often want to know what that is. That is part of what this blog is about. There are also situations and scenarios that cause a lot of drama which arise in marriages that Kelly and I have encountered that most married people encounter that I think can be handled in most cases without causing more drama. And a drama free marriage is truly a happy marriage!

My concepts of marriage stem from a couple key points from Scripture. First of all Love the Lord your God with all that you are, and Second, Love others as you love yourself. (Matthew 22:36-40) Then the explanation of Love found in 1st Corinthians 13 which in summery states that love is selfless. Then the next is for wives to submit to their husbands as the Church should submit to Christ's authority and for husbands to love their wives as Christ demonstrated for His Church (and do remember before criticizing, Christ loved His bride, the Church, so much that He died for Her) (this found various places in the New Testament of the Bible but for reference's sake, Ephesians 5:22-25). There are several other areas that I will cite when I come across them.

Now this is only a small part of what it is to apply love to ones life. Agape (love without condition) can and should be applied throughout your life, but first you must have Christ in your life. You can apply a set of principals to your life to try and make it better, but any cult or government can create a set of 'principals' and call it good, but only Christ can cause true transformation in ones heart. For more on this type of love, you may visit nathanward.org, or you may visit the blog http://godsloveinaction.blogspot.com. And be sure to come back here for more on marriage!