Our Personal Marriage Trouble

What was our biggest source of marriage trouble?

Not understanding, or appreciating our differences. In retrospect, this was the beginning of our Christian marriage problems and marriage mistakes.

Not only did we have very little tolerance for one another; our blended family problems added fuel to the fire.

Only God would be able to give our troubled marriage the miracle it really needed.

Sure, we knew the Word of God said to be long suffering. We had absolutely no problem with that scripture.

But in our flesh, we felt we had suffered long enough!

Our problem started when we began to realize how DIFFERENT we were. Of course we didn't get this deep revelation until after the wedding dance and honeymoon .

You say potato; I say patoto.

You say tomato; I say tamoto.

Who cares? Well if you're a potato whose married to a tamoto, you care.

You care every day of your life, because you're reminded every second of every day; like raindrops falling on your head.

Opposites really do attract but your differences can cause major problems in marriage if you don't see them through the eyes of God.

In mathematics a (+) combined with a (-) can equal a positive. But in marriage two opposites combined can equal marriage trouble.

Initially we thought different meant wrong. If my style of handling things was different from Michael's way of doing things he concluded that my way was wrong.

When Michael had a different idea or opinion than I did, I concluded he was wrong.

I guess we thought since there's only one way to Heaven, there was only one way of thinking.

We were so immature.

But then something happened that neither of us will ever forget.

One night during a period of fasting and praying Michael and I were lying in bed talking about our marriage trouble.

Sometime around 3am, the Holy Spirit showed up and showed us the purpose of our differences.

I remember it so clearly because it felt like a light switch had been turned on, illuminating the entire room.

For the first time we were able to clearly see how we complimented each other. Where I am weak, Michael is strong and vice versa.

I know it sounds corney but it was like seeing a rainbow after a storm.

God showed us the purpose and the beauty in what we thought were character flaws.

Do we still have marriage trouble? No, ours is no longer a troubled marriage.

Do we still make marriage mistakes? Yes, as long as we live in these fleshly bodies we will always make mistakes.

But God's grace is sufficient and in our weakness His strength is made perfect.
(2Corinthians 12:9)

So, where are we now?

We place our trust in God daily and in His vision for our marriage.

We no longer see marriage problems; we see opportunities for growth and transformation.