The Messy Middle

The Lord was reminding me in my quiet time this morning about the tough stretches my husband and I have been thru in our marriage.

There have been a couple of times in our 22 years of marriage that both of us have considered just throwing in the towel because the work felt too hard. We felt like we were never going to come to an understanding of one another and so I think we’ve both wondered IS IT EVEN WORTH IT? Will things ever change?

I know so often I have looked at him and wondered how on earth can he see things the way he sees them? How can he NOT see my side? How is he so blind to what feels glaringly obvious to me?

And I know he has looked at me and wondered will I ever see things his way? I know he has felt like my actions and my words didn’t lineup (ex: I say I love him but I do things that make him feel unloved?).

Surely we’re not the only married couple that has gone through these things right??

God was reminding me how the only way we have been able to heal from the painful trials in our marriage has been through lots and lots and lots of hard, awkward conversations. And trying to understand where we have both come from and been. And building and rebuilding trust inch by inch..... day by day with one another. These have been hard seasons.

The Lord was showing me this morning but that’s where we are in America right now. We’re in the messy middle. The part that is sooooooooo uncomfortable and hard. The part that will bear so much fruit if we’ll just keep going.

I know anytime I have dug my heels in and refused to try to see my husband’s perspective it has not brought healing to our relationship.

I think the same applies now.

We must continue to listen to one another.

Have empathy for one another.

Be quick to listen and slow to speak.

We must bear one another’s burdens and believe the best about one another.

What we sow now we will reap later.

The Lord is not a man that He can lie. And the Bible says that what the enemy intends for evil... God WILL use for good.

So we must keep going friends. We just keep having the hard conversations. Keep digging for truth. Keep asking hard questions and seeking wisdom. Keep examining our own hearts.

We are in this together!!!!