That's what the promise is for!

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I wouldn't trade my sweet husband for anything! Though there was a time when I almost did and another time when I wanted to. As I often now say, he's one of the best "Yes"es that I've ever said! I did good. I married a good man!

Our marriage has been a journey. Sometimes a roller coaster. With all kinds of weather: freezing temperatures at times, luke warm at others, and extremely hot ones that were enraged and mean and furious. We could have been a movie, or a book, at times not so promising and totally unsure, but now in the midst of a happily-ever-after ending.

You know, it's the testing and trials and the still sticking together that make a marriage beautiful! The hanging on despite the storms that make it strong.

I heard the sweetest song yesterday that I'd never heard before. In it the guy talks about how young they were when they got engaged. The singer sings about his marriage, "We went dancing in the minefields. We went sailing in the storm. And it was harder than we ever dreamed, but I believe that's what the promise is for."

I loved that last line: It was harder than we ever dreamed, but that's what the promise is for!

Who can attest to the same?

It's not when the vows are said that the commitment is proven. It's when the testing of those vows come about that proves and shows what you're truly made of.

"For better or worse," really? Or, were you just saying so? For richer or poorer? In sickness and in health?

Doing the worst and the poorer and the sickness or addictive diseases or whatever else.... Isn't that what the promise was for?

"THAT IS what the promise was for!"

People often don't stand by those promises anymore. They're forgotten almost as soon as they're said.

We do have One that never breaks His promise though. One Whose vows never break. One who loves "for better or worse... for richer or poorer... through sickness and in health... in good times and bad... in joy and through sorrow". One Who NEVER leaves or forsakes us! One Whose love never quits and Who never gives us up!

As I was thinking of this the words "With this ring, I thee wed" kept ringing through my ears. And I kept thinking about Jesus as our Groom, us as His bride,... and the rings in His hand through which His vows and His weds, in essence, were said. (Remember Thomas, the Doubter? When He doubted Jesus' resurrection. Jesus walked through the door of the room where he hid and told him to put his finger in the holes of His hands. If you doubt, His holes and His hold still stands!)

Well I was 19, you were 21

The year we got engaged

Everyone said we were much too young

But we did it anyway.

We got the rings for 40 each

From a pawn shop down the road

We said our vows and took the leap

now 15 years ago.

Chorus:

We went dancing in the minefields

We went sailing in the storm

And it was harder than we dreamed

But I believe that's what the promise is for.

We "I do" are the two most famous last words

The beginning of the end

But to lose your life for another

I've heard is a good place to begin.

Cause the only way to find your life

Is to lay your own life down

And I believe it's an easy price

For the life that we have found.

Chorus:

And we're dancing in the minefields

We're sailing in the storm

This is harder than we dreamed

But I believe that's what the promise is for

That's what the promise is for.

So when I lose my way

Find me

When I lose love's chains

Bind me

At the end of all my faith

To the end of all my days

When I forget my name

Remind me

Cause we bear the light of the Son of Man

So there's nothing left to fear

So I'll walk with you in the shadow lands

Till the shadows disappear

Cause He promised not to leave us

And His promises are true

so in the face of all this chaos, baby

I can dance with You.

Chorus:

So, let's go dancing in the minefields

Let's go sailing in the storms

Oh, let's go dancing in the minefields

And kicking down the doors

Oh, let's go dancing in the minefields

And sailing in the storms

Oh, this is harder than we dreamed

But I believe that's what the promise is for

That's what the promise is for.

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