What do you think of when you hear the word “marriage”? I think of Ben (of course), I think of my amazing parents, who modeled what a Godly marriage is. I think of our amazing friends who have shown us grace through our first nine years of this chapter. And probably more than anything, I think of Christ and the church.
Ben and I celebrated our 9th wedding anniversary last week. The beginning of the week was great. We celebrated a few days early and my parents kept the kids overnight for us. We reminisced memories that have happened to us thus far, both the good and the bad. A friend of ours even made us a “Happy Anniversary” cake for church Wednesday night. But then, life happened, and some events came to light, and there was pain and emotion and a roller coaster of thoughts. All of a sudden, the beginning of the week seemed like years away. There was forgiveness that needed to happen, grace needed to abound, and love needed to transpire everything.
The #SheReadsTruth community has been doing a study on the book of Hosea for the past couple of weeks. When I found out that Hosea was the next study, I was very excited and anxious to get started. Hosea starts off rough. The Lord is not pleased with Israel and how they are not listening to anything He is asking of them. But, what they don’t realize is that all He is asking them to do is to come back to Him. When we follow Christ with all that we are, and want grace to abound in every area of our life, things fall into place. The sad thing is, is that we are just like the Israelites. I fail every.single.day. All of my friends, my husband, my parents, everyone fails every single day. However, Jesus doesn’t fail. Even in my weakest moment, Christ always is waiting.
Hosea 14 says
I will heal their apostasy; I will love them freely, for my anger has turned from them. I will be like the dew to Israel; he shall blossom like the lily; he shall take root like the trees of Lebanon; his shoots shall spread out; his beauty shall be like the olive, and his fragrance like Lebanon. They shall return and dwell beneath my shadow; they shall flourish like the grain; they shall blossom like the vine; their fame shall be like the wine of Lebanon. (Hosea 14:4-7 ESV)
I am more than thankful that He still is waiting for me. That He is longing for me. I pray that we do this for each other as we become more like Him.
the williams 