We made it!!!

Jeff and I have been married for a year! Wow! We made it. This first year of marriage was really tough on Jeff and I. We got married, then Jeff left town for 4 months the very next week. Also, I think we both came into the marriage with certain expectations about what marriage would be like....and were totally wrong. We have seen the best sides of each other and now the side not many see. When just dating someone, or having relationships with the rest of the world for that matter, we were both able to present the side of ourselves that we wanted the other person to see. The "representative" if you will. When married the un-kept side is revealed! A good analogy would be like wearing a really tight belt that held all your fat in and everyone thought you were really thin, then one day taking the belt off and letting it all hang loose. Totally exposed. It is rough. I have learned about that side of Jeff and he has learned about that side of me. {oh no!} And, when just dating and things get sticky...You just break up! Well, jeff and I both made a promise to God and to each other that we will be in this for the long run. This is totally new territory. I have never been in this place with any other human being I have come to have a relationship thus far in my life. What a task!

I have never been stretched this far to learn how to love unconditionally (as God loves us) and be committed to a higher calling than just my own flighty self-will.  I truly believe God made marriage to refine me and step-up my spiritual life. I fail terribly at it ALOT. I am still new. But I have learned a lot this year.  God is our sole source for contentment. We are BOTH wrong. Marriage is a tool of refinement. Refinement defined as "the process of removing impurities or unwanted elements from a substance. The improvement or clarification of something by making small changes ."  Outside of marriage I would never have to face these things in myself. 

Although we have the stresses of fiances, careers, and our major personality differences, we are glad to have each other to go through it together. 

WE MADE IT! yippie! I am so looking forward to the years to come! From what people tell me,The first year is the hardest. Not only was it the first year, we had "road-life" and the stress of a new house on our plates. So I am really grateful to God for granting us grace and carrying us throughout the first year. The glory goes to him~I could never had done it.