GRATITUDE 46 Newlyweds

After they left last night, Andy and I were lying in bed both struck by what a privilege it is for us to lead this newlyweds group.  It's an honor, a privilege and a weighty task.  Some of them have known each other for years and are more like old married couples.  Others, just a few months and are experiencing the thrills of falling in love.

For the honor of leading this group, I am thankful and I realize I don't deserve it.  For a thousand reasons I don't deserve it.  I am a sinner and that has never been more obvious than in my marriage.  Andy and I have seen God do remarkable things in our own hearts and in our marriage.

So we lead this group with humility, knowing that all good things in our marriage are by his grace and that the honor of speaking into their marriages is only by his grace.

We lead this group with hope, knowing that the challenges these three couples may face in their marriages and just in life in  general could be great, but that our God's grace is greater. Andy and I know this from experience.  Whether an inward trial or an outward trial, HIS GRACE IS GRATER. In ten years of marriage we have seen that his transforming grace is greater than the inward trials we have faced due to our own sinful hearts.  And we have seen that his sustaining grace is greater than the outward trials we have/are facing due to living in a fallen and broken world.

We lead this group with expectant hearts, knowing that God will do mighty things for his glory as we seek his will for our marriages.

And finally, we lead this group with excitement, because we think marriage is awesome and because these couples are deep, and fun, and interesting, (and some of the women are feisty!) and  they are all EAGER to learn how to put Christ at the center of their marriages.

THANKFUL THANKFUL
FOR THIS GROUP.
For Andy
For marriage
For the greater reality marriage represents
For God's transforming and sustaining grace in our own marriage
That the same grace is available to each of these couples
For the chance to keep growing in our own marriage