This past weekend Jeremy and I were so excited to spend the weekend in Peachtree City, GA for the Family Life marriage conference called "A Weekend to Remember." My parents came down from Virginia to watch the kids so we could go. The weekend started off great as we left on Friday and spent some time at the outlets in Commerce. On the way down I was coughing a little but by Friday night my chest had become extremely congested and tight. I woke up Saturday morning in rough shape. I forced myself to eat some breakfast and then got back in bed while Jeremy went to get me some medicine and then went to one of the sessions without me. The symptoms only seemed to get worse but we tried to still make it to all the sessions and our date that night. It finally became a little humorous that we were at the "weekend to remember" conference and we were certainly having a weekend to remember....just not the type of weekend we were hoping to have. It was challenging to work on marriage when I felt like I was on my death bed! So we got back Sunday and mom was sick as well so she and I had a double date to the Clemson Health Center where we waited for over 3 hours to see the doctor but we both came out with prescriptions! So, the weekend didn't exactly turn out as hoped for but we are still thankful for the time together and the good content that encouraged us to continue to work on our marriage. We are also thankful for the special time that Carson and Bryn had with their Grampa and Grammy. I'm so reminded in all this that the Enemy would like nothing more than for us to not work on our marriage. "Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. But resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same experiences of suffering are being accomplished by your brethren who are in the world." (1 Peter 5:8-9) I love how Gary Thomas speaks about marriage in his book
Sacred Marriage which is a book about marriage being a spiritual discipline designed to help you know God better, trust him more fully, and love him more dearly. He says this, "The key to the discipline of fellowship is understanding this fundamental reality: All of us face struggles, and each one of us is currently facing a struggle that we're having less than one hundred percent success overcoming. If we're married, the fact is we're also married to someone who is failing in some way. We can respond to this "bitter juice" by becoming bitter people, or we can use it as a spiritual discipline and transform its exercise into the honey of a holy life. In this fallen world, struggles, sin, and unfaithfulness are a given. The only question is whether our response to these struggles, sin, and unfaithfulness will draw us closer to God - or whether it will estrange us from ourselves, our Creator, and each other."
So my hope, in the midst of a challenging weekend and day with much struggle, is that I would use this as an opportunity to become more holy by drawing closer to God!
