Real Life Marriage: I'd Do It Again.

Here we are again: our engagement anniversary. Only three more months until three years of marriage, and how time has flown. Three years is a short time when you are into your third decades of life, but when it comes to marriage, it's also a long time. My husband and I are different people than when we were single. That does and doesn't make sense, but it's true. Sometimes I wonder what I was thinking when I said, "Yes," but then again, I know what I was thinking: that it would be a privilege to be his wife, and it is. It is also a lot different than I expected.

My husband has changed. I have changed. Or maybe we really haven't changed. Maybe we have just gotten to know each other at deeper levels, bringing out things we never knew about each other, maybe things we never knew about ourselves. A coworker of mine told me that he and his wife received premarital advice that marriage is like learning to fall in love with a stranger over and over again, because stages of life can make strangers of spouses. I see some truth in that.

I would still say, "Yes" again, though. Yes to the bumpy ride. Yes to the conflicts. Yes to the frustration when we can't seem to communicate. Yes to the mountaintop (some literally!) moments. Yes to the shared fun. Yes to the enjoyment of doing life together. Singleness was hard, too, and I wouldn't want to go back there. I wouldn't want to go into marriage with anyone other than my husband, either.

I know now what I didn't know then, and yet I'd do it again.

God has a plan, and I trust in it.

Marriage is now my commitment.

I didn't know then, but I know now, God is in this somehow.

Highs and lows, marriage is what we chose. 

My, "Yes," is my "Yes," to God regardless of those.

I'd do it again; I'll do it again, not if, but when

I'm asked to say, "Yes," but only to loving this one,

Through salvation, my heart was bought; in marriage, my heart is won.