A decade!
Ten years!
120 months!
521 weeks!
3650 days!
87600 hours!
5256000 minutes!
315360000 seconds!
When you put it that way, it’s a big deal. Seriously! Today we have been married for ten years. Any wedding anniversary year should be celebrated. It doesn’t matter if it’s one year or ten. Fifteen years or twenty-five. Fifty or seventy-five. Wedding Anniversaries are a big deal.
Why? Because God ordained marriage. Marriage is the oldest institution there is. It started back in the Garden of Eden:
And the Lord God said, ‘It is not good that man should be alone; I will make him a helper comparable to him’ . . . And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall on Adam, and he slept; and He took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh in its place. Then the rib which the Lord God had taken from man He made into a woman, and He brought her to the man. And Adam said: ‘This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.’ Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh (Gen. 2:18, 21-24).
Marriage is of God and not simply a social contract between two people, as the world has come to fleetingly think it is. When times get tough in marriage (which they surely do at some point), society has made it so easy to break this ‘contract’ that two people have made. When we spoke our wedding vows, we used the word covenant. We wanted to make a covenant commitment to each other. A covenant is not broken. It stands the test of time. One of the covenants made in the Bible was the covenant that came to be through the death of Jesus. Through his death we are justified by God’s grace and mercy and receive true forgiveness for our sins. (Hebrews 9:15). This covenant stands strong and will not be broken.
The thing is, this doesn’t mean it’s an easy Hallmark movie, feel good, easy journey all the time. Marriage is ordained by God, so there is this enemy lurking in the shadows wanting to destroy anything ordained by God–marriages and families are at the top of this list. There are times where we feel this attack of the enemy so very strong. He doesn’t want us to succeed in marriage. He wants families to fall apart. He wants us to fall away from God. We noticed that recently when both Jason and I were deep into reading and studying God’s word. The more we read or studied, the more intense the attack on our marriage got. We both started to think and act more selfishly towards each other. Our discussions easily turned to petty arguments simply because we had misunderstood each other over something completely trivial. It took a day or two, but we caught on and told satan that he has no business messing with us. We are in a covenant with each other. It will not be broken.
Jason and I both carry our vows in our wallets as a reminder. These words were spoken 10 years ago, today, but they are there as a reminder of the life-long covenant we made to each other and God.
Please don’t think our marriage is perfect. It is so very far from perfect. Every marriage is and THAT is why each wedding anniversary is a big, huge, ginormous deal and should be celebrated. We celebrate the good years, thank God for carrying us through the tough years, and praise Him for ordaining this holy covenant, protecting it, and making it a most extraordinary journey.
Living in the Moment 
This is a post I have on my social media today in regards to a photo of us at the beginning of our journey. It fits nicely with this blog post: This was us. Back when love was new, the future hopeful, and our dreams so big. Today marks ten years since we made a covenant between God and each other. A cord with three strands will not be broken. The enemy surely tries, but we will not allow it. The past ten years have been filled with more than we could have ever imagined could happen in a lifetime. We’ve renovated houses together, travelled, served at church, muddled through a miscarriage, welcomed our miracle Mikail into the world, fought through infant stroke and rehabilitation with him, witnessing miracle after miracle. We were overjoyed when Olivia arrived two years later, muddling through severe colic, postpartum depression, and lack of sleep for the next four years. We loved camping in Northern AB and BC in our #glamper, making visits home to MB and ON to see family and friends. We moved what we could in a 24 ft trailer across the country to live closer to family. We begged God for a Lazarus Miracle when Mikail tragically died in our home of hidden IGAS Pneumonia, and God quietly whispered, “no”. We fumbled blindly through the next three years of heart shattering grief, always finding whispers of hope through those who didn’t get scared off by our grief. We found refuge in trips to Cuba, Mexico, Florida, and sunset visits to the shores of Lake Huron. We experienced secondary infertility and another devastating miscarriage. Yet, Through it all we’ve always found reason to laugh and put one foot in front of the other, lifting the other up when one just can’t help but crumble. A strand with three cords cannot be broken. Our love is no longer new, but it’s true as ever. Our future is hopeful and our dreams are big. Some things have not changed. I love you, J. Can’t wait to see what amazing things will happen in our next ten years. #marriage #covenant #commitment #anniversary
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