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Marriage! There is no one right way. Cultivating love varies with each couple, personalities differ, stories are unique. Yet grace is needed for each of us.
Forty-three years ago, we stood in front of family and friends, made vows before God to love, honor, and cherish one another, “till death do us part.” Graces and sweet memories fill our hearts. We could not have fathomed what the years would hold, how God would use our marriage in our world. Building the legacy of Clarkson, our feasts, faith, music, celebrating life together, making memories, books written, conferences held, cherishing holidays, cultivating our story—there are soooo many memories over the pathways of our marriage.
In some ways, now is our best time. Our partnership before God has endured. Our familiarity with one another’s ways, the myriad years we shared, has given us a precious treasure I could not have understood when we began.
Yet, as with every couple, there were so many challenging seasons to live through. Building a legacy of faith and faithfulness through 24 moves (9 internationally), sharing together births of four children (3 miscarriages), of living through the seasons of sleepless, sick babies, demanding toddlerhood, adventuresome pre-school, golden elementary years, hormonal, push-back teen years, straining into young adulthood seasons, and adults and grand babies.
Storms and winds of darkness swept through our lives many times. Thousands of meals, messes to clean up, illnesses, car wrecks, difficulties galore, hospitalizations, feeling isolated and lonely, mentally ill children, countless “dark nights of the soul.”
Stages of life drained: parenting the special needs of our kids, navigating grief, financial difficulties, midlife doubts, temptation to compare, being petty, anger, exhaustion, disappointment, giving up hope. Life takes its toll.
We grew from immaturity and selfishness toward humility, grace, selflessness, admitting flaws, straining to understand how to love and forgive.
But there had to be anchors that held us fast in storms.
Join me today as I speak of these anchors on my podcast from my book Well Lived: Cultivating Gratitude & Grace.