PLEASE...DO NOT GIVE UP!!

You may or may not know this but we are currently expecting our 6th child any day now.  The Lord has richly blessed us.  As you can imagine we have lots of family coming around to help out.  Serena's mom came out 3 weeks ago and my mom arrived about a week and a half ago.

As a surprise my dad made plans to show up unannounced to everyone.  He called me to make sure I would be able to pick him up from the airport that night.  It was a great surprise for everyone.  However, I paid the price the next day.

You see, we live about an hour and 15 minutes from the airport.  His plane arrived at 12:30 AM.  We didn't leave the airport until after 1:00 AM.  Then once we got home we had to let everyone know.  Needless to say, I didn't go to bed until almost 3:00 AM and had to be up for work at 7:00 AM.  I am sure I didn't actually fall asleep until after 4:00 AM.  I ended up with a full day's work load running off of 3 hours of sleep.  I was miserable while at work.  But, I didn't have the option to call in or not show up.  I have responsibilities and people counting on me being there.  I have bills that need paying and mouths to feed.  I have a family that depends on me to working to provide for our life.

As I looked back on the situation I was in a couple days ago, it made me think about how Serena was and how some of you may be in the fight for your marriage.

The person you are married to may not be acting the way they should.  They may be doing everything that is imaginable to push you away.  They may be walking, RUNNING the wrong way as fast as they can.  But, you believe in marriage....YOUR MARRIAGE!!  You have chosen to fight for what belongs to you!  You may have grounds to divorce your spouse but you have chosen to trust God to fix it.  You are standing regardless of how bad you have been hurt because you believe that God is able.

PLEASE....DO NOT GIVE UP!!  Just as I shared how I had to go to work because my family was depending on me to work, someone is depending on you to stand!  Your spouse doesn't even know it but they are depending on you to stand and fight for your marriage.  Yea...it's hard and it hurts.  I have seen it all too well in the eyes and life of my wife.  It hurts me now to know what I put her through.

PLEASE...DO NOT GIVE UP!!  This is coming from someone that didn't know that I was depending on my spouse to stand for us.  All glory goes to Jesus for what He did in our life but Serena was the one that had to do the work in the natural.  I needed her to stand because I was too cowardly to do so myself.  Where we are today is due to her diligence in standing her ground in the face of lies and in the midst of hurt and pain.

PLEASE...DO NOT GIVE UP!!  If you are standing for your marriage through the onslaught of the enemy, take heart.  It's not only you and your spouse you are fighting for; you're also fighting for other marriages of friends and family.  You're fighting for marriages in your town and abroad.  There are untold multitudes of people that are waiting to see if anyone else is able to bring restoration to their broken marriages.

We know...you're tired and want to just curl up in a ball.  You want to cry for days on end.  You want it all to just be over.  You want to wake up from this nightmare and have life be the way it was supposed to be.  It's OK to feel that way.  It's OK to cry.  It's even OK to be mad angry PISSED OFF at what the devil is trying to do to you and your spouse!  Just....PLEASE...DO NOT GIVE UP!!

Josh