This month, my wife Toni and I celebrated 25 years of marriage.
I love her more than I ever dreamed of.
And it’s also been a totally different experience than either of us thought it would be.
I love this picture of us leaving our wedding reception because in many ways it show us stepping out into the world when we honestly had NO IDEA what life would bring us. We just had hopes and dreams.
I have no data on this, but I think leaders perhaps struggle in their marriages more than others do.
Anecdotally, at least, I hear from leader after leader who says it’s been tougher at home than they thought it would be. And Toni and I have had our share of struggles for sure.
If you’re looking for a post on marriage that outlines how couples should do five things that will make their marriage perfect, you need to read someone else’s blog.
The truth is, marriage is work. Hard work. But it’s wonderfully hard work.
Both of us have felt more pain than we ever knew was possible, and more deep joy than we ever realized existed.
I love her more than I have ever loved anyone or anything (except Christ, of course).
Our love has grown richer and better over time, but we’ve also had a few seasons where we wondered whether love had vaporized. There were seasons when the only reason it wasn’t over is because Jesus said it wasn’t over.
So we stayed. And our emotions eventually caught up with our obedience.
Through it all, Christ has kept us together and brought us a more wonderfully fulfilling relationship than either of us knew was possible.
On the other side of deep pain is deep joy. You’ve just got to make it there.
So what’s the key?
Well, there’s no one key, but here are 20 honest insights about making it to 25 years in marriage.
Some are observations. Some are directives. Either way, I hope they help WHEREVER you are in your marriage.
