Stephane and I were married four years ago today – July 26th, 2008. I am grateful to God for my wife and I would like to share some of the things I have learned from our marriage:

1. The importance of praying together.  Steph and I pray together every day. As the saying goes, “couples that pray together, stay together.” Praying together is a constant reminder that Christ must be at the center of our marriage. I love our wedding theme verse: “a triple-braided cord is not quickly broken.” (Ecclesiastes 4:12)

2. How much God loves us.  Marriage is to be a reflection of the type of love and intimacy we can have with God. Just like the marital relationship, our Lord desires that we enjoy a deep knowledge of Him, not just a superficial knowledge. In this sense, it is amazing to me how instructive marriage can be when it comes to our relationship with the Lord.

3. I am a sinner.  Ok, ok, I guess I knew that before.  But marriage has a way of exposing all those warts and ugly character traits that we used to be able to hide. After a few years of marriage, I am much more aware of my own selfishness, pride, and sinfulness in general than ever before.

4. As head of our home, I have a lot more responsibilities.  It used to be that I only had to look out for myself and my own interests.  Now I have a family that I am responsible for.  Obviously, this is a huge change from my pre-marriage days, but at the same time it is a good change. And even though I am the head of our home (1 Corinthians 11:3), there have been many times where the Lord has told me – LISTEN TO HER – SHE IS MY GOOD GIFT TO YOU! These are the moments where I must submit (Ephesians 5:21) and listen to my wife.  All honest husbands will affirm the need for this.

5.  The Lord takes care of us.  There have been many issues that we have had to deal with in our relationship (just like any couple), but the Lord has taken care of us every step of the way.  God has brought us to a new level of faith we could have never anticipated four years ago. To God be the glory, great things he has done!

6.  Our love keeps growing over time.  Before we got married, it was hard to imagine loving Stephane any more than I already did. But after four years of marriage, I can honestly say our love for one another just keeps on growing. This is a reminder that our love for the Lord should also keep growing and multiplying.

To summarize, marriage is a gift from God and can be incredibly rewarding when you keep Christ at the center of it. I am not saying there won’t be trials and difficulties along the way, but a Christ-centered couple can always trust that God will see you through and give you grace in your time of need.