"The Greatest Challenge in the World"

Three years ago if you had asked me, "What is the greatest challenge in the world?", my response would likely have been something about disaster preparedness or rebuilding New Orleans after Katrina. My life used to be about that... helping families recover and become whole again after their world was swept away in a storm. Louisianians have a very strong sense of family which influenced my husband and I to return home to be with our families when we found out that our Munchkin would be part of our lives.

Now, I'm part of a blogging book study and Chapter 1 of Gary Thomas' book, Sacred Marriage, is entitled, "The Greatest Challenge in the World." Anyone can be married, but what does it mean to have a sacred marriage?

As I was reading this first chapter, four little words came back to haunt me from another book study I did years ago while living in Colorado. "It's not about me." Uggh, my selfishness rears its ugly head... again. The world doesn't actually revolve around ME or MY life at all.

The subtitle of this book is "What if God designed marriage to make us holy more than to make us happy?" This rings true with the imagery we have in the Bible of marriage symbolizing the relationship between Christ and his bride, the church. I'm glad that the author doesn't exclude happiness from the equation completely because the Bible is essentially one giant love story between the Creator God and the people He created. He delights in his people and rejoices over them with singing as it says in Zephaniah 3:17.

This book study also coincides with a study through my church in which we are discussing "heart-idols." How often do I rely on my husband for things that only God can provide? More than I'd like to admit to myself. I don't want to idolize my husband or our marriage, but when I allow the busyness of life to drown out the still, small voice of a God who is whispering His love for me, that's exactly what happens.

I thank God every day for the amazing husband that Karl is and for bringing us together. I pray that participating in this study will force me to take time to be still, reflect, learn and grow into a more godly woman and wife.