MarriedPeople Couples

I asked my friend, Susan Richards, who also happens to be an Orange Specialist, to give me some thoughts on marriage. I love the way she loves and talks about her husband- it’s really refreshing. -TED

“I didn’t know my husband when I married him.” Now ladies, some of you may be resonating with this statement right now! Dating and loving someone is one thing, but when you begin to live with them in marriage it’s a whole other ball of wax. However, this statement was different from that…

As the young woman elaborated on her statement I learned she was 28 when she married a man who was 14 years her senior. He was a friend of her uncle’s and someone she literally did not know as she walked down the aisle to him. It was an arranged marriage. It was Vietnam. They’ve been married for 16 years. They have a beautiful daughter who is 12. I asked her if she loved him. “No.” I asked her if she liked him. “Oh yes,” she said. “He’s a good man! I’m blessed.”

I struggled to imagine doing that; the fear of marrying someone I didn’t love, much less even know. Her response and face lingered in my mind. She didn’t love him, but she seemed okay with that. Really? My mind raced to other different marriages in the bible. Jacob, Leah, and Rachel. Jacob loving one, saddled with another, and God blessing it all. Hosea and Gomer. Esther and King Ahasuerus.

In the end, all I could do was reflect on my own marriage. I’m thankful I was deeply in love with my husband when I married him. I’m even more thankful that I’m still deeply in love with him today – almost 29 years later. We’ve walked through sickness and health, want and plenty, woundedness and joy. I’m grateful for every up and down, every lesson, every conversation, every step along the journey. I’m blessed. What about you?