tear drop

Why I Cried on My Anniversary…

Let me walk you through it… It’s January 12th, 2016 at 8 am. When I wake my husband is not by my side as usual. Normally, I am the first to wake up. After that, I try to give him a few extra minutes of sleep before I wake him up with a “gentle push” and a quiet “good morning”. Well, it was not so today. When I woke up, I knew it was our anniversary and part of me was excited and the other part was ____________. I couldn’t exactly figure out the ____________ part, so I decided to go somewhere to find answers.  I went down the hallway to our prayer room, got on my knees and began to talk to God. The topic of our conversation today was “My Anniversary”.  After a few minutes, the Holy Spirit began to speak to my heart. An this is the part that I wanted to share with all of the married folks, soon to be married folks and “I wanna be married folks”.

We have been taught over the years what a wedding anniversary is “supposed to look like”. In fact, we often see it portrayed in commercials, tv shows, and movies in two different lights. One way is “the husband forgets the wedding anniversary, the wife becomes upset, followed by the husband trying to make it up.” The second way is “the husband doesn’t forget the wedding anniversary and the couple celebrate in an elaborate fashion that is virtually unrealistic for most married couples.” ie. Roses everywhere, breakfast in bed, trip to the spa, dinner on the beach..need I say more (smile). These two pictures have been so impressed in our minds that it can often turn wedding anniversaries into something God did not intend. I don’t know for sure, but I believe that spouses *especially wives* can place unnecessary and unfruitful pressure on their spouse to live up to their “standards” of what an anniversary is supposed to be. If I could be a fly on the wall, I am sure many fights and broken hearts have happened on wedding anniversaries due to this. It should NOT BE SO!

As I continued to pray, God spoke into my heart that wedding anniversaries are to be a day of “Thankfulness and Remembrance”. As I received this revelation, I began to pray for my husband and thank God for Him. I just kept thanking Him for everything I could think of concerning my husband because I knew that everything good in him came from God.  As I started to thank God, tears of JOY and GRATITUDE flooded my face. And the __________ that I was experiencing went away instantly and was replaced with JOY. All of my “anniversary expectations” had been washed away by this simple revelation. In that moment, I could care less about receiving a gift, or a card from my husband. I knew that Bruce in fact was my “GOOD GIFT”. The scripture comes to mind, “Every good and perfect gift comes from the Father of Lights! (James 1:17)”

Well, a few seconds after I wiped my eyes. In comes Bruce…with a dozen roses, a card, and some breakfast. Even though he had all that in his hand and I knew it was for me, all I could see was him, my GOOD GIFT coming through that door! I couldn’t wait to share my heart. Then the tears began again..as I expressed my heart…We closed this moment with a special time of prayer and thankfulness to the Lord. For it was the Lord that loved us enough to bring us together.

So…Yep I cried on my anniversary!!  But these were good tears! These were my offering to God for giving me the gift of my husband.

I want to encourage everyone reading this blog, to change your perception on wedding anniversaries. Next time, it’s time to celebrate, lay aside all of those “expectations and pressures” and replace it with “Thankfulness and remembrance”. It will make your day even more special! Make your day more about God and His faithfulness in your marriage than your own needs and desires. I am sure that God would be so pleased if all the #kingdommarried couples included Him in on their special day:)

In closing, Marriage is a Beautiful thing! And of course it is fine to celebrate. Just celebrate in your own way, without the unneeded “wedding anniversary pressure” and you will be sure to have a BEAUTIFUL WEDDING ANNIVERSARY!! Remember to enjoy your “GOOD GIFT”!  I hope this helps someone..I know it helped me. I will live with this revelation for the remainder of my years:)

Love Ya’ll! ~Feel free to share and comment~

Rotoya

Three years down, FOREVER TO GO!

#teamgoodwin