July is a very special month for me, it’s my anniversary
month! We are getting ready to celebrate our three year anniversary and I just
can’t believe it’s been three years already. It’s amazing how fast time really
goes. It honestly feels like just yesterday I was planning a wedding and
looking forward to the day where I would marry my best friend.

I believe the start to the month of July has really given me
a picture of what year three is going to have in store. As most of you know we
just had our first baby, Jase Christopher. He is a complete and total blessing
and I am falling more in love with his precious little self every day. Family
was in town and visitors were in and out for the first two weeks of his little
life, and as we entered into July it was the first taste of what life, with now
the three of us, was going to be like.

We celebrated the fourth of July at home this year. My
brother-in-law and his wife brought us dinner and hung out for a couple hours,
but then they headed home a little early. As they left my husband and I sat on
the couch and watched the Macy’s firework show on the television with baby Jase
in my lap holding my hand. I thought to myself, this is a new season for us. I
love being out and around a lot of people, I am a very busy person and love
having something to do. But at this moment, I loved just sitting in my living
room with my little family taking in what this new season of life was going to
offer.

So here is to our new season of marriage, we are not only
husband and wife, but we are parents too.

As I prepare to embark on year three of marriage with my
husband I wanted to take some time to pull away and keep in mind a few very
important things in making it to year four. I know I have many friends who are
getting ready to get married, thinking about getting engaged, or looking for
that special person and in doing so I want you to keep in mind these things.
Just as they are what keeps our marriage strong and has gotten us to year
three, it’s going to be what gets you to year one, just as much as it’s going
to get us to year fifty.

Keep God First. God
is the one who brought you together and He is the very one that is going to
hold you together. Whenever I haven’t spent enough time with God, I can see it
in my marriage. My patience level with my husband is lower, my desire to serve
my husband is weak, and my focus on being intentional ceases to exist. Keeping
God first in marriage is a sure way to keep your marriage together. God will
give you wisdom to handle everything the two of you will face together in life;
He will be the glue that keeps you together. Not only that, but God will give
you wisdom in handling situations with your husband. He will let you know when
you should speak, and when you should keep silent – and as a wife those are
very important things to know. Keep seeking God and you will see the fruit of
your marriage

Husband comes second.
Doesn’t matter if you have kids or don’t have kids, next to God is your
husband. Your husband comes before the kids, work, school, ministry, and
anything else that could come between. If you’re not focusing on your marriage
and keeping it together, then you’re going to fail at parenting. Parenting is
meant to be done together, and if you’re not working on your “together” than
how are you going to parent? If you let work, school, ministry, or anything
else come before your husband then you’re not strengthening your marriage. You
have to invest in the relationship to keep it growing and strong, just like
anything else in life.

Pray a lot. Pray
together. Pray separately. Pray when you’re upset. Pray when you’re confused. Pray
when you’re worried. Pray when you’re discouraged. Pray when you’re happy. Pray
when things are going perfectly. Pray when things are going wrong. Pray and don’t
ever stop praying. Prayer binds marriage together in a way that is almost
impossible to explain. I don’t think I will ever fully understand or be able to
begin to explain what prayer can do in a marriage, but I know that it changes
things. Prayer helps you to position yourself in a place where you can hear
from God. When you are positioned in a place where you can hear what God has to
say about your marriage, than you are where you need to be in keeping your
marriage strong.

These three things are three of the most important things to
be found in a marriage. There is a lot more that follows, but without these
three things, nothing else will be successful. If you focus on these three
things no matter what changes in your marriage, whether kids are in the
picture, a new job, distance, whatever it may be – these three things will play
a vital role in how everything else plays out in your marriage.

(P.S Be on the lookout for more posts about what I have
learned in three years of marriage!)