The joy I found in my marriage this week: gratitude.

I’ve always been grateful for my husband and felt like I have been blessed with a very extraordinary one. But this week as I become more aware of serious marital struggles others are facing, it has made me realize that our own (as in my husband and I) marital struggles aren’t so significant as we think they are.

You read books, watch movies and TV shows, and even hear from others of crappy situations marriages find themselves dealing with like affairs or continual dishonesty,  but it doesn’t hit you how real it all is until you’ve actually been married for a few years, and when things happen to people around you. When the reality sets in that not all couples make it in this marital journey, I find myself clinging to my husband in so much love and gratitude. Gratitude for the minor struggles my marriage experiences; gratitude that my husband is self-sufficient enough to make his own dinner, but grateful that I love him so much that I WANT to make him dinner. I find myself feeling grateful for lots of other little things, too, of course.

By any means, I don’t go out looking for horrible marriages to compare mine to, just so I can feel better about my own marriage! The sad truth is that just happens on its own. You’re always going to encounter someone who has it worse than you. And a lot of times I bring myself down wondering what I can do to help those marriages, even just to ease their burden a little bit. And that’s the biggest reason why I run this website, this resource for (hopefullly) uplifting marriages just a little bit. But other than that, there is only so much you can do for others, because it’s not up to you to fix their marriage, it’s up to them. So instead of dwelling on how sad it is to see marriages falling apart, I focus on how I can use that experience to strengthen my own. And this week I’ve chosen to let it bring me gratitude for him, for our minor struggles, and our beautiful union.

:)

 Missed Week 2’s joy? Read here!

Join in on the project by sharing a joy in YOUR marriage! Comment, share, post, or hashtag it with #ajoyfulmarriage and there you go! The best part about participating is that not only have you just thought about your marriage in a positive way and gave some public praise to your spouse, but you’ve also inspired a friend who follows you, to do the same!

Let’s help each other find a more joyful marriage :)

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