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Never Forget Your First Love CONTESTENTRY
Never forget your first love. This it the advise our Pastor gave us during our pre-marriage counseling.
Buddy and I were so excited to start our new life together as husband and wife. We couldn't wait to begin our union with Christ Jesus, and looked forward to all the adventures that would follow, the good times as well as the bad.
We were eager to face this new world as one. Knowing our love and passion would conquer all.
So the words were very fitting for a young couple ready to cross the threshold of marriage that would bind us together as one, to never forget your first love.
As we held hands on that day in our pastor's office, we knew right then, that those words would be our foundation to build our marriage upon.
I mean, how could we forget? We were so much in love. Nothing matter more to us then our love we shared. We knew that no one could ever come between us, not even ourselves. We were very protective of our bond that Christ was blessing, and made a vow to each other to never forget our first love.
That blissful moment finally came when we were united in Christ in marriage. The day was like a whirl wind. People running everywhere trying to make last second arrangements to make certain all was ready and in place for our special day.
My head was spinning and all I could think of was, if I can get through this day with all that is array, we can get through anything.
As the day became night, we found each others gaze and held it for what seems like hours, confirming our love without words. We became one that night and then fell asleep locked in each others arms.
As a few years had gone by, and we took pride that others who looked at our union were surprised to find out we were not newlyweds. Everyone could see how much in love we were, at least that is how we portrayed it, even fooling ourselves.
We didn't forget our first love; we just misunderstood the full meaning of what it actually meant. We thought our love would be our foundation in which we would base our marriage on, and it would be enough right? We are both Christians and love the Lord, so how could our marriage be failing?
My husband and I built our marriage on our love for one another and soon found that when things in life came filtering in; it placed a strain on our marriage. Each of us scrambling to grab hold of that love we thought would conquer all and rid us of whatever we faced. We were sadly mistaken. Our marriage was tumbling down, into sinking sand, and we soon realized that our love was not enough.
We didn't forget our first love; we just didn't build our foundation on Christ, the one relationship that all marriages need to be based on.
Our focus was off and we both relied on each other for our needs and strengths, not knowing that our love was not enough to withstand the pressures that life throws your way.
Without Christ being the center stone in any ones relationship, you are headed for failure and heartache. Sometimes never being able to regain what God once placed together. We were our own enemies, without knowing it.
Because we didn't have Christ as our foundation, we became distance to one another. The love we had was not enough to keep us together. We became the very things that were tearing us apart. We were trusting in one another only to keep our marriage safe and sound.
Our marriage suffered the stress of it and without Christ as a foundation, our union together was certain to fail. We became strangers. The things we once admired in one another were becoming a thorn in our side, bring a division in our marriage.
We are separated right now and the pain of it is like tearing flesh, torn apart by our own hands. Many nights I would lay awake crying out to God to restore our marriage. Yet instead of standing still and turning to God, I would run from one person to another, seeking advice to heal my marriage and rid me of this pain. I soon found that the damage by our hands and words was already done, and there was nothing I could do on my own to bring back that first love.
I was left with one choice, to turn to God, making him my foundation and building it from there. The pain was too great for me to stand on my own. I had to trust God, knowing the outcome may not be what I longed for, or what I remembered it to be. But God in his loving grace continues to turns my focus on those words that were said to Buddy and me that day when we were counseled by our pastor.
This time it has a new meaning for me, to never forget my first love, which is in Christ Jesus. And by placing Christ above all things, including our marriage and myself, I am learning to seek God in all things. He is my first love. He is the foundation that all relationship needs to be based on, knowing that unless you have that foundation which places Christ Jesus first in your life, you will lose focus and make the battle yours, and will struggle or fail at every thing you do.
My days now are filled with God s word, and each time I begin to take matters into my own hand, God gently reminds me that this battle I face is not mine to seek an answer for. It is then that the words so tenderly breeze into my spirit, to never forget your first love, and I then gracefully bow my head in prayer, feeling His peace wash over my tears and am comforted in knowing that God has a plan for my life. I pray it will include my husband, but if not, I am at peace and have faith that I am in Gods hands, standing on his foundation, basked in his love and am confident he will never leave me nor forsake me.
Love, Karen J. Haefner
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