Divorce: It's a Choice

Divorce.
It’s such an ugly word, is it not?
That word alone can bring walls crashing down in marriages.
I recently had a friend go through a divorce and I was surprised by my own emotions in the days following the news. I was very much heart broken hearing what my friend was going through, but I was also so sad to see the destruction of a Christian marriage.
This situation caused me to ask myself, and God, some important questions:

• Was my own marriage next?
• And, if Christians aren’t exempt from divorce then who is?

I know my husband could tell how hard I was taking all of this because I would just lie awake at night staring at the ceiling. I felt the heaviness of the burden this life can give when we turn our eyes from God. No matter how hard I prayed I just could not find the peace I needed to accept that yet another marriage had failed.
So, was my marriage next? How long before my husband and I face this same cross road and fail to overcome?
Thankfully, I realized that no, my marriage was not next; unless I chose to allow it.
That right there is the key component for any divorce: allowing it to happen.
From the very beginning, before you even tie the knot, you have the choice to make your relationship succeed or fail. Once you consciously understand that everyday is a choice to bring success or failure to your marriage then you can operate with a distinct purpose.
Everyday you have to choose to love your spouse more than anything else you desire. And, yes, this even means yourself! There are days when I am so bad a solely focusing on my own needs that I lose perspective of why I am even married. When his happens you HAVE to tell yourself to stop or the downward spiral will only get worse.
The day you place your career, your kids, your hobbies and your own agenda before your spouse is the day you hand your marriage over to destruction.
It doesn’t matter who you are, Christian or not, if you can’t properly align your priorities and place your marriage first you will not live to have a successful relationship.
No one ever wins by coming in second place, and that means your marriage too.