In Sickness and in Health

This year has been practically difficult for my health. There are things that I struggled with just because I am a woman. Taking care of myself has been a struggle since I was a kid, and without a doubt, I wasn't taking good care of my body since the pandemic hit, up until a few months ago.  I couldn't tell you the number of times I have selfishly prayed that God would take me now like he took Elijah and Enoch. The pain of this world is real, it hurts beyond what we think that we can bear.  

The interwebs are full of stories of couples who have a spouce who is chronically ill, permeintly or unexpectedly disabled. Some of these couples got to know each other knowing full well what being together would mean/ intale, and some were married without know what would lay in store. In both cases the commitment that these couples have to love their spouce, I believe only comes from God, even if they are not believers. Even though it is common to find these stores of  true love and commitment on the internet you never see the couples who sprated because of something tragic that happened to their physical or mental health.  These couples who fall apart due to one or both of the spouses sickness are people that we know in our everyday lives. They are people like my Grandparents, my late aunt even people from church. 

As I think of the vows in sickness and in health I know that bearing a spouce in sickness is often harder than being poor.  I have seen first hand how sickness can drive a couple apart (my grandparents) but I have also seen it draw a couple closer to God and each other(my pastor and his late wife). The people I know who let it desrore their marriage their faith was built on the sand not on Christ Our Rock.  By contrast the couples who let it draw them closer together and closer to God, their faith's foundation was/is Christ.  As difficult this vow can be to fulfill I realize in our own strength it is impossible, only when we are in Christ can we walk through an illness with a spouce.