Marriage Ingredients

On Friday night I was privileged to attend the beautiful wedding of Carlye Marx and Travis Carleton. It was such a special night. As Carlye and Travis begin their new life together as husband and wife, they are going to experience two lives becoming one in everything. Carlye and Travis are such a great couple together. There are many things that are going to make their marriage, and for that fact any marriage, a strong one. I want to give three key ingredients, taken from a long list, that I think help make a strong and vibrant marriage. The first ingredient is that the Lord must be first and the foundation of a marriage. A marriage must be founded upon the Lord to overcome the many things that oppose its success and growth. The second ingredient is a love for each other. 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 gives a pretty good description of what love looks like when it says, ^"Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance." Loving your spouse like this is vital. The final ingredient is to put your spouse before yourself. Don't live for self and put your desires first. Instead, put them first before yourself. I'm so excited to see all the amazing things that God has in store for our newlywed couple :) Congratulations to the Carletons!