Guest post by Karen Trigg
“Would you be willing to share more of your story?”
At a ministry team-planning session with young moms, Meredith asked to hear in more detail the story she had only briefly heard. A story of how my marriage really began as I came to the end of myself.
“Will you open your home for a gathering to invite other moms to hear as well?”
Without hesitation I agreed. God had done a work in my marriage. In me. How could I refuse. Years ago I knew the story would be told over and over to a generation longing to understand how to navigate the uncertainties of the marriage relationship.
There was a time I wasn’t sure if our marriage would survive.
I was always the one who offered hope to friends. Now, at a time when my hope was depleted, God drew me to himself at every turn. He taught me more than ever before about what it meant to have hope in Christ.
I came into marriage putting all hope in my husband. Little did I know my husband was not designed to meet my every need. During this hard season of my life, I learned how to go to God with all of my needs. I discovered this was His design for us. It was a time of learning dependence upon God instead of my husband.
In order to fully share with them what God has done in me, in my marriage, it would best be presented by opening my life to share from my personal journal, tracing the hand of God’s impact upon our lives. I walked to my towering bookcase, then opened the glass door and pulled out journals one by one until I found the date stamp that matched this memory.
I would share the day I put my rings back on after having them in a drawer for months. How God led me to such a beautiful commitment.
But wait, I needed to show them more.
They needed to experience the not-so- pretty entries that held words of selfishness, entitlement, despair, and hopelessness. The spill of contrasting words penned before the impact, at the moment of trusting, and afterward would paint for them the journey.
Hope is not found in the moment of arrival, of the lesson learned, it is found along the path of the journey. One step at a time. These steps lead me to truth that set me free. Truth that breathed hope into my marriage.
The discussion that followed the unveiling of the journals was sweet. These young women possessed a desire to understand more about letting God work in their lives. The floor was opened to questions. Of me and of themselves.
Seems the process of letting God do the work in me and penning it along the way was not just for me.
*What’s Your Story Photo: http://gvsulib.com
Karen Trigg is an engaging, authentic, and disarmingly transparent Mentor, Life Coach & Speaker. She is passionate about bringing what she has learned from her own walk with her sweet Savior and pouring it out before others in a very transparent, refreshing, yet thought- provoking way. Karen impacts a growing culture of women who battle epidemic spiritual hunger and loneliness for healthy relationships and offers a path of hope. She and her husband and best friend of 32 years reside in Northeast Tennessee. Visit her at http://ruthshope.org/ to learn more about Ruth’s Hope.
Read more encouraging stories from brave-hearted women here. Be sure to grab your free copy of inspirational quotes and writing prompts while you’re there. (Look over on the right hand side!)
P.S. We’d love to know your thoughts, so please be sure to comment below. Each of our commenters will be entered in a drawing for our current FREE book giveaway, Mothers & Daughters: Mending a Strained Relationship by author Teena Stewart.
