Sweet Beginnings - Part of the What I Wish I Knew Before I Got Married Series

Stasia here… I blog over at Our Life on a Budget. I am wife to Andrew, mama to two year old Bailey Drew and two week old Jameson! 

 I am excited for the opportunity to share a little bit of what I wish I knew before I got married!
Here we are… Andrew and Stasia 6.5 years ago… wedded marital bliss right???

And what is the one thing we heard over and over and OVER again as we entered our first year of marriage…

"The first year of marriage is the hardest!"

I mean, who has not heard that, or at least one form or another of that statement.  We even read a book in our premarital counseling called something to the extent of The Most Important Year of Your Life (the book itself was really good… just the idea behind the title).

But I am here to clear the air a bit, while the first year is important, and new, and different, that does not mean it will be the hardest.  When we got married, I had just graduated college, moved to a new city and started my first teaching job.  Talk about a lot of life change.  And it was over that year, as our relationship grew through being married that we had some of the sweetest times.  Don't read me wrong here, there were difficulties, but they had more to do with outside stressors while we chose to use our relationship to grow and get through the stressors.  

I think in most cases, when you choose to, the first year of marriage does not have to be the hardest year, but a sweet time of growth!!! And guess what?  The first year is just the first year.  God willing you have MANY years to come.  I remember getting to the end of the first year and saying… "Oh no!  First year, most important year is over and we don't have everything figured out!"  Then Andrew… my good old voice of reason... said we had time, a lot more time.  So here we are approaching 7 years of marriage- each year better, each year we learn more, each year good and hard AND important.

So when you enter that first year, pursue Christ, pursue each other and serve together.  Keep the attitude that this will be a great year through the good and the bad, because you are doing it together!