The Grace of the Sacrament of Marriage, Why It Matters & How it Can Get You Through Anything.

Did you know it is National Marriage Week?

Well, neither did I 😂 — until a good friend of mine reminded me — so in honor of that, I thought I’d share two reflections I shared over on Instagram on the Sacrament of Marriage…I hope they bless you and remind you how beautiful this call to marriage truly is!

The picture below was taken on our honeymoon, and John and I still love to tell our kids about the fact that we were so broke in those early days that John sold his champagne-colored Cadillac so we could go on a honeymoon.

Our budget was so tight that we ate at a restaurant a few times on that honeymoon — and when we did eat out, we only had enough in our budget to split one entree between the two of us.

People must have thought we were so in love that we weren’t hungry — nope, we were just on a super tight budget and that’s how we made it work!

It was great!

Those early years together were not completely carefree — in fact, even before we said “I do” we had a big burden to tackle. It began when John started a new business venture — a venture that racked up a considerable amount of debt — like “eyes popping out of our head when we got the final number”😳 kind of debt, people!

I remember the night I sat up late in an office, months before we were married, and I finally put all the numbers together: all the credit cards, the loans, the compounding interest (those credit card interest rates can kill you!) and just CRIED!

It was a lot. Especially because I had vowed to never marry a guy with debt. Ha, ha. I actually made that promise to myself — and then I met John — and all of a sudden I was like, maybe I should reconsider.

Besides, it wasn’t like John had racked up debt buying cars and “toys” and useless endeavors — he had tried to start a business and it ended up way more difficult than he first imagined!

The debt was so bad that close family members we trusted suggested we wait to get married.  Honestly, I would have given the exact same advice to my own kids, so I don’t blame them.

But John and I went to my Dad (a very frugal man who taught me to never accumulate a lot of debt, I might add!) and he told us that if we loved each other and felt called to be married that we shouldn’t wait, we should tackle this debt together — and so we did!

Not gonna lie, it was not an easy 7 years of countless hours, working with other family members to tackle that debt — but we did it together!

We learned so much from that 7 years.  We learned that it’s way easier to get into debt than out of debt😉 — but we also learned to trust God with our burdens.

More importantly, we decided not to wait to have kids.  We knew being open to life was an important mindset to have from the beginning, and so we took that leap of faith, too.

We trusted God’s Word — that children were a blessing — and we welcomed 3 kids into our family in those 7 years.

Looking back, I wouldn’t change a thing.  I’m so happy we didn’t wait on marriage and wait on kids!  I can’t imagine our lives without those kids! I’m happy we worked through something difficult together.

God is so good and so faithful, and I guess I just want to say that when you get married, there is no longer “my” burdens, but “ours” — carry them together and entrust them to God and you’ll get through it TOGETHER!💛

Weigh those burdens well BEFORE YOU GET MARRIED — but once you say “I do” you are saying “I do to those burdens, too”. So choose well and then never look back!

Give all your burdens to God and keep moving forward together in the grace of the Sacrament — knowing there is nothing you can not handle with God at your side!

Speaking of looking back, below are two family photos, separated by 17 years.

Both were at the Trevi fountain, and both were with our oldest daughter pictured. If you look closely and you’ll see I was about 4 months pregnant in the B&W.

In fact, I was so pregnant that I couldn’t fit into my actual wedding dress, so I had to run to a St. Vincent De Paul the night before our flight and find a dress so we could attend the Sposi Novelli (New Spouse) section of a papal audience.

The “rules” basically allowed for couples married under 18 months to sit in this special section of the general audience and get a blessing from now St. John Paul II — the only catch was you needed a wedding dress.   Best $29 bucks I ever spent!👌🏻

Did that girl and that guy in the B&W ever imagine that they’d be able to make it back seventeen years later to attend the canonization of Mother Teresa with their 6 kids — nope! Not a clue!

In fact, John and I were pretty clueless about a lot in those early years, but we had one thing in common: our faith in God and our desire to never give up the fight for our marriage.

Strangely enough, it seems that those 2 factors got us through a LOT Of challenges in those early years.  Honestly, I’m not really sure where we’d be without them.

In those early years, we had a lot to work at and work through — but the beauty of the grace of the Sacrament is that we weren’t alone — God was fighting for us, too — and that made all the difference in our lives!

Marriage is a beautiful adventure.  It has so many twists and turns,  you just have to hold on and try to enjoy the ride — some days are easier than others.

But God has been with us every step of the way, He’s brought us 6 amazing kids that are our very favorite companions on this journey and I guess I just want to say that MARRIAGE IS WORTH THE FIGHT!

It’s worth fighting for and working at and I’m just so grateful for this amazing adventure I’ve been able to live with John and our kids at our side.

So best word of advice is NEVER GIVE UP — in good times and bad, for richer or for poorer, in sickness and in health, till death do you part — and remember you aren’t doing it alone!

God and the Saints are cheering you to that finish line — so run that race, and run it to WIN!

Hooray for Marriage and the Grace of the Sacrament!