January 13th, 2015
Today is Bryan and my 14th wedding anniversary! I was able to spend this past weekend with him. It amazes me how God has grown our marriage in the past 2 years -- even though we have only spent about 25 days together! We get to talk almost every day for 15 minutes. We email every day. But the thing that has grown our marriage is how we spend the time when we are NOT together...praying for each other!!! We take comfort in the thought that no matter what is going on with each other, we know without a doubt that the other is covering us with petitions to the Father to protect, bless and comfort. Do we struggle with the loneliness and day-to-day frustrations? Without a doubt! But more often than not, when I pick up the laptop to write a message to my love, I'll get an alert that Bryan has sent me a message!!!! That is such a blessing to my heart!
The first month that Bryan was incarcerated, I connected with a woman whose husband had been in prison for 15 years. She had written a book about surviving when you have a husband in prison. I got to talk to her and enjoyed hearing from someone who had been through this HOWEVER, at the end of the conversation, she said, "Our marriage didn't survive -- he just changed so drastically from the prison experience that they divorced after he was released." That frightened me at the time. As I see how my love has grown and how he has become so much more supportive of our marriage over these past two years, I can not imagine the same outcome for us. We are both eagerly anticipating the day that he can be home and we can start again!!!
Happy Anniversary to my darling husband. I will love you FOREVER and I look forward to serving God together in ministry. (Whatever that might look like.)
You just KNEW that Bryan would have to have the "last word" regarding my Anniversary post, didn't you???? Well, I will let him have the last word...because...well, see for yourself:
"I am overwhelmed by the blessing of our marriage and am truly grateful that we have a God who gave us the covenant of marriage to show us how He loves us. Especially, in light of the fact that I was willing to dissolve our marriage prior to being charged with my crime. You see, I wanted to "spare" my wife and family of the shame of my sin, which was about to flood our family. But, thanks to a "stubborn wife" and Godly people in our church communities in Eau Claire and Marshfield, they helped me to see that God could overcome the shame!! All I had to do was accept the redemption that Jesus offered and He gave us the courage to continue our marriage, no matter what was going to happen. It was at that point in our marriage that we put a "stake in the ground" declaring Satan would NOT tear us apart, because we have a God that is bigger than any shame our sin could create. That was when our marriage began to grow in a way I could never have imagined!
I can understand why the woman in Jeannie's post ended her marriage in divorce. I am surrounded by men who were either divorced before incarceration or during their prison sentence. It is devastating to them and often leaves them with no hope. It is true what that woman said about her husband: prison does change people. This fact has become somewhat of a challenge to me: I vow not to let prison change me in the way so many are. I love my wife and I want to support her in every way I can, despite the distance of miles. Our wedding vows are for life, no matter what comes between us. Prison HAS changed me!!! It is making me a better man and I hope, a more Godly man. This marriage will stand the test of time because God has blessed it and continues to nurture it."
McFreedom (Bryan)
