M.I.A.

M.I.A is a hashtag trend I've been using on Facebook a lot. It stands for Marriage is Awesome. Last week, I felt the need to put up a disclaimer with it letting people know I am in no way putting it up as if my marriage is the only awesome one, or better than anyone's. My reasoning for starting these series of posts is because I find it so disheartening and discouraging that statistics show less and less people in my age group are getting married or want to be married. And for those that do marry, more than 50% of those marriages end up in divorce. I think a lot of people have misconceptions of marriage and are letting things keep them from entering into one of the greatest relationships and commitment that exist.

I know most people will question a 25 year old's ability to speak about marriage and give anyone any type of counsel, but speaking from 10 years of experience, I think I have seen a lot of things I wish I could have done differently and am constantly growing in love and humility to be a better wife. Because of  my faith in the Bible, I do see marriage as a God ordained institution and see so much instructions as to what marriage is to be and the reality of what society has made it out to be.

One of the biggest misconceptions people have on marriage may be that you go into it to live happily ever after. But the truth of the matter is marriage was made to teach us selflessness and serving. Greatest piece of advice I ever received is to go into it to make that person happy every day of your life. Since then, I have completely switched my mindset into becoming less of me and my needs and being more about serving him. I find that as a woman, I was always waiting for him to be the thoughtful one and write me notes, buy me flowers, just because gifts. I felt I deserved it and it was his responsibility to do these things for me. But when I started to look for ways to show him love in the simplest ways, whether a note in his lunch or by his keys of appreciation, or stopping by the store to buy him a simple gift, I found he became more appreciative of me and started changing in the ways he showed me love.

I find that the most important thing in my marriage is our friendship. A friendship that was built and strengthened before we entered into our relationship. This friendship where we confided in one another, spoke about our interests, shared common interests and were able to relax and have fun with one another . I think a friendship builds respect and appreciation for the person and is the same respect and appreciation you have to have in marriage. When you're able to be friends and continue to pursue and water the friendship all of life's challenges and changes are easier to overcome.

Marriage is a relationship where you really forsake all others. This means no relationship should have priority over your spouse. This is the person you're spending 24 hours with, sharing dreams, setting goals, budgetting, raising kids with and as much as we like to think that we need girl time or time with the boys, there is no reason we should value or prefer that time over our spouse.

I am able to say my husband is my best friend. He understands me, motivates me and we share our faith, our beliefs and interests. We have learned to keep the romance alive by simply being friends. Best friends. He is my favorite person to be with and we always make sure we talk about everything.

As I kick off this M.I.A series of posts, I will talk about different aspects of marriage that make it awesome and hopefully change your perspective on marriage or give you tips on how to make yours better.

I think we all go into marriage with great intentions to love and make it last, however it is not for the selfish. Its all about selflessness, and friendship! Hope you follow.me on this awesome marriage journey. Stay tuned!