Meli's world

         I know conflict and cheating! Ooohhh controversial title for a post entitled Marriage is Awesome. My marriage is awesome! But I'd be lying to you if I said we are conflict free. Or that we are so perfect cheating is something we are completely exempt from. So to clear up misconceptions if you're a newly wed, engaged or contemplating marriage, don't look forward to a conflict free happily ever after kind of marriage. Instead be prepared and take some pointers from someone who thought each conflict was the end of her marriage. And as for cheating, its a temptation you may have to deal with as a married man or woman but there's so much you can do to prevent it. Broken doors, holes in walls, driving out in the middle of the night. Yup. Anger. Conflict. Disagreements. Marriage is not always awesome. And as two immature teenagers who have basically figured everything out as we went along, things weren't always hearts and cloud...

That day in the car something changed. I heard God. I felt His love. I saw His forgiveness. I saw my sin. I saw how far I'd come and how much wrong I had done. I saw that I had made the idea of this perfect love my idol. And now that it failed me and it hadn't been perfect, I was ready to give up. I'd made Emerald my idol, and even in my idea of "love", I hadn't been able to love him wholly and pure. All that love wasn't even able for me to extend my forgiveness to him as he had to me in the past. That day had to be the day mercy came down and found me right there in my car. I can't quite explain it. It was like I had been given a new set of eyes. I could feel the hurt of betrayal yet I could feel His love fill my heart. I could see the mess I was in, but I could see the pieces He could put back together. I could decide to quit and have that be the end to my dream, but He showed me it could a new beginning. He wasn't only working in me, but ...

  Growing up in a Hispanic household, things were a bit old fashioned. My dad worked; Overtime, double shifts, and more than 1 job if necessary to take care of us. My mom, as far as I could remember in my childhood was a stay at home mom. As a kid, this is what I envisioned all marriages were like. My mom was up early to see my dad off for work, and have breakfast served and his lunch packed. When he worked the overnight, she also made sure dinner was served at 11pm before his shift. She stayed at home taking care of us, taking us to the library, playground, outside, anywhere we could go without a car. I watched my mom serve my dad daily. Day in and day out, washng dishes, cooking, laundry, and all the to do things in the house while my dad worked. I never thought any less of any of them. As a kid, I loved having my mom home and getting to spend time with her. And in my mind, that’s what the man did, work to provide. Sure, I missed my dad, but the one Saturday a week he was ...