Happily Ever After

Last weekend, the church I grew up in hosted a marriage seminar titled, "Happily Ever After." As an aficionado of every Cinderella movie ever made, I absolutely love the title. Even more so because I know and have lived the truth of its reality here on earth.

The Bible is chock full of Happily Ever After examples--Joseph, Ruth, Esther, Jesus. While some of the other stories in Scripture seem to end badly, the truth of the matter is that this life here on earth is not the end. Some Happily Ever Afters will come to fruition on the other side of Heaven (see Hebrews 11). But the ones whose ends were apparent here on this earth give witness to the fact that God's will is to end every story with joy.

How is that possible you say? Simple. By putting Jesus first, foremost, and central in our lives.

When my first husband, Steve, was director of a Bible school in Mexico, we went through many difficult times. One in particular kept him up nights. A former Bible school student, one of the most promising, began to shun us. It's a long story, but the bottom line is that her husband joined up with a sect that taught error. My husband felt like someone had pulled the rug out from under his feet. If this (error) could happen to one of his best students, what hope was there for any of the rest to remain free from error? As he sought God in prayer, God revealed to him a simple secret to staying on track.

I John 1:7 says, "...if we walk in the light, as he (Jesus) is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin." This spells out an easy-peasy litmus test for detecting error. If a teaching promotes division among the body of Christ, it is a sure sign it is fraught with error. True doctrine causes us to have fellowship with one another.

Then God gave him an analogy--that of a bicycle wheel. The spokes of a wheel get closer to each other as they near the hub. In like manner, when we as Christians get closer to our hub (Jesus), we get closer to each other. We have fellowship with each other.

Just as this is a true indicator of error, it is a sure-fire formula for a happily ever after in marriage as well as in every aspect of life. No marriage (or job or other relationship) is going to be free from the vicissitudes of life. Life is full of valleys as well as mountain top experiences. And no person (spouse) is going to be a prince in shining armor 24/7, 365 days a year. We are human. Even before the fall, when God looked at His creation He said that it was good. While this meant very good, still, God did not call it perfect. Other things in the Old Testament were called perfect, like the sacrifices, but creation, no.

We know that God does not use words by happenstance. Everything He does is purposeful. If even before the fall His creation, which included man, was not called perfect, how much more so now with sin all around does the possibility of not perfect abound? Our Knight in Shining Armor ( or Princess as the case may be) will at times show feet of clay. But that does not preclude a happily ever after!

I was all but a total ignoramus with regard to marriage when I first embarked on holy matrimony. My mother, you see, had been married three times. My biological father died, my first stepfather died, and then, since Husband Number 3 didn't die, as my mom would explain to get a laugh, she divorced him. (She really didn't need to legally, it turned out he was a bigamist, but to be on the safe side she dotted all her i's and crossed all her t's.) In short, I didn't have a wealth of rich family togetherness to draw from for my own marriage. Yet I knew enough to seek God for help--and help me He did. Steve used to say from the pulpit that our marriage just got better and better. He was speaking nothing less than God's unvarnished truth. If God could teach me, a totally ignorant person, how to follow God's yellow brick road to happiness, He can teach you.

There is no need for me to tell you do this, that, or this other. You don't need lists of what to do. All you need is to scoot up close to that bicycle hub--to seek Him. Read your Bible, pray about problems, put a bridle on your tongue instead of blurting out in anger, and fellowship with other believers in church. Foster friendships with strong Christians who can mentor you.

God gave me a Happily Ever After with my first husband until He called him to his reward in Heaven and now, twenty years into my marriage with Dennis, same-o, same-o. Sure, sometimes there are problems. That's life. But we know where to go for help--to Him. And as we hunker down close to that hub, our Jesus, every single time our Happily Ever After comes back into focus.

God is no respecter of persons. What He has done for me He will do for you.

Stay close to that hub--and go live your Happily Ever After!

"Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us, unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen." Ephesians 3:20-21