Author: Testimony,
"Love One Another!" 15/2010 → Family Life
After a serious crisis — a betrayal — our marriage is beginning to blossom forth with an extraordinary power of love and faith. My husband returned, and we are a happily married couple.
Without any reservation I can say that our love has grown in leaps and bounds. Indeed it is no longer what it used to be. It is like the wine at the wedding feast of Cana, for “where sin increased, grace overflowed all the more” (Rom 5: 20). But we need always to cooperate with this grace. The more we give of ourselves, the more God helps us.
Deserted by those close to me, having to rely on my own resources, I strove to save my marriage. But I always felt that grace and the powers of heaven sustained me. I fought for our marriage even when my husband told me he no longer loved me. I fought for the dignity of our sacrament even when people told me that it was not I who had broken my marriage vows. I had pledged in the presence of God to remain true to my spouse until “death do us part.” I took responsibility for our marriage and prayed for my husband’s conversion. (I wrote a letter to St. Joseph, prayed the Litany of the Holy Spirit and the Litany of Christ’s Precious Blood.)
God forces Himself on no one. It is we who often shut the door on Him. He is there and waits patiently until we stop kicking against ourselves and our lives. That is why we must make the first step toward God. In return, we receive peace of mind, strength, solace, and the light we need in order to go forward and act as required.
That is what I am trying to do and why I am sharing my experience of grace working in my life. Real love begins when we “have and hold” someone “for worse.” Adversity visited our marriage; and yet our love survived it. I understand now that to love is to forgive. It is then that the “miracle” comes; first one, then another, then many more. We have been showered with graces. In the end we have a “better wine.” Such is the power of the sacrament of marriage. All we have to do is confide everything to Jesus. It is always too soon to give up the struggle. Even in suffering you can be happy.
Miriam
The article was published with the permission from "Love One Another!" in June 2016.
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