Twenty-eight years ago, I left the comfort of a loving, secure family environment and got married. The night before my wedding, I panicked. What in the world am I doing? I thought. I’ve

got it made here at home. Why am I getting married?

As soon as I stopped to breathe, I felt God

speak to my heart, I’m scooping you out of one nest and placing you into another, equally secure one. And He did. But although my marriage has been a place of love and security, it has not always been without troubles that have tried to shake that little nest. We’ve struggled over the usual topics. If you’re married, you know what I’m talking about. If you’re not… well, I won’t spoil the surprise, but I’ll just give you a little preview.

In our marriage, there have been many more discussions over small issues than big. Like whether or not we should replace the front door, get a new pet or buy additional Christmas gifts for the kids. And it’s often during these conversations that I call a time-out and announce that we are really on the same side. We both want to make the wisest decision, so we work together to figure something out.

Sometimes I feel like the smaller the topic, the more animated our discussions become. Such was the case the night that I couldn’t find my toothbrush. I searched the bathroom, but it wasn’t there. I mentioned it to Michael, and he said, “Oh, I threw it away.”

“WHAT?” I said, as I turned and spotted my toothbrush in the garbage can.

“I decided to straighten things up, and your toothbrush looked old, so I just threw it away.”

“So when you went into this cleaning mode, you passed up the stuff in the garage, decided not to tackle the kitchen, ignored the stack of magazines on the fireplace, and headed straight to the bathroom to throw away one toothbrush – mine!”

We laughed about it as soon as he returned from CVS with a new toothbrush.

Although I’ve mentioned really minor issues, we’ve had major ones, too. We’ve had better and we’ve had worse. We’ve endured sickness, and we’ve enjoyed health. We’ve been richer, and we’ve been poorer. And, 28 years later, we still meet hurdles. We still ask God for help, and He still meets us where we are and shows us how to get to where we need to be. And I pray that it will be this way until death parts us.

Ronny may be reached at rmichel@rtconline.com.