Picture Perfect

Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed.

While scrolling through our most recent family photos, I paused on the ones of my husband Kyle and me. In them, we’re laughing and smiling, even cuddled up in an embrace. As I thought about which one to post, I was immediately struck by how happy we were in the photos, yes, but also by how that could present a deceiving image of our relationship to others on the outside looking in.

Just a short eighteen months earlier, Kyle and I had walked through the most challenging stage of our marriage to date. It was the first time the thought of living apart from each other ever seriously crossed my mind. It was a season of sitting with pain, getting honest, bearing hard truths, and offering apologies and promises of something different, something new.

We shed tears and endured sleepless nights. We were exposing deep wounds. There were therapy sessions, honest ongoing conversations without taking offense, and thankfully, the prayers of friends when we didn’t have the words or the strength to believe the good for ourselves.

This is the lie that sometimes permeates social media—the lie that someone else’s life and marriage are perfect. Ideal. When that’s simply not the case. Kyle and I love each other as imperfect people who both brought baggage to our relationship that needed to be exposed and addressed. With God’s help, we’re still working on these issues and still moving forward together.

None of us were meant to walk through tough times alone. God is near. And he often uses others to help us find healing. Wholeness. Deeper relationships with loved ones. But we’ve got to be willing to be honest and confess our heartache and even our sins to others who are trustworthy and will pray for us and with us. When we do, we’ll find healing. We’ll know we’re not alone. God gave us the gift of his Spirit and the family of believers to get us through the good days and the difficult days.

Kendra

Today’s Act of Gratitude

Think about a challenging phase you’ve experienced and spend some time thanking God for bringing you through it. How can you apply all you’ve learned to a current struggle?