For Better or For Worse | Previous Challenge Entry

how it works

TITLE: For Better or For Worse | Previous Challenge Entry
By GiGi Mezzio
09/01/16
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For Better or For Worse

“ I don’t have a life,” she thought to herself. “I only have chores and commitments and responsibilities and I can’t even finish them.”
Debbie looked up from her computer at the island library.
“May I help you?” He flashed a gleaming smile at her, revealing perfect white teeth.
“Well, that all depends.” Leaning on her counter, he looked up at her and winked. Gazing into his sea blue eyes she faltered, suddenly mesmerized, “So, how can I help you?”
He shifted slightly and ran a bronzed hand through his long sun-bleached locks.
“ I brought the poster and a copy of my book for display.” Debbie grinned demurely. “I recognized you from your picture.” She pointed to the poster Travis held in his hand and they both laughed. Still laughing quietly, they set up the display together. Debbie couldn’t believe that he had blown her a kiss as he walked away.
She took the NEW stickers off a stack of books and wondered what it would be like to really know Travis. When she had thanked him for helping her with the display he had said, “Your satisfaction is all the thanks I need.” She could get used to being treated so gallantly. Then she felt guilty—-she really wanted to be a godly, beautiful, smart, talented woman who cooks gourmet meals, cleans, ministers to the homeless, bakes her own bread, and wears a size 4. Oh wait! That was her but in trying so hard to be all the things she was “supposed” to be, she had ended up being nothing that she wanted to be. She winced. Her husband, Bob, had disappointed her at every turn. He didn’t really know her. Did he really try to know her? Did he even want to truly know her? Once they were married Bob seemed to slack off after saying, “I do.”
“I think we kind of lost each other in life’s shuffle,” she sighed. “I was always busy with the kids, he was focused on his career. He worked too much. We were always too tired by the time we got together. I think the excitement kind of went out of it for both of us. We’ve become just used to each other and know what we have to do—-like being trapped in a black hole we can never escape. “For better or for worse.” She pondered this quagmire and felt herself sinking deeper.
Driving home from work, Debbie asked God to show her delight. “Lord, please let me lose myself to it.” By really listening to her longings, she realized that she was longing for God. Another man, her husband, was empty in the same places as she was. She realized that people aren’t the fulfillment of longings—-God is. She couldn’t change her husband or herself—-but God could. The Word says prayer changes things. By letting the love of God flow through her, Debbie felt compassion rise up within her.
The Holy Spirit showed her areas where she could do a little better. And working to keep a marriage safe and happy is not easy. No, marriage is a vocation, calling two people together to fulfill a mission. Debbie ran into her well-kept home and embraced her husband. She gazed into his sea blue eyes and felt something electric happening. All of a sudden one plus one didn’t equal two, it equalled one.
“For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh.” Genesis 2:24 (NIV)
Debbie saw that they still had a mission to fulfill—-for better or for worse. And the best was yet to come.

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