A single friend of mine recently confessed that although he
had faithfully prayed for us while we were engaged, he assumed that Danny and I
no longer needed his prayers now that
we’re married. “The hard part, after all, is the wedding. Now that they’re
married, they’ve got it made in the shade!” I laughed out loud. That couldn’t
be farther from the truth, unless by “shade” he meant “darkness,” which is
where Danny & I have found ourselves much of the past seven months since
our wedding.
But, from the single perspective, it’s easy to think that
married people have it all together. From the married perspective, it’s easy to
think that [the hip moms with the gorgeous blogs, the home-remodelers who
can DIY everything, and the girl you
follow on instagram with the better fashion, cooler life, and longer legs than
you could dream of] have it all together.
And... if I’m honest, from this blog’s perspective, it’s easy
to think that Danny and Amanda, with their safaris and beaches and exotic world
travels, have it all together.
WRONG.
NO ONE HAS IT ALL TOGETHER.
Friends, we are doing ourselves a grave disservice to paint
such false pictures of reality that produce pride in our own hearts and
discontentment and jealousy in the hearts of others looking on. It is unhealthy, ungodly, and simply
UNTRUE.
So, in an attempt to be honest--to be a different voice in
the noise-- I present to you the real Danny and Amanda Seibert.
(We actually keep a folder of "FAIL" pictures to pull out from time to time for a good laugh and a much-needed dose of humility. We are not nearly as cool as we sometimes like to think!) :-)
The truth is, real life is not picture-perfect. For anyone. It’s messy and complicated and often requires so many “instagram filters” that it no longer even resembles reality. And I fear we are missing something really beautiful here.
We are broken people in a broken world in desperate need of a Savior.
We travel to exotic places and get amoebas and parasites. We love and marry and struggle with depression. We live a dream and are plagued with nightmares. This is real life... even for married people.
We seek health and find no answers. We seek God and feel His silence. We lose what is dear to us and find ourselves clinging all the more to what can never be taken away from us.
Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? ... No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8:35-39)
So we do not lost heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal. (2 Corinthians 4:16-18)And this is the beauty of brokenness... it's all reminding us just how "not together" we really are. Suffering, not ease, is the means by which we discover our need for God, and we lift these shattered pieces of our lives and cry out for Him to put us back together again. And when all is said and done, we find ourselves standing, immoveable, on the Rock of Ages.
Instagram that.
