Welcome to "WEDDED Wednesdays." Each week we share stories of love and marriage with you! Real LOVE stories. This week is a little different. This week we share the WHY story behind WEDDED Wednesdays.

The WHY Story

Yesterday, September 1st, signaled our 10th month of marriage. I cannot wait, or maybe I can and should wait, for the day Danny and I can say we've been married for 10 YEARS and not just 10 months.

We are so excited about the positive feedback we received since starting our Wedded Wednesdays series about a month ago.

In addition to comments like this one,

"This is great!!!! Keep the stories coming they are truly inspiring. There is no manual out there for Christian dating so it's good that these guys are willing to share their story..."

we have also received questions as to what exactly inspired this particular series and why we use the questions we do to facilitate the story telling.

This post seeks to give the most complete answer to those questions. And no worries, next week we'll have another Real Love story to share with you. (We're even taking submissions now! See below)

But I digress.

The WHY Behind WEDDED Wednesdays

Simply put, MARRIAGE is important to us here at Findlay House.

And when I say marriage is important to us, I'm not just talking about OUR marriage [Danny and I, although of course it is our highest priority, second only to JESUS] but MARRIAGE in the general, and more importantly, [in the] godly sense.

In recent times there has been a lot of speculations and opinions and definitions given of marriage and at the heart of any discussion, or debate, should be Truth. That is what we seek to do here through WEDDED Wednesdays.

Thankfully, Danny and I have a community of young married couples that were just as excited to share their stories and the Truth as much as we were! And this series started as a celebration of that.

We want to bring readers - single, dating, engaged, or married - the Truth of the experiences of other married couples, particularly young couples, in light of the Truth of marriage - GOD's definition and expectations.

So as you continue reading through the featured posts in this particular series here are a few things you should keep in mind -

Every married couple has a story.

Whether they think they do or not, whether you think they do or not. There's a story somewhere there that is worth remembering and worth sharing.

Every story is different.

There's no need to compare one couples situation to another because even when stories seem to share similarities on the surface level - there are little nuisances unique to each couple and their story.

A story can change a life and/or a marriage.

Fact or fiction, stories are powerful.

We understand this on some level, even if it is only an emotional one. Hollywood understands this and makes plenty of romance films, or chick flicks, that brainwash us into thinking love and marriage only looks a few ways - love usually equaling hot sex, and marriage usually equaling either a difficult, tragic mistake, or a dull relationship not worth committing to.

The stories we share here are the most powerful of all because they are REAL. The stories we have been sharing are not some money making formula concocted by a talented screenwriter, they are REAL.

Real, healthy, vibrant, thriving, godly marriages exist!

People need to know that REAL love happens in different ways and comes in various, brilliant shades of "How we met" stories.

Someone. Somewhere. Is in. Or is considering. MARRIAGE. Or a dating relationship. But they may think they are unhappy because their story of love is too plain, or too messed up, or too WHATEVER for them to be content, or for GOD to use it, or for GOD to redeem it.

That's why we share REAL stories of love and marriage because every story has the potential to tell others (the readers) that they are not alone and yet each story is unique enough to remind us that our own stories, love and marriage related or not, are perfectly unique.

Marriage isn't just about your happiness.

[I'll use the above statement addresses the WHY behind the questions we choose to ask each couple.]

If you think marriage is about being happy, finding someone you can be happy with, finding someone that Makes you happy, or any other "happy" related " reason, then you have a very narrow view of marriage.

Marriage is greater than your happiness.

There will be times when the "happy feelings" are simply not there. But that doesn't mean you give up on your marriage or find someone new. That's why MARRIAGE is and should be about a greater mission than simply your personal happiness. It's about accomplishing something AMAZING together that you two would not be able to do separately. That's why we ask couples about their marriage mission statement.

We don't ask about the engagement story. While becoming engaged is a big part of the marriage process, people can get too hung up on the "HOW he proposed," that they forget the WHAT that comes after the proposal - MARRIAGE. We see that with weddings too. People are quick to completely immerse themselves when it comes to planing their wedding but not always ready to do so when it comes to planning the marriage. Marriage planning is important. That's why we ask the couples we feature to share the best advice they received before marriage and to give advice based on their experience to engaged couples.

Danny and I are committed to being advocates of speaking Truth and of godly marriages, this WEDDED Wednesdays series is just one way for us to combine those two things. Danny and I, and those married couples that choose to share their stories on this site are not ashamed to speak up and out about JESUS, what HE has Done in our lives, what HE is Doing in our marriages, and what HE Will Do through us.

As always you're invited!

Findlay House.

xoxo,

CF

P.S. If you or someone you know would like to share your story of love and marriage then send us mail or email me at cara@findlayhouse.com and I'll forward the questions! ;-)

WEDDED Wednesdays: The WHY Story