On the day you married your husband, you promised to love him 'until death do you part.' Do you remember? Whether you have been married for six months like Steven and Emily, or 34 years like Ken and me, or 61 years like my Mom and Dad, you must stay faithful to your vows; a whole generation and more is affected by your commitment or lack of commitment to your vows! "The covenant sustains the marriage, not the love," John Piper recently stated. Begin a godly generation with you and your husband by keeping your covenant, just as Christ keeps His covenant with His bride, the Church.
In order to have a marriage that lasts a lifetime and is built on the covenant you made, you must determine to never use the word divorce or think it. It must not be in your vocabulary. Determine that you are going to do everything in your power to keep your marriage together forever. The best way to do this is to work on yourself and becoming a godly help meet to your husband.
Secondly, don't ever speak negatively about your husband. Ruth Bell Graham advised wives to "tell your mate the positive, and tell God the negative." Remind yourself that NO man has ever crawled out from under his wife's criticism to become a better man, as Debi Pearl wrote. Instead of criticizing your husband, pray for him and dwell on what you love about him. You did choose to marry him and there were qualities that attracted you to him, remember?
Thirdly, read good marriage books and blogs that encourage you in your role as help meet to your husband. Most days I write something on my Facebook page to encourage women in their lives, mostly in their marriages. We need to be reminded to walk as Jesus walked, love as He loved, forgive as He forgave and serve as He served. It's so easy to forget unless we are daily reminded and in His Word. So many things in our society are intended to pull us away from our husbands, make us dissatisfied and break our covenant to them. We live in a society of vow breakers. This is a spiritual battle, women. Fight the enemy of our souls with the sword of the Spirit, the Word of God and prayer.
Finally, be joyful! The joy of the Lord is your strength. Joy draws others, especially your husband, to you. Believe in the power of God and the protection of His armor {Ephesians 6:10-18}. Pray daily for your husband and the things he struggles with. Believe God and His promises. Don't depend on your ability to change your husband. Depend upon God. Have faith. Be a vow keeper and commit to loving him all the days of your life.
What therefore God hath joined together,
let not man put asunder.
