God’s Little Reminders
By Sarah and Matt Lewis
When we first sat down to write about our marriage, we couldn’t help but chuckle- what do we know about marriage? We were basically still kids when we got married, what could we possibly share? Marriage is really hard. It’s hard for two imperfect people to continue to choose each other every day when life is so complicated and you’re growing up and getting older while navigating a difficult world. It’s hard work, but you get little reminders from God that He has given you each for this journey. We sat and thought about all the little “reminders from God” that we’ve gotten through the years.
When I was 17, I was going through a very difficult time. Although I was very close to God, I felt very alone in the world. I went on an amazing weekend retreat, and returned ready to go where God sent me. Turns out, it wouldn’t be where God sent me, but with who God sent me. There was a phone call waiting for me when I returned. A boy in my choir class wanted to take me on a date. My first little reminder from God that I’m not alone. Little did I know this young man was also asking God to help him find a more faithful direction. God took our paths and merged them together that week.
We’ve been together ever since. We’ve now doubled in age since, and this has come with changes all along the way. We went to colleges in different cities and decided that if God wanted us to stay together, then it would work. Through God’s grace we kept choosing each other. Every challenge seemed to be met by reminders from God to keep persevering in our relationship. Not only did it work, but the promptings of God called Matt to become Catholic his senior year of college. I was his sponsor. We married after college, and we let God lead us to new jobs and to new opportunities.
We grew more and more into adults, and it felt like we became new people. The more we changed, the more we had to learn about ministering to the other person. Yet God reminded us how well we complimented each other. Every struggle was met with some little reminder from God, a special song randomly coming on the radio, a perfect quote heard by a stranger in passing, a sign that the timing was so perfect that only God could have planned it. Any time marriage got hard, God was there to remind us of our vocation. No matter what we held firm to Jesus’ words in Matthew that what God has joined together, no human being should separate. So no matter what hardships came our way, we would tackle them together.
When we had our first child, I was still working full-time as we needed two incomes to live. It was a difficult time, but we knew we were called to be parents. We knew we wanted more children, but how could we pay for childcare as well? God reminded us that He was in control, so we trusted Him. The day I found out I was pregnant with our second, I rushed to meet Matt at work. When I met him in the parking lot, he shared he had big news too: he’d gotten a promotion. The new job made it possible for me to stay home and raise our children.
We have four children now, each a (big) reminder of what God has done for our marriage. Having small children changes a person so much. So we found ourselves changing and evolving again. Yet every time the changes felt too hard, we turned back to God for direction. Any time we had a fight, or we struggled to choose each other still, prayer and time in Adoration has always made it clear. God kept reminding us He wanted us together. The more children we welcomed, the closer we grew to God and to each other. Our children are teaching us more and more about what it means to minister to each other when the other person is weak.
When one of us was struggling with the kids, with work, with our own anxieties, through the grace of God, the other person has always seemed so much stronger. God always reminds us that He gave us each other, so we never have to do this alone. Our journey is still continuing with more and more reminders from God that we can do this, that we were meant to do this, and this marriage is what He has called us to do. Growing up and growing older together on this journey led by God’s grace is going to be hard, but we trust in these little reminders from God that the destination is going to be great.