“Love is a many splendored thing” , “Love hurts” (old song titles)
“Kids, when it comes to them how they hurt you so…..What’s the problem with kids today”, lyrics from another old song that could have been written today.
Marriage and raising children is not for the faint at heart. May I say to you, Today, this may seem an insurmountable hurdle. Having had serious difficulties in my own life, I can attest that God is able safely see you through. “And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up.”, Galatians 6:9 (ESV) . Blended families, step parenting and all that goes with it can be annoying, at best, and excruciating, at worse. The emotional pain we can inflict on each other unintentionally can run deep. Children of divorced parents are so internally confused to begin with and then they will always have the”benefit” of the “evil in-law”, I call them. They may or may not be well intentioned, but are more than happy to throw a grenade into an already tenuous family situation.
Keep your head up, Love your spouse and make sure he/she knows it, even if you have to learn how! Children grow up and are eventually out of your house but not out of your life so leave an “unlocked door” for them to converse with you respectfully and leave a wide open heart for forgiveness. God will give you the capacity to handle it, if you let him. I Corinthians 10:13, one of my life verses states, “No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.”
“As a believer in Christ, it is not so much about what you can tolerate as it is what God can handle“, (Pastor Cornelius Tilton,2011)