Messy. Redeemed. Deeply Rooted.

2016. It was the year that everything changed.

The year our marriage nearly collapsed under the weight of everything we weren’t saying out loud. We were stretched thin- a 2yo, pregnancy turned early labor, sleepless nights, hidden disappointments, and having a marriage so strained we barely recognized ourselves. We became strangers, not partners, looking at each other with disgust and disdain. Talking turned into silence. Intimacy faded. We weren’t fighting (how can we, when we no longer talked).. we just stopped connecting. Somewhere in the chaos, we lost each other.

We were holding resentment like a second skin, showing up for everyone except each other. And then came that conversation- the one no couple wants to have. “Let’s give it a year. Go all in. If we’re still like this, we walk away in peace”. It sounds so clinical and calculated, but at the time, it was the only way we knew how to survive breaking.

But God.

He met us right there- in the middle of our undoing. In the silence. In the tears. In the hatred. In the broken promises. In the lies. And little by little, He rewrote what we thought was over.

No quick fixes. No fairytales. Just two people choosing to stay. Choosing to talk. Choosing to fight for something more. Not overnight, not without more tears or hard conversations. And it rebuilt us in a way we never saw coming. Not back to who we were before, but into something deeper. Stronger. Honest.

Today, our love looks different. It’s not shiny or filtered. It’s real. It’s rooted. It’s a choice we make daily- not out of obligation, but out of faith, love, and hard-earned trust. And sometimes, when I look back on that season, I’m strangely grateful for everything we went through. Because what we have now? It was forged through fire, not fantasy. And, it’s a reminder that love isn’t just a feeling- it’s a fight. And it’s a choice you make, even when it’s hard.