Your wedding day is one of the happiest days of your life. Surrounded by family and friends, you exchange vows, promising to love, honor, and cherish each other for the rest of your lives. The day is filled with love, laughter, and joy. As the days turn into months and months turn into years, however, you encounter challenges, have disagreements, and face some difficult issues. You may be asking yourself, “Is this what I signed up for? Are relationships supposed to be hard?”

In John 16:33, Jesus says, "“Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world.” Everyone struggles, has weaknesses and limitations. Therefore, it is likely that couples will experience difficulties and disagreements throughout dating, marriage, and parenting. Jesus never promised an easy life - he promised a life worth living alongside him and his people, one characterized by his joy, his hope, and his love. Building a healthy and strong relationship takes time, effort, commitment, and most of all, love. The apostle Paul describes what love looks like in 1 Corinthians 13:4-7:

Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.

Like a garden, with different seasons bearing different fruit, relationships require tending - tending with patience. Relationships grow through partnership through trials and challenges. However, relationships are not only supposed to be hard.

Are Relationships Supposed to Be Hard?