Day 3 // Life Lessons Through Marriage: Bold Prayers + Wild Faith Adventures
In 2019, Marquis and I got the charge to lead a team to the Dominican Republic for a mission trip. At first, we jumped with excitement until the thought of going didn’t feel quite exciting anymore. We were faced with an endless amount of fear and felt incapable of leading a team. In fact, at the time, there were reports that Americans were dying in that country. The more people sent us news articles, the more we allowed fear to make noise in our ears. Week after week we wrestled until we decided to pull out of the trip altogether. Shortly after calling off the trip, we agreed that we were allowing fear to prevent us from serving in another nation. We were charged to lead a team and to ignore the call would mean that the individuals would not have anyone to serve, lead, and journey with them.
Months later, we found ourselves in the airport headed to the Dominican Republic. As we landed at the mission home, we received a wristband that reads, “Where faith meets adventure.” It was surely an adventure as we served people in one of the Dominican cities. We got to learn about the culture, people, and language barriers that came with serving in another nation. We saw people receiving medical care, children dancing around, and others meeting Jesus on the streets. Although it wasn’t my first time serving in the Dominican Republic, it was different sharing that adventure with my spouse.
I have learned a lot about adventures through marriage. The type of adventure that comes with faith, bold prayers, and overcoming fears. Fears like when you are preparing to speak to a community of women about the sweet perfume poured on Jesus (Mark 14:3) in one of the Dominican Republic refugee areas.
I remember crying on the floor of the mission home the day I was set to speak to the women in the refuge area. I explained to Marquis how much I couldn’t do it. I explained how hard it was for me to prepare a message where there was a language barrier even though I knew a translator would be available for me. I was still timid, afraid, and so scared that I was exhausting myself before I even got to the place where the women would be. At that same moment, Marquis looked at me and said, “It’s not about you.”
As much as I wanted more cheesy words of comfort to fly out his mouth—-I had to admit that I was making the moment about me. Fear was blocking me from thinking of the beautiful woman who needed a word from Jesus. It was blocking me from thinking about the women who would be blessed with the gospel. I shifted gears quickly and scratched out the idea that it was about me. I had to realize that the message I was delivering revolved around God’s word and the impact that would be made by His Spirit alone.
The adventure of marriage has a lot of those, “it’s not about me” moments. It has a lot of moments of laying down your selfish agendas on both sides so that your marriage can grow into the place God desires it to be. It has moments of apologizing where you fall short and admitting where you could have said something better. It has many moments of bold prayers and stepping out in faith so that God can remain in the middle of the most beautiful and chaotic seasons.
We ended that trip with a new perspective after seeing different cultures, tarantulas, and some very unfamiliar territory. Marriage is an adventure and the exploration after “I do” allows our faith in Jesus, and the truth of the gospel to transform us from the inside out. A faith that transforms our smiles, tears, joys, and circumstances. A faith where we can lay down our, “it is not about me” moments because that is what helps us serve one another well.
This blog series is dedicated to my husband Marquis D. Harris and my readers as I write about the marital life lessons I have learned as we count down the days to our fifth anniversary. Click the tag #fivedaystofiveyears as you visit the blog to find a new writing piece on this series.
