When every thing seems to go wrong

 "When troubles come, the parties to a contractual marriage seek happiness by walking away. They marry to obtain benefits and will stay only as long as they’re receiving what they bargained for. But when troubles come to a covenant marriage, the husband and wife work them through. They marry to give and to grow, bound by covenants to each other, to the community, and to God. Contract companions each give 50 percent. But covenant companions each give 100 percent. Enough and to spare. Each gives enough to cover any shortfall by the other." -Elder Bruce Hafen

Let me tell you about a post that I wrote when we were married for no more than 4 days total. Marriage is not a contract. It's a covenant. With any covenant comes a promise. A promise to endure for something better.

Ahem,

When everything seems to go wrong.

This honeymoon of ours was everything but ideal. Visits to the ER, stomach aches, headaches, cuts, pulled up nail beds, immensely sore throats, tonsillitis are just words to write but not describe the pain.
Friday last week was such a beautiful and wonderful day. We were married, we were sealed, we were happy. Off to Portland we went, to see the place of my upbringing. What a joy it was to walk into the Gorge. Bridal veil and Multnomah falls were experienced. 

Everything was going well up to that point. 

Come Monday we head to the ER. Monday night was a long and painful one. With Tuesday morning even more excruciating. Another visit to the ER and this time given the diagnosis of tonsillitis.
More tummy aches and difficulty breathing put a damper on our night in Patrick's point. A truly magical place in and of itself. But unable to be enjoyed due to physical and growing emotional distress.

Defeated. Downtrodden. Exhausted.

Those are a few words to describe our mindsets throughout most of this. What was supposed to be fun and blissful turned out to be woefully the opposite. 

Is it fair? Why would this happen? Why now?

Explanations are cheap and act as a surface-level answer. We've tried them all.
My friends, everything went wrong. Quite literally everything. It sucks. It's defeating. It's dumb. Life isn't fair, it doesn't care what you have to say. It does its own thing.

 
However, we don't give up hope. We don't give up faith. Satan has berated us, and got into our minds. It's time to cast him out.
"But blessed are they who are faithful and endure, whether in life or in death, for they shall inherit eternal life." D&C 50:5

We will endure. We will have Faith. We will simply try.

I love my dear wife. I love you Frances. You are my life, even when life is unfair. You make me happy. I'm so immensely blessed to be your husband. It's an honor. It's the greatest blessing I will ever have. Come what may, I'm happy to go through it with you. Thank you for trying your best. It's truly an inspiration. I love you. For all eternity.

Everything may go wrong. But what we did last Friday in the temple, our sealing, will always be right.