I know what you must be feeling right now. It's hard to contain the excitement (among the chaos) as you are preparing for the "big day." Day by day, minute by minute approaching the moment you get to make your vows and say your "I dos," (God willing), until death do you part. You may be feeling nervous, excited, and hopelessly in love all in one package deal. Well, you're not alone; so here is one key piece of advice that has helped my husband and I have a successful marriage and overcome challenges we never thought we could. Remember your three G's...

God, Grace, and Gratitude.

Let's work our way backwards and break them down.

Gratitude:

Noun | grat•i•tude | the state of being grateful.

It is exactly what it means. In order to have success in your marriage you're going to need to remember to be thankful for everything your spouse does for you. Whether it's big or small, any kind of act that is helpful or beneficial to you as well as them needs to be met with gratitude from you. All anyone ever wants in life is to feel wanted and appreciated, it's a normal human trait that is crucial for our existence. If you feel loved and truly needed by your significant other, not only are you both going to grow to treasure each other, you will grow to be thankful for every aspect of your life together. This grows respect and a relationship without respect, well sadly it's doomed to failure. Marriage is the act of two people becoming a whole, a unit, a team; you need that support to sustain the balance of two worlds morphing into one.

Grace:

Noun | (s.) Mercy | disposition to or an act or instance of kindness, courtesy, or clemency.

This is a BIG one. You must always remember, no one is perfect. The combining of two individual lives into one is bound to have some kinks to work through. It's going to be hard and it's going to have some serious challenges you'll both need each other to get over or it will tear you apart. At some point or the other one of you is going to say or do something that is going to upset the other. It's human nature to have a disagreement with one another a time or two. How you deal with it is what will determine if your relation will come out on top or be lost in the fight. This is where grace comes in. With any fight of course it's hard for one to admit whether they are in the right or the wrong (maybe you both are). It takes strong amounts of grace to forgive and forget big or little instances that have caused you to be upset with your partner. A marriage without mercy for one another is basically two wrongs, with which as we all know, do not make a right. Forgiveness and mercy for the little things will help you two avoid explosions with big things. We all make small mistakes so pick your battles wisely. A relationship constantly bickering will slowly deteriorate, but one with respect and GRACE will bloom into something anyone would desire to grow old to.

GOD:

Noun | the Alpha and Omega; perfect in power, wisdom, and goodness, creator and ruler of the universe.

This (He) is the KEY to a happy, healthy marriage. Life is absolutely, positively, going to throw you challenges your marriage is going to struggle to overcome. Finances, tragedy, daily stresses are three examples of things that will chip away not only at yourselves individually but you both as a whole. Rather than freaking out on each other, give your stresses to God, as well as your glory. If you're going through a hard break in your life, give it to God. If you are desperately yearning for something more in your life, give it to God. If your marriage just feels like it's missing something, GIVE IT TO GOD. If you are struck with something wonderful in life, give God the glory, praise him!

Okay, you get it.

Always remember, a marriage without faith has no foundation and is sadly more likely to fail than one centered around God. Without God's guidance in your marriage, you will more than likely lead yourselves astray and blame one another when times get tough (but remember even a good faithful Christian marriage has its struggles).

In conclusion, all three of the "G's" are equally important to sustain a long healthy relationship with your new life long partner. Enjoy the life God has given and CHERISH your love. Hand and hand you two can climb every mountain and conquer it with a smile on your face and love in your heart.

"4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. 8 Love never fails." 1 Corinthians 13 4-8.