Before my husband and I were married, and while we were "struggle-bussing" through the difficulty of planning a wedding, we had lots of people that showered us with advice about married life and what it was going to be like. Many women told me that marriage would be an exciting, fun adventure - that David's love and our marriage would be an extension of Christ's love. I was told how glorious it would be to have my best friend around at all times...and trust me, it's pretty great! However, while we were dating and engaged, there were some people that continuously drilled into us that marriage was hard.Every time someone would say that, my husband and I would look at each other like:

We were shocked. Marriage wasn't going to be fun, exciting, passionate, joyful, adventurous and amazing?! We were shook. To. The. Core. From what people were telling us, marriage was only going to be hard.

Every time somebody would tell us how hard marriage was, I couldn't help but want to look at them and ask, "Seriously? Is being married to your best friend only hard?!" My husband and I never liked the idea of marriage sounding hard...we liked the idea of marriage sounding like an adventure.

So here's what we both came to the realization of after being married for a month and a half and gathering marriage advice from other couples...marriage isn't hard.

Actually, marriage being hard is a complete myth! Marriage isn't hard at all, and here's why: marriage isn't hard, it's just work. Hard and work are not the same thing.

Hard makes marriage sound like it's never fun at all, and there's only disappointing times ahead. Work, however, makes marriage sound like it's an effort. Which, marriage is totally an effort! We, as people, have to put effort into everything in order to be successful - work, jobs, relationships, etc.

Everything requires work and effort, just like marriage. There have been times where my husband and I have had some disagreements or had to endure trials...but never, ever, would we say that it has been hard. It's definitely been work, but it hasn't been hard.

Everything, to me, is work. Relationships are work. A career is work. College is work. Making an effort with my relationship with Christ is work. Making a dinner is work. Learning to drive is work.

Education is work. And marriage is work, but it is not hard. I wouldn't consider any of these things hard...they're just work, and work entails putting forth effort in order to have success.

Whenever someone tells us how hard marriage is, my husband and I always have a conversation afterwards where we tell each other: "Marriage isn't hard. Marriage is just work."

And work, is a good sort of thing. My dad always compares marriage to the making of a diamond. To create a diamond, you need a lot of heat and pressure; these are what make the diamond beautiful. In the same way, heat and pressure need to be applied to marriage so we learn how to work through the hardships in order to get the diamond.

Marriage isn't hard. It's work, and that kind of work, is honestly the best kind of work.