5 things i wish i'd known before marriage

1. Marriage is not all about you.  It's not about your happiness and self-fulfillment.  It's not about getting your needs met.  It's about going through life together and serving God together and serving each other.
2. You are about to learn a painful lesson - you are both very selfish people.  This may be difficult to comprehend during the happy and hazy days of courtship, but it's true, and it shocks many couples during their first year of marriage.
3. The person you love the most is also the person who can hurt you the deepest.  That's the risk and pain of marriage.  And the beauty of marriage is working through your hurt and pain and resolving your conflicts and solving your problems.
4. You can't make it work on your own.  It's obvious that marriage is difficult - just look at how many couples today end [up] in divorce.  To make your marriage last for a lifetime, you need to rely on God for the power and love and strength and wisdom and endurance you need.
5. Never stop enjoying each other.  Always remember that marriage is an incredible gift to be enjoyed.  Ecclesiastes 9:9 says, "Enjoy life with the woman whom you love all the days of your life which He has given to you under the sun, for this is your reward in life and in your toil in which you have labored under the sun" (NASB)