Happily Ever After

As a little girl, I was fascinated with Cinderella. I loved her. I would spend hours in my room listening to the Cinderella audio book on my "record" player. I was Cinderella for Halloween. Remember the plastic masks that you would have to take off in between houses so you could breathe, and the plastic costume that would make you break out in a sweat? I felt so beautiful wearing that costume. I was short of breath and sweaty, but beautiful.

I loved the scene in the movie where she was singing while she scrubbed the floors. There were bubbles all around and she fixed her hair in the "reflection" of the bubble. Loved it!

The little girl in me could not wait to grow up and become Cinderella.

On my wedding day, I remember saying that I felt like Cinderella. For a little while, I was a princess who found her Prince Charming.

Then life took over. The fairy tale seemed like a distant memory. I wondered sometimes if I would ever have my Happily Ever After.

I soon came to a place in my life that I no longer even thought of those dreams. I no longer looked at our wedding pictures and saw a princess or a prince. I knew I would never have the fairy tale, so why torture myself with the thoughts of it. I was a grown up now. A big girl. No more room in my life for childhood fantasies.

Right when I had given up hope, God showed up! Just like Cinderella's fairy godmother, He made all my fairytale dreams come true. He gave me the Happily Ever After that I had always longed for. I can look at my wedding pictures now and remember what it felt like to be a princess for a day. Seeing the pictures from our wedding brings me so much joy now. With God's help we have overcome so much in our marriage. We have been blessed to grow with God through our troubles. After weathering the storms in our marriage, we now both have a deeper appreciation for each other than we did on our wedding day. Shannon is my Prince Charming and I feel(almost)certain I am his Cinderella!:)

During a particularly challenging time in our marriage, I came across this devotion in my Bible written by Brenda Wilbee. This passage encouraged my discouraged soul. She points out so clearly the right way to view fairy tales. Take a look.

Reflect

Tell me did Cinderella live happily ever
after without a struggle? Did Sleeping
Beauty live happily ever after without a
trauma? Did Rapunzel live happily ever
after without grief? Did Hansel and
Gretel live happily ever after without
deprivation? Did Jack and the beanstalk
live happily ever after without risk? Did
Thumbelina live happily ever after
without sacrifice? Are there any fairy
tales without dragons?
Where in the world, then, did we
ever get the notion that to live happily
ever after means to live without trouble?
For when we look at fairy tales we
find it's not the absence of dragons-
but the taming of dragons-that ushers
in happily ever after.^a


I like how she titled this passage Reflect.

As I shared with you before, I loved the part of the movie when Cinderella fixed her hair in the "reflection" of the bubble.
The bubble that I used to see my marriage in was not clear. The water was dirty, full of hurt feelings and resentments.

After we let God take over our relationship, the water was made clean. The reflection became clear.
I can now see a beautiful reflection in the bubble. A fairy tale. My fairy tale. Not a perfect couple with no problems, but a couple who love God and love each other. A couple who weather the storms of life together with God.

Just like Cinderella, I have gone through many struggles in my life. I give thanks only to God for helping me through the tough times and for giving my Prince Charming back to me. And as the story goes, with God's help "They lived happily ever after !"



Women's Devotional Bible 2, New International Version, Copyright © 1995 by Zondervan corporation.