Marriage is a wonderful thing. God designed it to be a beautiful union between two totally different persons, that they'd help one another pursue God's will. It truly is wonderful.

Despite that, it has challenges of its own, challenges that can make or break both the husband and the wife.

This article is written for all married men out there, just like me.

My fellow husbands, do you feel like a failure in your marriage? Do you feel or think like you'll never be the husband you've wanted to become, or that you'll never be the husband your wife deserves because you just keep doing things that hurt or disappoint her?

Read on. This is for you.

A letter to my fellow husbands

Friends, we are all imperfect. We succeed at times and we fail at times. We do things that make our wife happy, and we do things that hurt her and make her sad. All of us experience that.

Many of us feel like we're unable to meet our wife's needs. We feel like we're unable to make them happy. This is because we fail in various areas in our lives:

• We try to work hard to earn a decent living, but discover that our income isn't enough;
• We try to understand our wife the best way we can, but still find ourselves scratching our head in confusion;
• We try to help our wife in various things, but end up disappointing them or worse, hurting them.

These things happen to many husbands, discouraging them and making them feel like a failure.

Friends, if you feel that way right now, be encouraged in the fact that you're not alone. Moreover, be encouraged by the truth that God knows what's happening to you, and wants to help you become the husband you should become.

In God's hands

The Bible tells us that God knows all the things that are happening to us. He knows the days of our lives even before they happen. He knows our wife; He made her and knows her perfectly well.

Thankfully, He knows us perfectly as well. Moreover, He knows what is happening to us:

"My frame was not hidden from You, when I was made in secret, and skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed. And in Your book they all were written, the days fashioned for me, when as yet there were none of them." (Psalm 139:15-16)

Since God knows us, we can trust Him to know how to help us in our marriages. Isn't it such a wonderful to know that God, who knows our weaknesses and failures even in marriage, tells us that we can do all things through Christ who strengthens us?

"I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me."

Moreover, this same God who knows us and wants to empower us, gives us one all-encompassing command with regards to our marriage:

"Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her..." (Ephesians 5:25)

Now think about this: God commands us to love our wife like Christ loved the church, despite knowing our imperfections and limitations. And because He knows us, He is able to help us and empower us to do what He pleases.

In closing

My fellow husbands, we may fail sometimes, but God knows us and how to help us. He knows how to help us in our marriages, and will help us because He wants us to have Christ-like marriages.

No matter how small we think we are, we have a big God who helps us in our marriage. Let us be encouraged by that.