I would go as far to say that God unites us with a spouse that will not give us primarily an easy life, but has the character to bring us nearer to God. If I am a stubborn man, a meek woman will be of no help to change my fault in character to the will of God; maybe God needs to give you a “difficult” woman, because you are blind to your own flaws. As long as she is faithful to God and to you, she will be a blessing to you as you will be a blessing to her. And never forget, marriage is a pact between a man and a woman AND God. That is wonderful, because if problems arise, you can go to God in prayer and ask for help, guidance, patience, wisdom, all the good things that God promises us. God will always be there, he never fails his covenant, even if we have. That is His true character. Don’t get me wrong, God has no joy in giving you a hard life, and marriage is a blessing given to man in the garden of Eden before we fell to sin. But for my part, I have no idea how I would have been married for 20+ years without the help of God. All glory belongs to God.
Discussion
Amen to that. We're only coming up on year 17, but that is absolutely true. If God were not the 'third party' in our covenant, we may not have made it this far.
For Adam & Eve, unfallen, the main purpose was companionship-that-brings-fruit. But now, the main purpose holiness and necessarily with uninterrupted happiness. ("Sometimes your spouse leads you to Christ...sometimes your spouse drives you to Him!") Happiness may come, in seasons, but absolutely correct. If my wife wasn't so (thankfully) stubborn, I'd have learned nothing about getting over my own. And, it is at least a little comfort that, since I have so much stubbornness left in me, that we are likely to have many more years of marriage left to whittle that down... 😅