Divorce, Remarriage, and Aging Families

 Not all marriages end happily ever after. Those are the sad facts of life. Sometimes people can emotionally separate from each other, which leads to a physical separation of their marriage.

    Deciding to end your marriage doesn't happen all in one moment. There are things that lead up to a decision of that magnitude. I was doing some of my own personal research on the matter, and some of the factors or situations include, conflict and arguing, financial problems, or domestic or substance abuse. People disagree in life, but in extreme cases between spouses, it can lead to separation. If they aren't able to solve their problems together, it can end sadly. It's important to think of the consequences of a divorce as well though. If you have kids, what will that mean for them? Assets and finances are also a big thing to think about and discuss.

      Sometimes divorce is the best option, however. For example, if there is abuse between partners. If a spouse is hurting or abusing their partner, they should do whatever is necessary to get out. In my personal opinion, it doesn't matter if the abuser apologizes or say they didn't mean it. If they were willing to do it in the first place, there's a good chance that they'll be inclined to do it again in the future. I know somebody who went through a divorce because of reasons like this. Their husband was doing drugs and drinking and started physically abusing her and her little daughter. She ended up filing for a divorce and an end of their sealing, and he ended up going to jail, and he ultimately died in there. Divorce can be a sad thing, but when I've talked to her about this, she doesn't regret her decision at all. She did what she had to do to ensure the safety of her and her daughter. Later on in life, she ended up remarrying a much better man that makes her and their children a top priority and protects them at all costs.

    That brings me to the next topic which is remarrying. Getting married again after a divorce, especially one that ended badly, can be very hard, scary even. There's is emotional scarring that comes with ending a marriage. The prospect of starting all over again can be overwhelming. When I think about this for my own life, I think remarrying would be really hard for me. I'm not a super emotional person, but one thing that really cuts deep for me is when someone I trusted and gave my loyalty betrays me or damages our relationship in some way. So even being emotionally available to start all over again or even let someone get that close to me would be a struggle. 

    Blended families are also something that is highly likely when remarrying. If you've already had kids, and/or if your new spouse has had kids, then you'll be combining kids, per se. When you get married, you usually have 9 months to prepare for a child, but in this case, you're thrown right into the action. So it's always important to have good relations with them as well. If you don't have a good relationship with your partner's kids, that can make your marriage a bit difficult. After looking up ways to transition to a blended family, some of the results were, show respect, include the kids in on the transition process, be patient, and keep biological connections strong. 

    Overall, ending a marriage is never easy. Starting a new family after that is never easy. Sometimes we just have to let life takes its course though. If we trust in the Lord and stay true to the gospel, things will always work out fine.