BUT GOD...BUT NOW...No longer a statistic

At our church, we have recently been talking about the power of God in regards to His ability to completely transform a person’s life. The past two sermons, the first given by my husband, have been about two significant phrases, possibly the most powerful two phrases in the Bible:

 BUT GOD

BUT NOW

We were once lost, BUT GOD…We were all destined for eternal damnation, BUT NOW…

So, I wanted to apply this to my life; in particular my education and my marriage. Here are some statistics I pulled from the Internet. 

1. 69.5% of students who earn their high school diploma go onto college; however 34% of women who become pregnant while in high school neither earn their GED or their diploma.  
2. The likelihood that a woman will eventually marry is significantly lower for those who first had a child out of wedlock.
3. Research indicates that people who live together prior to getting married are more likely to have marriages that end in divorce. " The Boston Herald                                                               More than 60% of these couples are less likely to stay married.
4. 59% of marriages for women under the age of 18 end in divorce within 15 years
5. Married couples in which only the husband is employed: 22.4%
6. Median duration of first marriages that end in divorce: Males: 7.8 years, Females: 7.9 years.
7. Children of divorce were 50% more likely than their counterparts from intact families to divorce. 
8. 50% of marriages end in divorce
9. Percentage of married people who reach anniversaries:

5th: 82%

10th: 65%

15th: 52%

25th: 33%

35th: 20%

50th: 5%

What does this mean in my life? 

 #1: Congratulations to me! I am in the top 69% of people who went to college and I am not part of the 34% of women who became pregnant in high school who do not have a diploma, or a degree for that matter. 

#2: I am married, despite having a child out of wedlock.

#3: I might have a checkered past (don't we all?), however, statistically, my marriage is doomed to fail. 

#4:Hmm... not suppose to make it to anniversary 15...we're 7 years and trekking, so we'll see. 

#5: My husband is the only one employed in our home, so we are in the minority on this one. 

#6: This July will be our 8th wedding anniversary, so we have almost past this stereotype. Yea!

#7: My husband comes from a divorced family, so again, we are 50% more likely to fail in our marriage. 

#8: Judging from #7 and adding #8...there's no hope for us

#9: I'm really hoping to make it to number 50 and be in the top 5%! 

Statistically, our marriage is doomed. We were set up for failure from the beginning...

BUT GOD...

BUT NOW...

I am NOT a statistic. 

"I may not be what I ought to be...but thank God I'm not what I used to be!" 

-Doug Phillips