The seasoned state of still holding hands and walking as one can only come through the identity of shared suffering. Shared suffering creates a shared identity!
Little old couples that walk as one holding hands had to push through the suffering to get to the identity of oneness that experiences the glory of making it through.
This morning as I read, "We will experience being co-glorified with Him provided that we accept his sufferings as our own" (Romans 8:17c/TPT).
Glory identity only comes through accepting the co-suffering.
In our relationship with God, glory only comes when we are willing to co-suffer and identify with Jesus' suffering and accept them as our own. It takes time. It takes perseverance. It is a process of growing and maturing.
If this is true in our holiest relationship then it is true for our most base relationship. We must ask ourselves, "Am I willing to suffer so I can identify with the other?" "Am I willing to suffer with them or because of them?" "Am I willing to take the time to mature and grow together?"
Once, we do, we discover we have built history and history builds identity of oneness. Just as we experience being co-glorified with Christ through co-suffering, it is true in our relationships, too.
