Finding hope through faith

[subtitle]FAMILY OF THE MONTH[/subtitle]

Cynthia and Lawrence Carter

By Sean Sanders
Outlook Writer

Every marriage has ups and downs, the true test is to look at marriage always as a glass closer to full than empty. While it is true that time heals all wounds, it also sets the wet cement of love into concrete. These are two things Cynthia and Lawrence Carter sentiment with after over 49 years of marriage.

 
“It was his mannerism, the way he moved, the way he acted, the way he looked,” said Cynthia as she described the day in 1963 when she met Lawrence Carter, the love of her life and her husband for over 49 years. Lawrence recounts the events as being love at first sight. “I liked what I saw, she was beautiful,” said Lawrence.

 
In the four years Lawrence and Cynthia courted before getting married they established a bond that would weather time itself for every trial and tribulation the couple would eventually go through.

“We found out in that course of time that we couldn’t do without each other,” said Lawrence.

 
Time became a key element in Carter’s relationship. Time is also something the Carters fear most young relationships lack an appreciation of. In their period of courting, it was the knowledge they gained about each other that balanced the relationship in the future. Lawrence notes that they have made their relationship work by taking time to learn each other’s likes and dislikes which when appreciated taught the couple how to be a compatible match for each other despite their differences.
It was not just what the young lovebirds saw in each other that made them fall in love, it was whom they saw in each other that cemented the feelings that drew the young couple together.

 
“God was our corner stone, in getting to know God we got to know each other,” said Cynthia. “Our growth is forever progressive, in moving forward in our faith we continued to move forward in our relationship,” added Lawrence admiring the couple’s progression in their marriage.

 
Lawrence and Cynthia’s first major test of faith was the loss of Cynthia’s first son. After the loss the couple eventually attempted growing their family again, which turned to not be in God’s will.

“Even with me being pregnant for that time, it brought us closer,” said Cynthia regarding her loss.

The Carters eventually made one of the biggest impacts of their life by adopting great nieces in the family.

Spirituality and faith have a way of bringing love and peace into everyone’s life (check this site for more information). If one door has been closed, another will open, all you need is hope and faith in God.

In Carter’s life, adoption became a boat that kept their relationship afloat, even during the tough moments when losses were too much to bear.

“It was us adopting that brought our marriage to become a family,” she added. The Carters raised the children in the church, the only way they knew how.

 
Now nearly 49 years later Lawrence serves as a Deacon and Cynthia serves as a Deaconess at Bethel Missionary Baptist church. The same gospel that brought them together they now jointly teach and impart the wisdom of the time spent and the knowledge learned from their experiences in marriage and in life.

 
Real love becomes something hard to come by. Real Christian love remains something even harder to come by. Lawrence and Cynthia Carter are proof that it still exists.