this is a serious one.

i get a lot of emails asking for advice on relationships which i love. i love giving you my two cents. i love that you trust me enough to let me in on some of the most personal, intimate details of your lives.

due to this, i feel obligated to officially and publicly say that levi & i absolutely do not have the perfect relationship without problems. i know you never thought we thought we were perfect, but i just needed to say it anyway.

it's not pure happiness all the time.

we don't feel "in love" every second of every day.

but our relationship works.

i think the huge thing that makes it work is all the work we put into it.

we are hugely committed to each other and this relationship, to making it work under all circumstances every single day.

i was recently asked how we knew that we were right for each other, and i really want to share my reasons here.

1. one of the huge ones is that our beliefs and ideals line up almost perfectly. it's almost weird. it kind of feels like our lives leading up to before we met were shaping us for each other. we've had a lot of similar experiences so we can relate to each other on a lot of different levels.

2. a big one, for me especially, is that we trust each other like crazy. i never ever worry about him cheating on me or even looking at another girl. some girls honestly don't mind if their boyfriends or husbands look at other women so that's not a big deal to everyone, but it's huge to me. it always has been, and i've never been with someone who i completely trust like i do with levi.

3. we have the same sense of commitment, and we both want the same thing. we both told each other before we lived together that we plan on getting married one day. and we both wouldn't continue this relationship if weren't headed toward marriage.

4. we can tell each other anything. sometimes things are difficult to discuss. i sometimes get embarrassed to bring up certain things, but he never freaks out or judges me - he makes me feel safe to tell him anything and everything.

5. i know that he will always do anything he has to do to make sure that i am (and our future family is) provided for financially, spiritually, emotionally, and physically. he always puts my needs before his own.

6. we have fun together. we like to do and talk about a lot of the same things, but we also have new things to expose the other to. we learn from each other.

7. we encourage each other's passions and interests and believe in each other.

8. we know the value of alone time and try to provide that for each other.

9. we've already made it through A LOT of hard times (mostly financial) so we both know that we can face what life gives us together.

10. we're both willing to work on our relationship and communication.

11. we lived in a studio apartment in the ghetto together and didn't kill each other.

i don't know if that means anything at all to any of you, but i wanted to put it out there just in case.

i think women waste a lot of time in bad relationships because we're afraid of being alone. we settle. and it's sad. i've settled in the past. i thank God every day that he got me out of those relationships. i had NO idea how great it could be. i had no idea what he had planned for me. i am so fortunate that he forced me to find out.