Relationships in times of trouble

I had an interesting conversation with my mum last night (erm, I don't think she reads this blog, but I don't think she's mind me mentioning it anyway). We were talking about relationships and how in the last 10 years mine and Andy's relationship has had many, many storms to weather. Seriously, I don't talk about everything on my blog, but our lives have basically been one catalogue of disasters since the day we met. She was asking how our latest troubles with Andy's unemployment (now at 15 months) had affected our relationship...I think she just wanted to know her big little girlie was happy...you know? I told her if anything it had STRENGTHENED our relationship, that we were more patient (most of the time) and more considerate and loving as a result. She seemed really surprised by that, which surprised me really. I always thought that most people would get closer during times of hardship, but mum said in her experience they tend to drift apart. I guess what I'm basically saying is that I think everything happens for a reason and that maybe God does know what he's doing after all...though I'd be quite happy if we could catch a break LOL.