13 years... With this guy.
"Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above,
coming down from the Father." James 1 :17
13 Years. Through thick and thin. Beautiful dream days and some of the hardest we could have written. God has been in it all. From the very beginning he wrote this story of us. He has been so gracious, and loving to us. Every year is such a gift. We know it now like we never thought. We loved the early days, the honeymoon stage. But it has been in the harder days, the scary days, the days of change and unknown where we have grown in our love for one another. This is the adventure that love. The creator of this marriage knew what would be needed for it to grow and he has given that to us. We are forever thankful. We pray for many many many more days to see and live in his grace and goodness. Thank you so many of you for praying that for us, those prayers have carried this marriage SO many days.
"For you yourselves are fully aware that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. While people are saying, “There is peace and security,” then sudden destruction will come upon them..."
"For God has not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us so that whether we are awake or asleep we might live with him. Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing..."
"Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you..."
"He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it...."
1 Thessalonians 5
"Dear heavenly Father, failure to pray for and nourish our marriages is like failing to drink water, get sleep, or breath air. The outcome is predictable, and not pretty. There’s no other relationship with greater power to expose our brokenness and reveal your grace, than marriage. And there’s no other relationship that Satan is more determined to crash and burn.
So we come to you today, praying for our marriages. Father, forgive us for believing there was only one person in the universe we were “supposed” to marry. No marriage can sustain that weight and freight. And forgive us for thinking that if we’d married the “right” person, it’d be enough. No person can carry that burden and deliver that load.
You’ve made us for yourself, Father and our deepest, most powerful, and most insatiable longings for relationship can only be met in relationship with you. So our prayer is simple and essential. Once again, Father, inundate our hearts and marriages with the only love that is better than life, the only love that will never let go of us, the only love that is enough—your great love for us in Jesus.
Because we are “chosen, holy, and dearly loved,” fill our marriages with your “compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.” We want our marriages to declare the beauty and bounty of the gospel. Until the day you take one of us home, help us to encourage each other and build each other up. Help us to outdo one another in kindness, forbearance, and forgiveness. So very Amen we pray, in Jesus’ merciful and mighty name."
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