Three Years Ago.......

Three years ago…….

Three years ago my life changed, I got married. I have been reflecting about what has taken place not only in my life but in my heart. Some of the lessons that I have learned have been life changing.

In the past three years I have learned……

Grace is something that I have to constantly choose to give

What giving grace really means

Unforgiveness can create a divide in any relationship and in the heart

It is very easy to want walk away

A commitment is a commitment

Love can be given unconditional from a human

I had a lot of full suitcases to still deal with when I got married

Amazed at what can be learned from parents

Being willing to hold someone’s hand through anything is hard

The enemy will try hard to rob you

Could not imagine doing this without the Lord

Prayer together

A lost an found can solve a lot of problems J

Pain can be real

Joy can be full

Prayer can answer a lot

Budgeting helps a ton

Paying off debt is AWESOME!

There are people I miss from my wedding pictures, because they were called home

Adoption is a journey that will change your life

Relationships can change drastically in an instant

There are things you wish you could take back

Laughter is good

Investing in marriage is essential

Allowing folks to walk along side of you is encouraging

Sharing your story is helpful

Little trips away are so much better than gifts

The cat did not like him at first

Having two bathrooms is essential

It is not all about you

You need to be ready for it, it is not for fun

God’s glory is worth fighting for

It is hard to believe that three years ago I walked down an isle with my dad, wore a white dress, ate blueberry French toast and danced till my heart was content all in celebration of the great covenant that God created.

Thank you Lord for your covenant, I could not imagine this journey without you.

In May 1943, German theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote a letter to a young bride and groom, advising them on the nature of the union they were about to enter:

Your love is your own private possession, but marriage is more than something personal — it is a status, an office. Just as it is the crown, and not merely the will to rule, that makes the king, so it is marriage, and not merely your love for each other, that joins you together in the sight of God and man. As you gave the ring to one another and have now received it a second time from the hand of the pastor, so love comes from you, but marriage from above, from God. As high as God is above man, so high are the sanctity, the rights, and the promise of love. It is not your love that sustains the marriage, but from now on, the marriage that sustains your love.

While his counsel is powerful, the truly compelling part of this story begins when we consider where this letter was written, and who was doing the writing. This was no sunshine musing from a mere relationship counselor, but a wedding sermon offered from a prison cell, written by a hero waiting for the inevitable day of his painful execution.

This is a story about faithfulness, holiness, and sacrificial love.