In less than 2 days, I’ll be getting married.
I always wanted to get married at age 24 to a beautiful and godly woman, but I wasn’t 100% sure if it would happen.
Thankfully, it is happening.
When I met Abby for the first time in 2007, I was amazed by her rock solid character, love, joy, and beauty. We ended up becoming really good friends and dating for three years through high school and into college.
Unfortunately, we encountered some conflicting differences during our self-discovery years in college (after 3 years of being together), and we eventually broke up. It was a painful and incredibly hard experience to go through.
It would be three years before we saw each other again and reconnected. Thankfully, through lots of talking and praying, the Lord brought us back together a little over a year ago in August 2013.
Our relationship had been resurrected.
While there are a few habits people can develop that strengthen their chance at having rich relationships with spouses, family, and friends, so much of life is unpredictable. This can be a great thing, or a sad thing.
Unexpected interactions with people that lead to friendship (and sometimes, romance and marriage). Unexpected prosperity and success in a venture you didn’t think would turn out the way it did.
This, is awesome.
Unexpected illness and poor health. Heartbreak over a relationship ending (or not happening). Divorce. Death.
This, is not awesome.
In life, there can be a lot of unplanned joy and a lot of unplanned sorrow.
Why is life this way?
I don’t know. I wish I did.
Thankfully, there will be eternal and everlasting hope, peace, love, restoration, and joy in God’s Kingdom. That will be awesome.
I’m feeling many emotions this weekend, but mainly, I feel grateful. I’m grateful to be in a relationship that was resurrected by Jesus Christ, and grateful to be marrying a beautiful and godly woman to live life with.
However, a lot of my family and friends at the wedding have recently experienced hardship and trial, and as much as I am full of joy and gratitude, I am also very aware of their pain.
My hope and prayer for them is that our wedding will be a time of celebration, joy, hope, peace, love, and healing for all. I want our wedding to be a ‘taste’ of the eternal Wedding Feast celebration to come with the Lord Jesus Christ (Revelation 19).
May it be just that.
So, thank you Lord for this remarkable woman you have blessed me with, and may this wedding celebration be a taste of the eternal joy that will be experienced with you in paradise to come.
On this mountain the Lord of hosts will make for all peoples
a feast of rich food, a feast of well-aged wine,
of rich food full of marrow, of aged wine well refined.
And he will swallow up on this mountain
the covering that is cast over all peoples,
the veil that is spread over all nations.
He will swallow up death forever;
and the Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces,
and the reproach of his people he will take away from all the earth,
for the Lord has spoken.
It will be said on that day,
“Behold, this is our God; we have waited for him, that he might save us.
This is the Lord; we have waited for him;
let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation.” – Isaiah 25:6-9
NOTE: if you want, you can attend our wedding via live stream by going to our website, or clicking here.
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