Today's post is all about love, commitment, for better or for worse.
33 years ago today my husband proposed to me. It had been a busy day. I had decided to join his church and part of their membership criteria was you had to be baptized by them. Okey dokes. (I had been saved since I was 8 years old, filled with the Spirit at the same time. Baptized a couple of years later.) My husband-to-be understood where my heart was and so I was baptized. He had made dinner reservations as a surprise. It was my first "formal" dinner. White table cloths, candles, flowers. We were one of the only couples in the restaurant on a Sunday evening. Then we drove along Highway 101. The night was beautiful. A warm wind, clear sky, the moon shining on the ocean waves. We had stopped at a vista point overlooking the beach and we talked. All of a sudden he gets down on one knee and asks me to marry him. It could not have been more perfect.
We were both quite young (19). My husband was called to ministry when he was 14. What that would mean for us we had no idea. 33 years later God still has surprises for us. We have weathered some intense challenges. We have pastored those that God has brought into our lives. We have ministered to families one on one, mothers and fathers, taken in lots of children. Walked with couples through their own crisis. Births, deaths, cancers, addictions, break ups. Life. Some were Christians and some were not. Always we brought God and His Word as the ultimate source for guidance.
All the while growing and maturing ourselves. Growing in our confidence in God and His Word. His love. His power to restore whatever we lay down at his feet. When our own personal crisis have come along we have been able to stand strong. Bend a little but always come back to our foundation.
When I think of the things I said through my inexperience and lack of knowledge as a young wife to my husband I shudder. I thank God that his Holy Spirit has led me and guided me on my quest to become a Godly woman. And that my husband is forgiving. I am excited to see where the next 33 years take us!
2that the older men be sober, serious, temperate, sound in faith, in charity, in patience;
3the older women likewise, that they be in behavior as becometh holiness, not false accusers, not given to much wine, teachers of good things,
4that they may teach the young women to be sober, to love their husbands, to love their children,
33 years ago today my husband proposed to me. It had been a busy day. I had decided to join his church and part of their membership criteria was you had to be baptized by them. Okey dokes. (I had been saved since I was 8 years old, filled with the Spirit at the same time. Baptized a couple of years later.) My husband-to-be understood where my heart was and so I was baptized. He had made dinner reservations as a surprise. It was my first "formal" dinner. White table cloths, candles, flowers. We were one of the only couples in the restaurant on a Sunday evening. Then we drove along Highway 101. The night was beautiful. A warm wind, clear sky, the moon shining on the ocean waves. We had stopped at a vista point overlooking the beach and we talked. All of a sudden he gets down on one knee and asks me to marry him. It could not have been more perfect.
We were both quite young (19). My husband was called to ministry when he was 14. What that would mean for us we had no idea. 33 years later God still has surprises for us. We have weathered some intense challenges. We have pastored those that God has brought into our lives. We have ministered to families one on one, mothers and fathers, taken in lots of children. Walked with couples through their own crisis. Births, deaths, cancers, addictions, break ups. Life. Some were Christians and some were not. Always we brought God and His Word as the ultimate source for guidance.
All the while growing and maturing ourselves. Growing in our confidence in God and His Word. His love. His power to restore whatever we lay down at his feet. When our own personal crisis have come along we have been able to stand strong. Bend a little but always come back to our foundation.
When I think of the things I said through my inexperience and lack of knowledge as a young wife to my husband I shudder. I thank God that his Holy Spirit has led me and guided me on my quest to become a Godly woman. And that my husband is forgiving. I am excited to see where the next 33 years take us!
Titus 2:2-4
21st Century King James Version (KJ21)
2that the older men be sober, serious, temperate, sound in faith, in charity, in patience;
3the older women likewise, that they be in behavior as becometh holiness, not false accusers, not given to much wine, teachers of good things,
4that they may teach the young women to be sober, to love their husbands, to love their children,
And so began my quest...
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