10 Years

Can you believe that Matt and I just celebrated our 10 year anniversary? It just amazes me... not that we made it, mind you, but that ten whole years of life has past, and we have shared it all together. We are young, and in a great phase of life. But when we married each other, we were really young. Idealistic, as all young newly married couples are. Full of hopes and dreams. Totally cliche'. Totally true.

The last ten years have been a journey of adventure, transition, exploration, great heart ache, and overwhelming joy. We have laughed so hard together, and cried together, just as hard. We have faced individual challenges, and marital challenges, and conquered them together. Each of us, coming through it a little stronger. Our hearts have the few scars that a mere 10 years of marriage has to offer, but they are badges of honor to those who are in it for the long haul.

But when I allow my memory to travel through the past decade, seeing the images as if flipping through an album, what is most evident to me is the hand of God. I see the Lord so clearly.

I see His protection.

I see His mercy.

I see His provision.

And mostly, like an unfiltered light shining on the images in my mind, I see His love. A love that has carried us through marital minefields, like infertility. A love that has wrapped around us as we have walked through the times when life has kicked our asses, and a love that has celebrated with us as we have faced joy so unexplainable, it has felt like a dream. He has been there. When we were married, our pastor, Reilly Gibby, gave a message about how when you are married, the two become one, yet the two become three, as well. The two of us are entwined in a relationship with the Most High God, and He is the One who gives us the strength to choose to love. And to be loved.

"Lovin' a person just the way they are, that's no small thing... But that's the whole thing" ~ Sara Groves

Matt, I look forward to the decades to come... I love you.