Being his bride...

Thirty years ago today, I was a bride. I was young, naive, and in many ways ignorant--but I knew one thing, I loved my groom.

As I consider the blessings of my marriage, one of the greatest is probably the fact that it is so hard to believe that this many years have passed. It is surreal actually, to think that we have been together for more years than we lived separately.

In the ceremony uniting us, the words, "the two shall become one," sounded nice, but really meant little more to me than the idea of sharing things--a house, a car, bills, a bed. Thirty years later, they mean so much more.

We are two yet one. We have discovered that becoming one means we value the strengths we've come to depend on in the other, and we remain devoted in spite of the individual weaknesses we battle. We have honored the covenant commitment we made in 1979, and we refused to give up when the going got tough. We held on to the promise of better days when the days were dark, and we celebrated the joys of wonderful moments that sometimes took us by surprise.

I have come to believe that our enemy hates marriage and labors to destroy all of them that he can. He uses tactics that are as old as Methuselah, but his batting average is way too high.

As I reflect on the years of our marriage, I know there is just one reason we've defied the odds--Jesus Christ. Ecclesiastes 4:12 says that a chord of three strands is not easily broken. Christ has been the glue that has secured our marriage, ensuring its success. He is the third strand (and the most important one) in the chord that has become "us".

Today's verses, 1 Chronicles 23 through 25, Psalms 108, 109,110, 131, 138, 139, 143, 144, and 145 are all inspirational and informational, but I will close by highlighting Psalm 139, a Psalm of David that reminds me that my life is not my own--it was planned and purposed by God--and if I live to be 100 and have thirty more wedding anniversaries, I will never be able to thank Him enough for giving me a glimpse of what it means to be His bride through the privilege of being George's.

Psalm 139:
1 O Lord, you have examined my heart
and know everything about me.
2 You know when I sit down or stand up.
You know my thoughts even when I’m far away.
3 You see me when I travel
and when I rest at home.
You know everything I do.
4 You know what I am going to say
even before I say it, Lord.
5 You go before me and follow me.
You place your hand of blessing on my head.
6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,
too great for me to understand!