Mark 10:9 says, “Therefore what God has joined together let no man separate.”
The world would have us believe that at 20 and 23 we were too young to make a life-long commitment. However, about two years before I had already made a lifelong commitment to serve God and worship him only.
Trent found in me a young woman so full of faith in the overwhelming, undeserved goodness of God. And I found in him the unconditional love, loyalty, strength, and consistency of a solid man of God.
But man, were we young. And man, were we poor.
We honeymooned in Key West but couldn’t afford to do anything other than walk around the island. We only ate out twice the whole week; instead we grocery shopped and cooked at our little bungalow. No snorkeling, no admission to Hemingway’s house, no scooter rides. But we were together, and that was all that mattered.
The early years of our marriage helped us build our faith in God to always provide for us. We had so many babies so close together. And God was with us everyday. Then even after our finances became more comfortable God called us to bigger things than we could have imagined when we were newly married. We never had any doubt that God would provide the financing for both of our adoptions.
We knew our scripture and that “of whom much is given, much will be required.” We had been given the gift of a fantastic marriage. It was required that we share that gift in some way. Adoption is one way we were able to do that.
I am so grateful for the years we struggled. Not only did we learn to fully rely on God, but we were able to focus on what was most important. Many years we didn’t have money to eat out, let alone go away on a trip for our anniversary. Some years we were able to get away for a weekend and build some memories. Other years we had a new baby and attempted to take her long for a most unromantic, tear-filled (memorable) weekend to Trent’s parents’ cabin. This year we opted for take-out Chinese food and leftover Thanksgiving wine after our six daughters were in bed.
I am far from a perfect wife. In fact, today, our actual anniversary, 99% of my texts to Trent have been to complain about the things that have gone wrong in my day or to ask the most random questions (Is there a UPS in Quarryville? Should I go back to the pharmacy or just go home?)
The love I have for Trent is so much fuller and deeper than it was fourteen years ago. We were laughing the other night about high schoolers writing “never change” to each other in their year books and what a dumb thing that is to say. I’m so glad Trent and I are different from when we married. Even our faith has grown and matured into the steady bedrock of our marriage it is now.
It’s a treasure to get the opportunity to be married to Trent. I’m always trying to remind myself not to take him for granted and know I fail at times, but I am truly truly grateful for him.
Watching Trent father our daughters with patience is the most amazing thing to me. Last night he was rocking Heidi before bed and I felt I couldn’t love him more. I felt like I was getting a little glimpse of heaven as I considered how much our Heavenly Father loves each of us.
I could be biased but I think we’re getting better looking the older we get. Haha!
Happy anniversary, Trent! I love you. Thanks for going along with a lot of my crazy ideas and for being our sanity in this house overflowing with females.
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