35 YEARS

WOW! Who would have ever believed that this day would have ever come!

We started out with dreams and visions and plans. I was young, naive, trusting and VERY much in love. He was not a pastor and I was not a pastor's wife. We had no intention of heading in that direction.

No one - not one single person was happy about our marriage, except us. No one - not one single person thought we should get married, except us. No one - not one single person believed that we would make it one year, except us.

But God was in it.

We both had been married before. We both had a past and a history of making stupid decisions.

But God....

We both knew that this was the first time for either of us that we experienced God's love for someone else instead of the selfish love of what "he can do for me"... or how "he makes me feel". It was a love and desire to do something for the other. It HAD to be God's love.

We talked of "God's gift of love". On the sign of the church where we got married, the sermon title for that Sunday was, "God's Gift of Love". It was a confirmation to us that we were making the right decision.

He said, "if we keep God in the center of our marriage, we will make it. If we don't, we won't"

We almost didn't make it. The first 7 years were the years of thunder, lightening and storms (of course, the kind made in heaven).

God's faithfulness and goodness sustained us. Without it, we would have gone the way everyone thought we would. It is good to go against the odds and win. It is good to go with God.

Out of this marriage we have had 4 wonderful children who are impacting the world and making a difference. They touch lives, they are leaders, they are mighty men an women of God.

It is great to be married to the love of my youth and grow old together. As they say, the best is yet to come.

Happy Anniversary, Honey - I love you!