Wedding Eve

That's right, it's almost here. The Big Day is less than 24 hours away! Too bad it's not my "big day" we're talking about! But oh well. It'll be good, and I'll laugh and smile a lot. And I'll watch my best friend enter into a time of less freedoms, and more responsibility. And maybe that's all I need to remind myself that I'm not as ready for it as I think I am!

Please be praying for them. They need it. There are so many life changes that they are about to go through in a very short period of time - not only those associated with marriage, but also those that come with parenthood, and just growing up in general.

Pray for me also. That God will remind me all the time that it is He who holds their future in His hand. I have no reason to worry (which is not a spiritual gift, by the way!), because I need to trust that the One who created them is prepared to handle all that they have in store, because He is their God too!

I don't know if I will blog about these two anymore. I'm sure I'll blog about this little bundle of joy that's on his or her way from time to time, though. So maybe I will. Maybe you will get to continue in their journey along the way. And mine. Because God has used so much of their story to impact my own spiritual growth over the last several months.

I am walking away from this time feeling much more mature in so many ways.

Oh, and there's another married couple that I would ask you to keep in your prayers. My neice, Ashleigh, is about to be a senior in high school. And due to some incredibly horrible life situations that I can't go into detail about, her mom (my sister) gave her and her boyfriend, Shaun, consent to get married in order to escape some of those issues. They were married on July 30, 2005. I know that anyone without perspective on this situation could have the opinion that it was a horrible thing to use marriage as a way out. But those of us who know all the details, know that this was the best option given the circumstances.

So pray for them, too. Because like my best friend, they are entering into something holy. No matter what the reason. Marriage is nothing less than a picture of God's relationship with His people. And that's a big deal. As any married Christian could tell you, it's one of the hardest things on earth to make one's marriage look like a picture of God to the world, especially when you can't control the actions and attitudes of the other person. (It's hard enough to control our own!)

And pray that these couples will remember a phrase that I, personally, will need repeated to me in all my relationships until I die - because it's true, and because it's easy to forget. It's a phrase that their marriages will need to have nailed onto the walls:

Love is a decision.