July 2, 2006

Today marks 4 years since Tim and I were married.
It doesn't feel that long ago
that we promised to love and cherish....in good times,
and in bad.

Today, I am reminded of lyrics
of I Will Carry You by Selah
(the song my Mom and I recorded for Amelia)

Such a short time, such a long road
all this madness but I know
that the silence has brought me to his voice.

God has blessed me with an amazing partner on this journey
that he continues to lay out before us.
There have been times I thought I could see so clearly
the things God had in mind for us,
1 year down the road,
2 years down the road,
10 years - 20...
We have been blessed in ways I had not imagined we would be,
we have struggled in aspects of this walk
that I thought we had covered,
and we have walked with ease, together with God,
through some very dark days.

There are countless uncertainties that lay ahead.
Together we will continue to walk forward
knowing for sure, just a few things...

in this life:
we have known the deepest of love,
the unmatched joys of raising our children,
the unending mercy of Christ,
and the promise that there is so much more
that awaits us,
in heaven.

(His) Love never fails.

If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears. When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me. Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

1 Corinthians 13