David and I celebrated 20 years of marriage yesterday. It is really hard for me to believe that it has been 20 years ago that I put on a white dress, met my dad at the back of the church and walked down the isle to become the wife of a man that I loved so deeply. I had no idea that day what the future would hold for me and if anyone would have told me what my life would looked like 20 years later I would have had a very good laugh. I am thankful that day that I didn't know what was ahead- all of the joys, sorrows, blessings and heartaches that were to come.Honestly if someone would have told me that I would have six (and maybe seven) kids I might have ran the other direction that day.
The past 20 days have been a journey down memory lane and I have enjoyed every day. 20 days before our anniversary David handed me a note card and a gift. I had no idea that it was 20 days prior to our big day but I quickly found out. The first note card said, "Year 1" on the outside of the envelope. I opened the card and inside was written May 1992- May 1993 along with a note reminding me of all that took place that year. The gift that he gave me was a symbol of what he had written. Each day for the past 20 days I received such a gift.
Almost every day the notes in the cards made me cry.......some of the tears were very joyful and some were painful. There were times that I smiled as I thought back to the precious times such as the days when our children were each born, when we bought our first house (sight unseen because I was 9 month pregnant and it was half way across the US), when God called us to plant a church, my first trip to Ethiopia, when Tia and Garrett finally became ours. Then there were times of heart ache when we lost a baby, moved far away from everything we had ever known for seminary, the loneliness of being a new mom in a very small town, the doctor said that I was in heart failure, the nights I would ask David if I was going to die, the phone call saying that the twins were unadoptable. Each year held something different, something that had shaped me into who I am today.
As I think back over the past twenty years I am thankful for each season, the good seasons, the hard seasons, the growing seasons and the seasons that I would rather forget........each one God used to remind me of who He is. The times where He held me, the times He caught each tear, the times He celebrated with me, the times He wanted me to trust Him, the times He loved me, the times He made me wait because He knew that was best...........and to think He gave me someone to be His hands and feet right beside me all of the way- I am forever thankful for the love that He has given to me by giving me a husband who has loved me for these 20 years- Simply Amazing!
