On February 18, 2011, I underlined and dated three verses in my Bible:
Trust in the LORD and do good;
Dwell in the land and cultivate faithfulness.
Delight yourself in the LORD;
And He will give you the desires of your heart.
Commit your way to the LORD,
Trust also in Him, and He will do it.
Psalm 37:3-5
I sensed the LORD was telling me at that time to quit “planning ahead”. I was discontent with a lot of aspects in my life and had been trying to re-work everything to be what, in my limited understanding, would honor God the most. I was reminded that He asks for faithfulness where I am now and that it is Him who prepares me for what’s to come. I don’t need to know and control the future, because He knows it and He’ll carry and sustain me through everything. I clung to those verses for weeks (and still do).
Two days before, on Feburary 16, 2011, I met Adam. (If you can believe it, I wasn’t the one to remember this day. He was!)
On March 13, 2011, I went on my first date with Adam to the Bronx Zoo. From what I knew of him, I liked him. I thought he was cute. But I could never have known all that God would do.
Yesterday, on August 14, 2011, just five months after that first date, Adam asked me to be his wife. I said yes!
I look back at the past five months and I see God’s faithfulness written all over our lives. I see two weak, sinful human beings relying on God’s grace and being transformed by the power of the Holy Spirit. I see mistakes being made and grace being shown. And God has reminded me that He provides good gifts to His children, to those whose hearts are fully His. I see how He prepared me, not by making me a good girlfriend or wife, so to speak, but by teaching me to rely fully on Him, to wait on Him, to trust in Him. He had me stop trying to peek around the corner to figure out what was coming next and taught me to dwell in the land and cultivate faithfulness. Not that I do it perfectly, but by His grace, He has enabled me.
The coming months will inevitably be exciting, and the past five certainly have been. I am praising Jesus for every moment and pray that whatever we do, Jesus might be glorified and made beautiful through it. This is all about Him, all about reflecting the gospel to the world, all about displaying His love.
This morning I am thankful for Jesus and the gift of being able to serve Him and make Him known. This morning I am thankful for a man who loves Jesus first and foremost and who loves me well because of it.
To God alone be the glory.
Taste & See 