Once upon a time there was a wedding...
I think all girls want their wedding day to be special, unique, something to be remembered. More than anything, I wanted my wedding to point to something greater than me. I wanted it to point back to Jesus and the greatest romance of all.
I wanted our wedding to tell a story. The only story that really matters.
I had this dream of using Scripture to tell that story. The story of lives that are broken, shattered, searching for something, seeking to fill the void...the story of one redeemed. The story of how Jesus can take a life, change it, and set it on a path that's continually filled with His goodness and faithfulness, even in the midst of running and doubting.
It's an unbelievable story, yet it perpetually happens over and over again. Hopefully it's your story, too.
Here's ours. It's what was read during our wedding ceremony by a older, wiser couple who has mentored us and loved us well. We hope you'll take the time to read, absorb, and let the truth of these words resonate within you deeply.
________________________
Wife: I'm just a girl.
I think all girls want their wedding day to be special, unique, something to be remembered. More than anything, I wanted my wedding to point to something greater than me. I wanted it to point back to Jesus and the greatest romance of all.
I wanted our wedding to tell a story. The only story that really matters.
I had this dream of using Scripture to tell that story. The story of lives that are broken, shattered, searching for something, seeking to fill the void...the story of one redeemed. The story of how Jesus can take a life, change it, and set it on a path that's continually filled with His goodness and faithfulness, even in the midst of running and doubting.
It's an unbelievable story, yet it perpetually happens over and over again. Hopefully it's your story, too.
Here's ours. It's what was read during our wedding ceremony by a older, wiser couple who has mentored us and loved us well. We hope you'll take the time to read, absorb, and let the truth of these words resonate within you deeply.
________________________
Wife: I'm just a girl.
Made in the image of God.
Husband: I'm just a boy.
Made in the image of God.
Wife: He has shown me what is good. And what does the Lord require of me? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with my God.
I didn't know what it would mean for my life or how it would define me.
Husband: Let me go to Him, for I am just a child.
I didn't know how much I would want Him or how much I would need Him.
Wife: I honored the Lord with my words, but my heart knew nothing of what it truly meant to be close to Him.
Husband: My parents trained me up in the way I should go, trusting that when I was old I would not turn from it….that in later days, I would return to the Lord my God and obey Him.
Wife: I was a white-washed tomb, a perfected Christian on the outside….but my insides were filled with decay and despair.
Husband: My heart became calloused, my ears deaf, my eyes closed….otherwise, I might have known. Otherwise, I might have been healed sooner.
Wife: I needed to see to believe. "Stop doubting and believe" He said… but I needed to see His hands, His feet…to touch His side…
Husband: "Come to me," He said to me, "Come to me, you who are weary. I will give you rest." I didn't want to listen…I can do this on my own.
Wife: He spoke tenderly to me, reminding me that no one could snatch me out of His hands. I was His and He was mine.
Husband: I sought after my lovers, but I could not catch them. The castle I begun to build for myself crumbled around me.
Wife: I wanted love. I deserved love, I thought. He pleaded: "Do not arouse or awaken love until it so desires"
Husband: I was lost…and He found me. He spoke life into me, "My son…you are always with me and everything I have is yours"
Wife: Lord, if you are willing… you can make me whole. Help me love my enemies, help me give to everyone who asks… show me how to take the plank out of my own eye before constantly trying to remove the speck from my brother's…
Husband: I have been given a new heart and a new spirit. My heart of stone has been replaced by a heart of flesh.
Wife: And yet I worried, and still He said: "Do not arouse or awaken love until it so desires"
Husband: The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because He has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor.
Wife: Lord, are you good? I keep waiting, I keep asking, I keep giving. Are you a dad who will give me a snake when I ask for a fish? And again You say: "Do not arouse or awake love until it so desires" I say to myself, "The Lord is my portion; therefore I will wait for Him"
Husband: While I was still a sinner, He sent His son to die for me… I have found freedom in being led by the Spirit of God, reaping the gift of eternal life…longing to be obedient in all things for He has given when I have deserved nothing.
Wife: I've considered all things a loss compared to knowing Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior. Everything else I consider garbage that I may gain more of Christ. I want to know Christ more. I need to know Him more…to act justly, to love mercy, to walk humbly…
Husband: I've learned to be content no matter my circumstances… in all things. For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus' sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. For me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.
Both: I am confident of this: I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord.
Wife: God is good.
Husband: All the time.
Both: You were shown these things so that you might know that the Lord is God; besides Him there is no other.
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