My husband Craig and I went from our first date to our wedding date in 11 months – not to mention that I was only nineteen years old!
Needless to say, I’ve had my fair share of questions about our relationship!
What’s the rush for? Don’t you think you should wait until you’re older? What made you take such a huge leap?
And my answer for just about any and every question is the same - God.
Our wedding day // Communion and our first prayer together as a married couple
I gave my life to Jesus toward the end of my sophomore year of high school – right around my sixteenth birthday – after a long history of seeking love and acceptance from dating. It wasn’t long after God got a hold of my heart that I realized I needed to change both my heart and my habits. And so, to make a long story short, I made the commitment to remain single.
There were a few times during my season of singleness that men took steps to pursue me.
I could make it work! Maybe he really is the one? He’s pretty godly, so wouldn’t be okay for me to settle?
Taking the issue to the Lord in prayer, I always tried to talk God out of saying “no”. Just like any other young woman, I wanted to know who the “One” was - like, now! But in every case, there was always a lack of peace, and I knew deep in my heart that they weren’t it.
But that all changed when I met Craig.
As our friendship began to blossom, I found myself being scared of commitment, opening up, being vulnerable…you name it! Though I laugh about it now, I found myself actually trying to talk God out of bringing us closer together.
But in the midst of our crazy, new friendship, I trusted God. As I cried out to Him, “but I don’t want to!”, He was whispering, “just trust Me. I know what’s best.”
As Craig and I ventured into dating, God continued to orchestrate everything beautifully. And when the topic of marriage came up, the peace that surrounded the idea was undeniable for us both.
When we came the conclusion that we could serve and love God better together than we could apart, we knew that we were called to marriage.
All in all, God’s fingerprints were all over every detail of our relationship – even from day one.
Knowing that pursuing a relationship with Craig was pushing me closer to Jesus than pulling me away from Him, gave us both the peace that we needed to proceed in marriage.
