Marriage Letters: On Our Anniversary

Oh, Huni.

Seven years. Wow. Seven years ago today we trotted our little scared but in love selves down that wide aisle, ready to give ourselves away all for the chance to love each other the rest of our lives. We had no idea what our tomorrow would look like but we were sure that no matter what the view, we wanted to see it together.

Remember that wave of fear that rushed over us when we stepped into the vestibule, after we said I do and you planted a big one on me? Emmanuel! We were sooooooo scared! Who’d a thunk it? And I’m not even sure why. Those few moments alone, without all the hustle and bustle of making preparations for the wedding, without the swarm of family and friends excitedly supporting and anticipating the union, all we had was ourselves and all this love that was supposed to get us from there to eternity.

We have since learned that love, as great and important as it is, is not enough. You need my respect as well as my love and I have learned that the more I love you and respect you, the more I participate in the Lord’s work of making you the man that He’s purposed for you to become. I apologize for all the ways that I have not loved you and the times that I allowed myself to think that I knew better at the risk of disrespecting you. I’m really sorry, Emmanuel. Our marriage is a big deal to me but I am only now opening up to allow God to heal all the broken bits of my heart and while He’s doing major surgery on me (which is probably going to last a lifetime) I’ll have these bouts of hard-to-love-me and hard-to-see-my-love. It’s a side effect of brokenness. But I’m in the fray. And I ain’t going nowhere. And I’m grateful to have a partner who’s as committed to this thing as I am.

So. Here we are. Seven years later. No longer afraid,well, at least not for the same reasons that were there seven years ago. . .

You’re my gift. I get so humbled when I think about my little girl self and see the woman that I am today. God is so great. He’s so good, so incredibly sweet to me to have built me to be a woman of great strength, wisdom, and power in my own right and then put a little polish on me when he gave me you. I’m a movement by myself but I’m a force when we’re together. ;0)

I’ll take this seventh anniversary as a chance to tighten my grip on your hand as we move from waltzing to marching into our purpose. And the beauty of it is that in this season, we’re a great deal clearer about what it is and how to do it. SO here, we go! So excited to see what this next chapter brings.