Remembering the Promises

You asked me around 9 am this morning if I remembered what I was doing 39 years ago at this time...and I couldn’t answer your question.



I remember I had been awake for hours already and was getting ready to “go get married” later that afternoon but the details of that last unwed morning elude me.

Ah, dear husband, how sweet to grow old with you and be forgiven for memory lapses...but while my mind can’t hold on to every little thing...what’s important is stored in my heart forever.

"You cannot return to a time,
but you can return to a place where promises were made."

~Robert Bault

While standing before God as He blessed us with the words of that little preacher man, we promised to have and to hold, from that day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, as long as we both lived.

We have kept those promises...and more...these 39 years…

We have shared:

• Perfect harmony and intense debates over our opinions
• Joy at welcoming our 3 boys into our lives
• Thankfulness for the daughters those boys chose
• Amazement at how smart and hilarious our grandkids are
• Laughter at the antics of your bothers
• Grief when we couldn’t hear their voices anymore
• Tears as we said goodbye to loved ones who left empty chairs around the table
• Pain in our bodies and bewilderment in our minds as so called perfect plans failed 

and so much more...to fulfill those promises... 

We have seen each other sink into sand up to our knees and then climb up onto that Solid Rock...

I had to see you thrown into the lion’s den, and while it nearly broke your body, you came out stronger in spirit than ever...



So now there is a storm...with thunder rumbles and lightening bursts...and wind so strong our umbrellas turn inside out...

We can no longer rely on our own understanding for 

anything and everything

BUT

 3 things remain always:

FAITH

in the One who knows us best

and knows what is best

to bring about His will for our lives

HOPE

that things will turn out alright in the end

because what the Lord created on August 9, 1977

will always be in His hands

and we can trust that the next chapter in His story for us

will be so much more than we can ever imagine...

and especially

 

LOVE

for Him

and you

and me

and us

and we

and forever and ever, amen!

And that's a promise!

Trust steadily in God,

hope unswervingly,

love extravagantly.

And the best of the three is love

.

1 Corinthians 13:13