Wedding Bliss

I have a friend. 

She is a lovely, godly woman who also happens to be rather opinionated and...I think I'm gonna go with zany as the most accurate descriptor.    

I've known her since college.  Staying in touch with people is not necessarily one of my strengths, so we didn't stay close after college, but while I was in Warrensburg she moved back there to be near her fiance.  When she came back we started hanging out and it turned out to be an amazing blessing.  We studied scripture and I was encouraged; we prayed and I felt the joy of being known and understood.  As we talked and joked, I often laughed until I cried; as we drank our coffee and shared some fabulous meals, I got a little chubbier. It was a wonderful time for our friendship although not my for my waistline.

This weekend, my friend got married.

 It was amazing.

My sweet friend had to wait a while for marriage, but I think that God used that time of singleness to refine her.  I see so much more joy than I remember from when we were friends before; so much more patience and willingness to let go of the things that can hurt rather than holding on.  She is an encouragement because even though I know for a fact that singleness wasn't an easy road for her, God used it to make her more like Him. 

I am so, so happy for my wonderful friend and her new husband.  I feel privileged to have been a witness to their marriage.  I pray that their marriage would be a reflection of the marriage between Christ and the Church, that they would learn to love each other well, that the world would look at their marriage and see the difference that a covenant before God makes in the way that a husband and wife treat each other.  I know that they will have hard times, but I pray that they would support each other and  build each other up.

Congratulations Dacia and Bob!

May your future look a little something like this: