1 Year Together

It is AMAZING to me to think we have been married for a year! Sometimes I feel it was just yesterday- and sometimes I feel like we've always been married :)

(This post is a few days late since we were celebrating and I didn't have time to blog on the real day) :)

On our sixth month anniversary, I posted about my top ten favorite things about being married. This time, I thought I'd write about my five favorite things I've learned *while* being married.

1. I remember a sweet friend telling me once, "You'll never know how sinful you really are until you get married." At the time, I was completely puzzled about what she meant. Boy Howdy, now I understand :) Being married is like looking in a mirror and seeing yourself as you truly are- I think a lot like the way God sees us. It has truly helped me grow in my walk with the Lord EXPONENTIALLY!

2. That things will not always turn out the way you wanted them to- and that's OKAY! In fact, that's GOOD. Looking back, I would have thought our lives one year into marriage would look completely different from how they look now. But Praise be to God for His Perfect Plans. And thanks be to God for teaching me contentment, and helping me realize *my* way isn't the best way.

3. How being young and being married is one of the best gifts the Lord has given me. So many people questioned and told us we were too young. My favorite reply to that, of course, was "My grandmother had been married for 6 years and already had 4 babies with another on the way by now. The way I look at it, I'm way behind." I was joking... mostly... but I loved to watch people's faces when I said it :)

4. How much more a supportive and loving family means to you. I've called my momma probably a billion times in the past year, with questions ranging from, "How in the world do I get x stain out of y fabric?" to "Now how exactly do I make this pie?". All the silly things I really thought I knew before I got married... that I apparently didn't know. I think while you live at home, you don't really appreciate all the little things.

5. That love can grow and change in ways completely unexpected. I love my husband in so many different ways now- not just the silly girlish love that is desperate for his attention (of course, that's still around sometimes!), but also a steady kind of love- a kind of love I believe can only come from the Lord. The kind where you would lay down your life for one another, and I don't mean in the dramatic "Romeo and Juliet" kind of way. I mean the daily, silly, sometimes ridiculous way. Like laying down desires and needs to make room for the other's way. The same sweet someone who once told me how I'd see my own sin better when I was married also once spoke to me about living for the Lord. I remember her saying, a lot of people would say they would die for the Lord. The kind where someone holds a gun to your head and asks you if you are a Christian. But how many people can LIVE for the Lord? The kind of life where you daily lay down your needs, your desires, and your wants. It's a lot harder to die every single minute. And that's how I see true married love. It may sound completely ridiculous, but dying to your need to fold tee shirts a certain way can be hard. Dying to your need to wash the dishes a certain way can be hard. Silly? Yes. But I don't think anyone but a happily married couple can understand how much those little things mean.

Thank you to everyone who remembered our anniversary even though I didn't post about it. It *truly* warmed my heart.

We read our vows again to celebrate- and to remember. It was very convicting to remember all the things I vowed before God. May He give us, in His Everlasting Mercy, many more happy years together, and many more things learned.

GROOM

I, Colin, covenant before God and man, to you Lauren Christine to
be your loving husband, and to lead you, to protect you, and provide for you in devotion to the Lord.

I vow to love you as my wife as Christ loved the church, to lay down my life for you, to wash you with the water of the word, to love you as my own body and to nourish and cherish you as the Lord does the church; to render unto you the affection due you, knowing that I do not have authority over my own body but you do, to dwell with you according to knowledge, giving honor unto you and living together with you as heirs together of the grace of life.

You alone will be my delight as the wife of my youth where divorce is neither a threat nor an option. I will fight for you and for our family. I will be yours in times of plenty and in times of want, in times of sickness and in times of health, in times of joy and in times of sorrow; in times of failure and in times of triumph till death do us part. I pledge to you my life as a loyal and faithful husband.

BRIDE

I, Lauren Christine, covenant before God and man, to you Colin, to be your loving wife, and to obey you, be faithful unto you, and care for you in devotion to the Lord.
Just as the Church is subject to Christ in all things, so will I be unto you in everything. I will live first for God, and then for you. I vow to always build up our household and seek to crown you by nobility in my character. I will discretely and chastely keep our home, working with eager hands, and always seeking to bring you good, not harm, all the days of my life.
If the Lord so chooses to bless us, it will be my delight to be the fruitful bearer of your children, and I will help you teach them the commandments of the Lord as we talk of them in our house, as we walk by the way, when we lie down, and when we rise up. Wherever you go, I will go. I will not separate myself from you. Wherever you lodge, I will lodge, your people will be my people, and your God, my God. The Lord do so to me, and more also, if anything but death parts you and me. I will be yours in times of plenty and in times of want, in times of sickness and in times of health, in times of joy and in times of sorrow, in times of failure and in times of triumph, till death do us part. I pledge to you my life as your loyal, obedient, and faithful wife.