27 years ago today I married the man who I now know God chose for me.  I cannot say I married my best friend that day.

You see Rob and I met in College and during the Holiday break his parents moved out of State.  College, at that time, was not for Rob so he moved with them.  He left saying I will see you, we will get married (because he had proposed to me in October after only knowing each other 3 months)and everything will be great.  A few short weeks later I called to talk with him, I was pregnant.

You see I really believe this was a bond that kept us with the plan of getting married (and the plan that God had for us… we just did not know it). Thankfully Rob was going to do “the right thing” and we were getting married.

If you ask Rob he will tell you that we are celebrating 27 years and 20 of those have been awesome.  You see we were kids having kids.  We ran away from home to start our lives.  I only remember the words I said that day of our wedding because the Pastor got them wrong… but I cannot tell you I actually meant them… that is, until we were long into our marriage.

Marriage is not to be taken lightly.  It is something you need to work on every day.  Marriage is also a huge commitment.  When it gets tough you work harder and longer.  Just because you hit a speed bump you don’t quit.

Today 27 years later as I think back on that day… what was I doing?  Today I know I was following a path that God had set for me.  He knew that we were going to need that baby to make a relationship over 1000 miles away stick.  I think back to all the times I yelled “fine I’m leaving”… and the day when Rob said “next time you say that you had better follow through, because I am tired of hearing it”.   Bringing baggage from your past and your families past into a relationship and expect it to work cannot make it if it is not built on a firm foundation.  I am thankful that God did not give up on us even though we actually had a Pastor say to his wife as we were pulling out if his driveway “they will NEVER make it”.

Marriage is too important of a covenant to take lightly so if you are married or are planning on getting married please take a few minutes to look over the traditional marriage vows and ask God to make them ring true in your heart and marriage.

I, ____, take you, ____, to be my lawful wedded(husband/wife), to have and to hold, from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, until death do us part.

May God bless your marriage today and may you recognize the lies of Satan for what they are… LIES downright LIES….