Recently I've been reminded of how lucky I am to have married my best friend. I remember for many years, waiting and waiting for that special person to come into my life. I dated a few different guys, but when I met my Jason, I knew. I knew his friendship was different. I knew his smile was different. It was for me. It was just for me. And now, as I look back over the last 5 years that I have known him, I am filled with such joy. When he came into my life my second year of college, I knew he was the man I was supposed to marry. I remember sitting in a worship service at his parent's church and just soaked in God's presence. At one point I opened my eyes, and look up at our worship leader and heard "that's the man you're going to marry". Immediately I thought, are you crazy Britt? You don't know this guy...and went through every reason why whatever I heard was wrong. I even remembered one of the conversations I had with my Dad when I was younger about how sometimes we think we are hearing God speak to us, when it just might not be him but rather ourselves. So I went home that night after church and journaled. (It would be fun to go through those old entries just to see all that I had said) Anyway, I decided, I'll just give this to God, lay it down, and see where it goes. After a few weeks of hanging out in groups, one evening everybody bailed and Jason and I ended up being the only ones to go to our weekly coffee night. And that's when I began to realized that God might have had something to do with what I heard in my heart that one night. Over the next 6 months, I really began to fall in love with this guy. And after being just friends for the entire school year, we decided to give a relationship a shot. We dated for 8 months and got engaged. 7 months later we were wed. It was such a fun time. Looking down and seeing a diamond on my ring finger was unreal, especially because it was from the guy that had become my absolute best friend over the span of the last year.
Our honeymoon was wonderful. Romantic, exciting, and full of the hot summer weather you find in South Carolina and Georgia. Everyday was filled with adventure and exploring the east coast. We loved it! So much that we wish we could head back there and do it all over again. I remember one evening we decided to ride our bikes over to another part of Hilton Head Island to see some outdoor concert and eat another incredible dinner. As we were heading home, we noticed the clouds had rolled in and we were caught in a thunder storm/down pour. Which of course reminded us of our wedding day. If I haven't told that story, I'll have to do that another time. Anyway, Southern downpours in July are rather hot, so it was something to be experienced for sure. No need to run under shelter when the rain will only cool you off for a little bit. Needless to say, our honeymoon was just what it should be. Just me and Jason.
The day we got home, we were welcomed by wonderful family and an overwhelming amount of gifts. There is nothing quite like having everything you could possibly need for your first home come in one day. It was like Christmas times ten! That evening though, we were hit with a ton of bricks by some incredibly difficult news. There was some traumatic things going on in the family that would eventually work itself out. Yet, our first year of marriage was incredible difficult. Not between Jason and I. That was beautiful, blissful, and exciting. But there was pain from what had happened after our honeymoon that dug so deep that there was always this dark cloud hanging over us. So as we were trying to get to know each other as husband and wife, we were also trying to deal with some painful family drama right outside our front door. But we made it through stronger. I remember when we had been married for a little over a year and the family issues had cleared up a bit, and we had learn to separate ourselves from it. It was like our honeymoon stage had just begun. I remember looking at Jason and seeing a new man. We were able to look at life differently. I was able to go to weddings and not cry. Before, I wasn't tearing up because of how beautiful everything was, (just cuz I'm more someone that gets really excited and giddy rather than filled with tears.) I was tearing up because I didn't understand why we had to have thunder and lightning on our wedding day. Or why the day we started our lives together (outside of the honeymoon times of bliss) everything had to change from joy to sorrow and anger. I was filled with a hope that these new couples getting married, wouldn't have to go through what we did. And none of them have praise God!
The point of this blog is not to point fault to anyone, or "brag" about how hard we have had it. The point is to show that those smiling faces in the wedding albums have more of a story to tell. The love that you profess on your wedding day deepens as time goes on. The love I have for Jason is different now, three years later. It's a deeper love. He has become my companion, my life partner. It's a process. Becoming one is a process. It's a difficult process at times, and extremely wonderful at others. I wouldn't change our story, because it's made Jason and I who were are today. The trust and faith I have in him is deeper than it might have been because we learned to depend on each other and the Lord from the beginning. Rather than living in pure romance and bliss, we had to learn to see past the frustrations and remember why we CHOSE to marry each other. We learned to deal with frustrations right then and there when they came up. Of course we still argue and bicker at times. Marriage has it's ups and downs. But those up's and down's have never made me question why I had married this man. They always challenge me to look at myself and change my attitude. Or just TALK it out with the man that I love. Open communication is sometimes the most difficult thing, but it's the most beautiful thing. It strengthens the relationship.
I have a feeling I've written WAY more than I normally do, and that this blog would actually be considered a short book. But it's for a purpose. Marriage is a challenge. If you fight, you are not alone. If you have had some difficult times, you are not alone. More couples have had diffulct first years of marriage than you would know. We've met many that have had their own difficult trials as well. It's life. And when life throws you lemons, turn it into lemonade:)
Blessings to you guys today,
I'm going to go and enjoy some time with the man that I love more and more each and every day. Yep, he's kinda perfect for me. Adorable. And oh so handsome:D
Britt
Our honeymoon was wonderful. Romantic, exciting, and full of the hot summer weather you find in South Carolina and Georgia. Everyday was filled with adventure and exploring the east coast. We loved it! So much that we wish we could head back there and do it all over again. I remember one evening we decided to ride our bikes over to another part of Hilton Head Island to see some outdoor concert and eat another incredible dinner. As we were heading home, we noticed the clouds had rolled in and we were caught in a thunder storm/down pour. Which of course reminded us of our wedding day. If I haven't told that story, I'll have to do that another time. Anyway, Southern downpours in July are rather hot, so it was something to be experienced for sure. No need to run under shelter when the rain will only cool you off for a little bit. Needless to say, our honeymoon was just what it should be. Just me and Jason.
The day we got home, we were welcomed by wonderful family and an overwhelming amount of gifts. There is nothing quite like having everything you could possibly need for your first home come in one day. It was like Christmas times ten! That evening though, we were hit with a ton of bricks by some incredibly difficult news. There was some traumatic things going on in the family that would eventually work itself out. Yet, our first year of marriage was incredible difficult. Not between Jason and I. That was beautiful, blissful, and exciting. But there was pain from what had happened after our honeymoon that dug so deep that there was always this dark cloud hanging over us. So as we were trying to get to know each other as husband and wife, we were also trying to deal with some painful family drama right outside our front door. But we made it through stronger. I remember when we had been married for a little over a year and the family issues had cleared up a bit, and we had learn to separate ourselves from it. It was like our honeymoon stage had just begun. I remember looking at Jason and seeing a new man. We were able to look at life differently. I was able to go to weddings and not cry. Before, I wasn't tearing up because of how beautiful everything was, (just cuz I'm more someone that gets really excited and giddy rather than filled with tears.) I was tearing up because I didn't understand why we had to have thunder and lightning on our wedding day. Or why the day we started our lives together (outside of the honeymoon times of bliss) everything had to change from joy to sorrow and anger. I was filled with a hope that these new couples getting married, wouldn't have to go through what we did. And none of them have praise God!
The point of this blog is not to point fault to anyone, or "brag" about how hard we have had it. The point is to show that those smiling faces in the wedding albums have more of a story to tell. The love that you profess on your wedding day deepens as time goes on. The love I have for Jason is different now, three years later. It's a deeper love. He has become my companion, my life partner. It's a process. Becoming one is a process. It's a difficult process at times, and extremely wonderful at others. I wouldn't change our story, because it's made Jason and I who were are today. The trust and faith I have in him is deeper than it might have been because we learned to depend on each other and the Lord from the beginning. Rather than living in pure romance and bliss, we had to learn to see past the frustrations and remember why we CHOSE to marry each other. We learned to deal with frustrations right then and there when they came up. Of course we still argue and bicker at times. Marriage has it's ups and downs. But those up's and down's have never made me question why I had married this man. They always challenge me to look at myself and change my attitude. Or just TALK it out with the man that I love. Open communication is sometimes the most difficult thing, but it's the most beautiful thing. It strengthens the relationship.
I have a feeling I've written WAY more than I normally do, and that this blog would actually be considered a short book. But it's for a purpose. Marriage is a challenge. If you fight, you are not alone. If you have had some difficult times, you are not alone. More couples have had diffulct first years of marriage than you would know. We've met many that have had their own difficult trials as well. It's life. And when life throws you lemons, turn it into lemonade:)
Blessings to you guys today,
I'm going to go and enjoy some time with the man that I love more and more each and every day. Yep, he's kinda perfect for me. Adorable. And oh so handsome:D
Britt
