Today, I went to a wedding.
I've been to plenty of weddings, but this one was the most special. This was the first wedding I've attended that was a wedding of a dear friend. Weddings are just different when you truly know the bride and/or groom. I know that weddings typically aren't the time you want to think about the past, but I just couldn't help myself. As I watched my beautiful friend walk down the aisle, I thought to myself, "Wow. If only I could go back in time when we were talking in the car about the #boystruggle and tell her about this moment." She is radiant. She is walking down the aisle to join together with a man who completely adores and respects her (this is something I could see just from the look in his eyes as he saw her for the first time and kept his gaze on her the entire ceremony). She had been waiting for this moment. How often do we look at our friends as they are going through tough times and wish that they could see the treasure that they truly are? We just want to hug them, encourage them, and remind them of God's sovereignty.. But how often do we also forget for ourselves that God is faithful? Oh, how faithful He is. He is beyond faithful. That word to me, at this moment, doesn't even seem fitting from the Love I saw and experienced today. God has so much more for us than we could even dream of.
In my ministry school, we did an exercise where we wrote of a time when God was faithful, and tried to remember all of the details. As I was writing, I was blown away by all of the little "coincidences" I noticed. I encourage you all to think of a moment of God's faithfulness and dwell on it. Notice how it begins to not only stay a moment of God's faithfulness, but a movement. I kept thinking, "Oh, well… this happened. But this happened because of this. And that came about because of that one time three years ago.. which wouldn't have happened if…"And when you focus on the movement of God's never-ending faithfulness, it overwhelms you in the best way.
Of course, your life is not always going to be gummi bears and lightning bugs. Of course it's not. But when you realize that everything happening to you is to make you more Christ-like, then it takes a bit of the weight off. I've said this before and I'll say it again: You can follow your heart, and you will be happy with your life. But when you seek God's heart and allow Him to guide your steps, the paths that you walk on with Him (going before, behind, and with you) will bring such an abundance of joy. A joy that I cannot even fathom but I am catching a glimpse of right now because of a friend who was faithful and waited on the Lord. "Yet what we suffer now is nothing compared to the glory He will reveal to us later." This wedding was saturated in hope, and the glory of God was so unavoidable. It is a precious moment to watch your friend have her prayers fulfilled after dreaming for so long. It is a miracle that God allows us to find that other human that we can dream along with.
I am inspired by my friends. I am honored and humbled that God allows me to catch glimpses of His glory and power each and every day. He is so faithful. And I am so thankful.
I will wait for You, more than the watchmen wait for the morning.
