One year ago today...

The other night I got inspired and I wrote my vows that I will be sharing with Stephen on April 16, 2011. Some days, I still can't believe that in just a few months I will be a wife.

One year ago today, the new chapter in my life began. Stephen kissed me for the first time and it marked the beginning of our dating relationship. By the end of that week, he ran after me in an airport to wrap me in his arms and tell me that he loved me and I giddily squealed it back. And 5 months after that, he asked me to spend the rest of his life with him, and well, you all know how I of course said yes!

But one year ago today.... it all began with a kiss after a beautiful friendship that had formed through our passion for Jesus.

I've been learning a lot about relationships in the past year. Doing things God's way is so much harder than doing things the worldly way. Some days I just want to be selfish, but God is showing me that it's not just about me and my only child ways anymore, it's about putting Stephen first as we grow to become one soon as husband and wife. Stephen inspires me to want to be a better person, to love more boldly, to serve people like Jesus would, to love Jesus more intimately. Through this tangible love with Stephen in the past year, God has revealed to me so much more about His love for us as His children. There are times I question Stephen, like "Why? Why do you love me? Why me of any girl out there?" And I almost feel like it parallels my relationship with the Lord sometimes. Like, "Why, Lord, do you love me when I fail time and time again? Why did you die for my sins? Why do you show grace and continue to always take me back? Why do you keep loving me?" But I'm learning, with love, true love, it never fails. I've heard it for years, almost at every wedding, in 1 Corinthians 13:

"Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

Love never fails."

But in the past year as God has prepared me to be a wife, it's the first time I truly have come to understand the depths of how powerful and beautiful that verse is.

Here's to the happiest year of my life.... and to many more decades to come with the amazing man I can't wait to marry.....

I'm leaving you with a beautiful song by Brandon Heath that I adore about Jesus' love for us!