10 Years Ago Today… my man serenaded me in front of our friends and family (and my sobbing sister),  and I said “I do!” to him!  It is hard for me to grasp the sound of that number.  TEN YEARS?? Incidentally, I still sometimes get a lil’ butterfly when I hear “I Will be Here.” :)

With that number comes some assumptions…
1) You.are.OLD.  Really, back when you are single, or newlyweds, hearing someone say that they have been married for 10 whole years put them in a different category of life from you.  They were those “middle aged” people.  You know… the ones in their thirties! Gasp.  Further proving my point, our Sunday School class was just re-classified as 30’s to 40’s! Seriously.  I’m pretty sure that’s my parent’s SS class. Not mine.

and…

2) By the 10 year mark, you’re supposed to have finally achieved Proverbs 31 status or at least you’re getting close. Surely, by now, you have figured out how to truly minister, encourage, and love your husband in the best way possible, right?  And, of course, KNOWING this important info, you always choose to do so whenever possible even when you.do.not.feel.like.it.   Why does it seem like I should be a better wife by now than I am? 

But seriously…Back in my single days, I really wondered if I would ever get married.  It seemed like it was happening to everyone around me, but as the days closer to graduation neared, my singleness loomed largely in my glimpses of the future.  It’s one of the classic struggles that some of us go through while others are blissfully unaware.  They found their true loves earlier in life and don’t have to face the fears of threatening loneliness.  I knew that I was supposed to wait on God. That  I was better off waiting on His timing, but it was hard not to envy those that were already sharing special moments with their future spouse.

God had a different plan for me.  A plan that included bringing someone into my life after my four years of college. Someone I had known for several years, but never had really gotten to know.  He wasn’t  who I supposed he would be. Not even close. Instead, it was someone real who had so much to show me about living life.  How thankful I am that I didn’t get my plan.  I am thankful to be where I am in my spiritual thinking and know that God brought me here. If I would have ended up with that “image” I had in my head, I probably wouldn’t know any different. But now… I’m so thankful to have tasted freedom in Christ.  My Black Listed Sweetie has taught me about being confident in who I am and what God has taught me and not caring about who may think I’m less spiritual than them merely because I don’t follow their list of standards.

So after 10 years of marriage, 1) I am most definitely getting old.  2) I am not the wife that I would like to be.  Especially when I compare myself to my patient husband.  3) Now, more than ever, I am stopping to thank God for this man He gave me and the different path it has led me on.

Happy Anniversary, Sweetie! I love you.

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