You are so young to be getting married! Why would you want to be tied down now? You haven’t had a chance to experience life for yourself! Don’t you want to start your career and make more money before you get married? You haven’t even dated anyone else, how do you know he’s the one you want to marry?
While these questions and statements do have some valid points, let me explain…
Yes, I am young this is true, but marriage doesn’t have an age requirement or limit for that matter. Marriage isn’t about how much of life you’ve experienced or about the money in your bank account. While those other things do play a role in marriage, they are not the determining factors.Marriage is a convent.
The primary reason marriage is significant to God is because it is part of His ordained plan to provide the world with a picture of His love for mankind.
As Tyler and I embark on this new journey of becoming husband and wife we have established a marriage mission. Our marriage mission is to have a Christ-centered marriage that brings glory to God through the way that we love and the way that we live. We want to be servants of grace who give more that we’re given and forgive before we are forgiven. We want to love so radically that it confuses people and we want to walk through this messy life confessing we couldn’t do it without the grace of God.
It is so incredible that God brings two people together in such close unity that they become one. I don’t even know if I understand the fullness of that, but I do know that becoming one with Tyler will make me a much better person than I have ever been by myself.
Becoming one with Tyler will test my true Christian character. Moments of selfishness, pride, laziness, and impatience are going to be tempting and readily exposed on a daily basis.
In moments where I am tempted to react to my natural tendencies I will have the option to embody Christian character choosing to show sacrificial love, respect, submission, forgiveness, and perseverance.
Marriage will require me to grow deeper in my relationship with the Lord and embrace biblical means of resolving conflict and demonstrating Christian love.
I am marrying Tyler because I believe the Lord is calling us to enter the convent of marriage. He is calling us to embark on this journey that will be hard, exciting, joyous and sometimes painful, but He’s calling us to do it together. I believe if I sat around and waited until getting married made “sense”, that I’d be allowing satan to win because honestly, attempting to live this Christian life doesn’t often make “sense.”
At times I sat alone and pondered. Thoughts like, “Am I ready to be a wife? Will I be a good wife? Will I be ready to be a mom some day? What if I mix the red clothes with the whites? What if I burn his dinner? What if I say something hurtful in a moment of frustration? What if, what if, what if I’m never ready?”
The Lord spoke to me. I will never be ‘ready’ to be a wife.
Tyler will never be ‘ready’ to be a husband.
Being ‘ready’ is a lie.
It steals your hopes and dreams.
It paralyzes your feet from moving and cripples your heart.
It tricks you into believing that at some point, you’ll be ‘ready.’
Don’t be ‘ready.’
Be free.
‘Ready’ is for those who trust in themselves.
‘Freedom’ is for people who trust in the one who made them.
I will never be ‘ready’ for anything. I will never be ‘ready’ to be a wife. The future is uncertain, time is limited and everyday is a gift. I can’t and will not ever be able to fully equip myself alone to be ‘ready.’ How could I possibly be ready for something when I don’t know what that something is or what it will entail. I could spend hours upon hours attempting to get ‘ready’ but I much rather not waste my time trusting myself and instead rejoice in the freedom the Lord offers in trusting Him. The one who is always “ready.’
Tyler and I agreed that we will never be ‘ready’ to get married but we are ready to trust the Lord as we embark on this new journey of learning. Failing, messing up and falling short is all part of this beautiful journey of learning.
So getting married at a young age might not make sense to some people.
Something that makes sense to me is to marry the man that has loved me for 5 years. The man who has been by my side in the hospital, the man who’s grabbed my hands to pray, the man that teaches me to be still, quiet and to listen to the Lord, the man who possesses a childish joy that comes from the Lord, the man who has respected boundaries and fought to protect his future marriage, that, that man is the man I want to marry.
That is the man that Tyler is today. That is the man I want to give my life to. That is the man I want to spend the rest of my life loving, praying and encouraging.
So no, I don’t need to date anyone else to know that Tyler is the one. I may have never kissed another man, been on a date with another guy or experienced a different relationship, but I know that Tyler is the one the Lord has called me to commit my life to loving.
I’m not naïve to think that marriage is a fairytale, I know it will be hard, I know it will be messy, but I believe with the man I love by my side and The Lord leading the way, that marriage will be the biggest blessing.
so...marrying Tyler in 221 days, isn't soon enough.
xoxoxo
