{"id":132,"date":"2017-08-10T12:00:57","date_gmt":"2017-08-10T12:00:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/shop.honestreflections.net\/?p=132"},"modified":"2019-12-10T08:44:39","modified_gmt":"2019-12-10T13:44:39","slug":"the-first-five","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/2017\/08\/10\/the-first-five\/","title":{"rendered":"The First Five"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cMany waters cannot quench love, neither can floods drown it.\u201d \u00a0Song of Songs 8:7<\/strong><\/em>
\nToday is our fifth anniversary. \u00a0Two people who most had written off would never get married are celebrating the first 1826 days of their life together. \u00a0(Can\u2019t forget that extra day we had thanks to leap year.)<\/span>
\nI was 41 years old when we met, just a month shy of 43 when we married. \u00a0Neither of us have been married before. \u00a0Neither of us had children. \u00a0An anomaly. \u00a0No one thought either of us would marry. \u00a0I\u2019m sure if you asked our family and friends, if they were honest, they would give you a list of reasons why that would be true.<\/span>
\nThey would of been wrong. \u00a0They didn\u2019t take into account the God factor.<\/span>
\nGod\u2019s timing is always perfect. \u00a0I can say with complete confidence if I had met Ron one day earlier than I did, it wouldn\u2019t of been perfect. \u00a0It wouldn\u2019t of been on a tennis court, on a beautiful fall evening. \u00a0He wouldn\u2019t of taken my breath away quite like he did. \u00a0Not if it had been even one day earlier.<\/span>
\nIf I hadn\u2019t waited through my thirties. \u00a0If I hadn\u2019t worked on who I was and the issues I had, I wouldn\u2019t of been ready for the love we share. \u00a0I wouldn\u2019t have been able to receive the love Ron has for me. \u00a0I wouldn\u2019t of been able to give him the love I have for him. \u00a0I needed to let God into all of those place, shine His light on all of those past hurts and heal me. \u00a0I had to understand who I was in Christ before I could become who God had created me to be, Ron\u2019s wife.<\/span>
\nEvery day God gives us together reminds me of how intricately God is intertwined in our lives.<\/span>
\n\u201cThough one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves. A cord of three strands is not quickly broken.\u201d \u00a0Ecclesiastes 4:12<\/span><\/i>
\nFrom our happiest days, to our saddest, God is a part of them all. \u00a0I love thinking about how we listened to a series on marriage on our honeymoon. \u00a0I joke our first marriage counseling was the doubles clinics we did that week. \u00a0Ironically, playing tennis together is something that we can\u2019t do anymore. Even more ironic since that\u2019s how we met. \u00a0We still are trying to figure out why that is?<\/span>
\nOn our saddest days, He\u2019s there too. \u00a0If I ever doubt God\u2019s presence in my life I think about the day my beloved Cody died. \u00a0He was the closest thing to a son I think I will ever have. \u00a0That day, the day I received the dreadful call, Ron had walked in the door just five minutes earlier. \u00a0That was God in our lives. \u00a0Ron was there to hear my scream. \u00a0He was there to drive me to the hospital. He was there to hold me in the depths of my grief. \u00a0God knew that day was coming and he knew I would need Ron. \u00a0I know, without a doubt, when we face our greatest fears, God is there to carry us through.<\/span>
\nIt is through the people he places in our lives. \u00a0At the right times, the right moments, that He cares for us. \u00a0It is why we should follow the promptings we have to reach out to someone, to pray for them, to be there for them. \u00a0Those promptings are what leads to steps of faith. \u00a0When we take them, we have no idea where they will lead. \u00a0There is one thing I am sure of, I want to go where God leads me more than any other place.<\/span>
\nIt was a prompting that caused me to email Ron that first time. \u00a0It was a step of faith that this time it would be different. \u00a0It was one step after another that led our relationship, that tells our story. \u00a0I love that we followed God\u2019s plan for our lives. \u00a0The memories we made are so vibrant, our story is so full of life. \u00a0<\/span>
\nI\u2019m trusting God that this is just the beginning. \u00a0I pray often He\u2019ll give us forty more years together. \u00a0I pray specifically that they will be happy, prosperous and healthy. \u00a0I know there are no guarantees about tomorrow. \u00a0I\u2019m grateful for today.<\/span>
\nI\u2019m grateful for the first five, I\u2019m hopeful for the next five. \u00a0I\u2019m thankful God created a man that is perfect for me. \u00a0When I see his smile my heart skips. \u00a0I am constantly amazed at his response to life, so different from mine. \u00a0It is a gift. \u00a0We do complement each other. \u00a0His strengths are my weaknesses, mine his. \u00a0<\/span>
\nIt takes work. \u00a0It can be hard at times. \u00a0I love even when I\u2019m so mad at him I could spit, I still want to be with him. \u00a0I\u2019m thankful to have waited. \u00a0I\u2019m thankful I trusted. \u00a0I\u2019m grateful for every new day we receive. \u00a0I\u2019m grateful God is our third chord that cannot be easily broken.<\/span>
\nHappy anniversary my Love! \u00a0Praying for many more years together!<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cMany waters cannot quench love, neither can floods drown it.\u201d \u00a0Song of Songs 8:7 Today is our fifth anniversary. \u00a0Two people who most had written off would never get married are celebrating the first 1826 days of their life together. \u00a0(Can\u2019t forget that extra day we had thanks to leap year.) I was 41 years… Continue reading The First Five<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-132","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","without-featured-image"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/132","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=132"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/132\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1597,"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/132\/revisions\/1597"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=132"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=132"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=132"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}