love.

Valentine's Day has always been one of my favorite days. Not because I love pink or purple or red, because they aren't my favorite. Not because I like to draw hearts everywhere, because I only do that in cards that I write to people. Not because of how the world celebrates it, because it's overrated.

But, it is one of my favorites, because it's about LOVE! Where would we be without love? For God is love, and if we didn't have God, we would be hopeless!

I could get deeper into how GREAT God's love is, but I'm going to take another route. I challenge you to find out how deep God's love is for yourself!

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We were young. In the eyes of the world, we probably weren't young, but, in my opinion, we were. We were so different. We came from two different worlds entirely. We didn't grow up together even though a mere 25 miles separated us. We knew nothing of each other, except for one year of 3rd grade together (but that's when boys were gross and girls were silly). But God's glorious orchestration of our lives had us step into each other's lives at the exact moment He wanted us to. I don't regret it either...

He loved snow and any sport that had anything to do with it! I only liked snow at Christmas and never snowboarded or skied in my life. He built forts with his best friends when he was little. My only attempt at a fort got washed away when the creek was swollen from spring rain. He thrived on anything that would potentially hurt him (you know, motocross, climbing trees much to small, etc.). I thrived on reading, babies, and being home. He hated cake. I loved it. He didn't like birthday parties. I thought they were special. He had the biggest dreams of anyone I had ever met. I was totally practical, setting goals, not paying attention to dreams. He was messy. I was a perfectionist. He hated school. I, most of the time, didn't mind it. He forgot everything. I remembered as much as I could stuff into my brain. He was the baby of the family. I was the oldest. He flew by the seat of his pants. I did not. He was named Patrick. I used to hate that name! He wanted 2 kids max. I wanted like 10.

But wait! We both loved ice cream. Movie nights helped us relax. We both loved to laugh. We both could spend hours upon hours outside in the summer. We liked to be active. We both liked quiet moments. We both liked to sing (it took him a WHILE to figure this out). We both loved road trips, even if they lead to no where. We liked taking walks. We likes trying new restaurants. We both loved finding every waterfall in the area that we could. We both liked skipping rocks. We loved. We loved. We loved... each other.

I'm not going to say that the first few years, after our one year of sublime friendship, of dating were fabulous. Everyone thought I was nuts. They told me I was ruining my life. They told me that I was seeking the wrong person. They told me that there was no hope. We argued... I cried. He got mad. It was hard. Sometimes it felt like everyone in the world was against what I knew was right.

But God. He knew. He lead and whispered to me. I listened and drank up His loving ways.

Let's just say, if that was the end of the story, wouldn't it kind of be sad (other than God being there always)?!? oh yes! It would, but God is a much better story teller than anyone in this world is. So, since I'm His child and I'm trying to live my life for Him, my story is much better.

Five years after meeting each other, becoming friends, dating for four long years, here we are. Every morning, I wake up to  my hard-working husband shutting off the alarm. Every morning I get to hug him. Every morning I get to revel in the fact that I am his wife. Every morning, I make his lunch and pack special things just for him. Every morning I am reminded of God's marvelous grace.

Does this mean that our story is done? No! It's just beginning. I'm sure that the future holds sticky situations, trials, stresses, and tribulation. But, I know that it also holds joys, hopes, blessings, and more of God's grace!

We loved then. We still love now. We're different and yet the same. Our story is just beginning, but we will always have love, for God is love and all who are His have love.

God, thank you. for love. for grace. for patience. for direction. for each other.