It is my overwhelming joy to celebrate with my husband two whole years of marriage today. On August 21, 2010 I walked down an aisle for the last time as a single woman, and emerged from the sanctuary united as one flesh to the person I love most in this life. Chance, my husband, is without a doubt my best friend in the world and the person whom God has most used in my life to draw me closer to Himself. I am tremendously thankful to God for orchestrating our life circumstances in such a way, that we would fall deeply in love and have the opportunity to participate in [what I believe is the greatest relationship God ever created] marriage.
Two years may not seem like a long time, but in reflecting on everything that has happened in this short time span, I am amazed at all that God has accomplished in our lives. We recently returned from a long vacation to Florida, where we visited family and simply got to relax and spend quality time together. Chance had just finished a very (VERY) long paper for his second Greek class of the summer, in which he unpacked Paul's teaching on marriage in Ephesians 5:22-33. Just last Sunday, Chance had the privilege of speaking at his home church in Valrico, Florida to a class of college students, about this very passage. As I sat and heard my husband exposit this beautiful text on the union of marriage, I was struck by his zeal and excitement that he expressed. He spoke about how marriage is not simply a relationship between two people here on earth, but that it represents something so much greater--which is Christ's relationship with His bride, the church. Before our trip, Chance and I purchased the newly released book No Ordinary Marriage by Tim Savage to read and learn from together. Savage talked extensively about how marriage is meant to reflect the glory of God to the world and is for the purpose of glorifying God. He addressed married couples, wives, husbands, and singles as he sought to display the wonder of marriage and how it is anything but ordinary.
My greatest take away from the book was the reminder of selflessness within the marriage relationship. I was challenged to display the selfless love that my Savior showed toward me, in my marriage to Chance. Without God's abundant grace, this is impossible. I recognize how I need to ask for God's help daily, as I lay down my desires and make Chance's needs and desires more important than my own. I praise God that He has given me a husband to whom it is easy to submit because I know and see the sacrificial love that he has for me. I know without a doubt that his love is reserved for me alone, and that motivates me to serve him sacrificially. His love for me is not contigent on the way I treat him, in the same way that Christ's love for me is not conditional but unconditional. Today, I am reminded that our marriage is greater than ourselves because it is a picture of the gospel. What a privilege it is to participate daily in the this most intimate design, with the person I delight in the most! I love you Chance Sumner - HAPPY ANNIVERSARY SWEETY!
P.s. And today we find out what gender our baby is! Amazing!
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