This past weekend, Kevin and I celebrated six weeks of being married. I never did write about my wedding here, because I was waiting for the photos — which came glorious and gift-wrapped on Friday.
I suppose I appreciated my wedding more than some. After all, during the past decade, I have actively waited, avoided being buddies, navigated painful false starts, sought to shed my single identity baggage and come to recognize my position as a vessel of honor. This makes me no expert on singleness, just as meeting Kevin and marrying him makes me no expert on getting married. But it does make me feel deeply grateful for what God has done in bringing my husband and me together.
Kevin and I got married on a horse farm in Larkspur, Colorado. My mom grew up on a Colorado horse ranch, so the setting was perfect. September 12 dawned cold and dreary, preventing us from having the outdoor wedding we had planned. But there was no dampening our spirits. We simply arranged the chairs inside one of the barns.
When we were planning our wedding, Kevin and I had two goals. First, we wanted the gospel to be proclaimed. Second, we wanted every piece of the ceremony to celebrate the unique story God had written in our lives. Because Kevin and I met while I was wearing a Wordless Book bracelet, we gave them out as our favors and had our pastor explain the gospel story behind them as part of his message. We also invited six individuals/couples who are close to us to stand and bless us, using Scriptures they had specifically chosen to commission our marriage.
I think before I was married, and particularly when no guy was in the picture, I wondered if I would feel drastically different once my husband came on the scene and especially once I was married. But the transition was surprisingly fluid. My wedding day was much like the rest of my life. Yes, it was a huge celebration of what God had done and the gift He had given, but it was also clearly a new position from which I (and Kevin) could glorify Him. Our very marriage shouted loud and clear about the kind of God we serve — One who is generous, loving and creative. One of Kevin’s unsaved friends has since asked about going to church with us.
And that was the best part about my wedding day — that others got to witness the great thing God had done. In “Vessel of Honor” I wrote about how the shuttle driver prayed for me. In that same prayer he asked God to give me a husband who shared my heart for children. Kevin was that man. Lisa recently rode in the shuttle with Tony and gave him the update. “Glory be to God!” he shouted. I couldn’t agree more.
Copyright 2009 Suzanne Hadley Gosselin. All rights reserved.
