God will make a home with you

Jesus replied, “All who love me will do what I say. My Father will love them, and We will come and make Our home with each of them.” (John 14:23)

David and I recently celebrated our 5-month wedding/10-month meeting anniversary on August 12th. Although I realize we’re still considered newlyweds, our love and appreciation for each other are timeless.

How many people marry and tire of each other in just a few weeks or months? Far too many, I fear. And yet, David and I can barely stand to be apart. We’ve waited a lifetime to be together, so every moment is a gift.

That statement is far from hyperbole. With my full-time, remote employment and David’s general retirement status, we are blessed to spend nearly every hour of every day together. We couldn’t do that if our lives weren’t so harmonious. Time apart is as minimal as we can muster. Togetherness, in my estimation, is the truest test of enduring love. We could easily tire of one another if we weren’t well-suited.

As someone who was previously married for 14 and then 12 years, respectively, I’ve lived on the opposite side of the spectrum for far too long. As a Christian woman married to professed believers who turned out not to share my faith, I used to feel it was my duty to be the best spouse I could be – all the while praying for hearts to change that had no desire to do so. For 26 years of my life, I endured physical and psychological abuse believing God would convert souls that were both immovable and unrepentant. Pray as I might, our incompatibilities and unequal yokes made for decades of misery that I’ve worked hard to forget. I never had five days or five even hours of anything good in those relationships – let alone five months.

All of that changed when God brought David into my world. My life, my entire existence is different with him. David and I thrive when we’re together and never tire of each other. Before every meal, we consistently pray – thanking God for the miracle of our love. Every day, we laugh, affirm, hold, kiss, and cherish each other more profoundly than the day before.

Every day, we gaze into each other’s eyes and celebrate the incredulity of finding one another. “We met on a bus” or “We got married” are our frequent refrains as we revel in the joy of such blessings. Simple as they sound, these declarations never cease to astound either one of us. We know the Originator of our happiness, and we are so grateful for the same. Our meeting, our compatibility, and our love for one another are all based on our joint devotion to God. We met because we both surrendered to our Savior. Two strangers from different states met under seemingly random circumstances to serve God – never imagining that in doing so, we would find our long-sought soulmates.  

And yet, here we are.

Still, David and I didn’t just meet on a bus, nor did we just happen to get married. I told David we need to refine our simple declarations to better reflect the magnitude of God’s magnificence.

David and I met on a Samaritan’s Purse bus after surrendering our lives to our Heavenly Father’s calling. In response to a natural disaster and in joint service to our Creator, it was there that we found the other piece of ourselves that we’d been searching for since birth. Had we not surrendered, we would never have received the blessing we hold in our hands and hearts today – true love and absolute compatibility. How else can we explain how we can love the same music (from contemporary Christian to classical), the same food (from spaghetti to seafood), and identical taste in movies and TV shows (from period dramas like “All Creatures Great and Small” to epic motion pictures like “Lord of the Rings”). Thankfully, there’s never any fighting over the remote control in our household.

David and I understand what it means to work hard – which is a good thing as we’re continually doing so. With the heavy responsibilities of maintaining our GA home as well as my mom’s when she is in CO, our yard work never ends. Two weeks out of every month, we travel back to VA Beach – where we are now – to work on David’s former house or renovation jobs that involve massive, manual labor. I often ask David if he could have ever imagined working with his wife in such a way. He always responds with a resounding, “Never!” Whether we’re digging ditches or re-shingling a roof, we still take the time to kiss, hug, and say “I love you” a thousand times a day.

Most importantly, throughout our hectic, helter-skelter existence, we cling to one another and God – celebrating the gift of true love presented to us by our Savior.

Although David and I didn’t do anything special on our anniversary, just being together was reason enough to celebrate. We both worked on renovation projects in our GA yard that day – me sanding a metal bird bath and David spreading epoxy on iron chairs – prepping both for repainting. As I began my project, I paused to turn on one of my favorite contemporary Christian music channels to praise God while I worked.

The first song played was one from our wedding – a favorite of ours by Jeremy Camp, entitled “Getting Started.” As the opening chords began, recognition dawned. David and I immediately gravitated to one another, as we always do, dancing and singing the lyrics to one another and God.

Looking up at the sky while we danced, I was struck by a 2-year-old memory of crying out to my Creator in a rare moment of abject loneliness while formerly working alone in my yard. I still remember the emotions that flooded my spirit as I looked up and told God how much I loved Him – even as my heart despaired at the absence of earthly love. As the cleansing tears streamed down my face, I recall surrendering my despondency to my Heavenly Father. In complete submission to His will, my Creator filled my spirit with His love and faithfulness – as He always did – providing me with everything I needed to go on.

Flash forward to our anniversary. As David and I danced in my yard, singing to God and each other, the tears fell anew as I realized how God always knows what I need when I need it. Two years ago, God knew then – as He always has – what He had in store for my future. I could never have imagined my resounding joy in finding David. Never in my wildest dreams could I have foreseen the beauty that would fill my soul at the reality of being loved.

And yet, here we are.

God’s promises are real. God has always made a home for me and David. Whether we have five years or five millennia together, David and I know how blessed we are. Every day is a gift from God. All we did was heed our Creator’s call. In doing so, our Heavenly Father fulfilled His promise to us. As Christ said, “All who love me will do what I say. My Father will love them, and We will come and make Our home with each of them.” (John 14:23)

To that, I can only say, “Yay, God!”