Every year as my anniversary approaches, I sneak a peek back at my wedding pictures. I look at all those big, joyful smiles, so full of anticipation and excitement about all of the possibilities of life together with the love of my life. (I think I probably started looking back on my wedding pictures a little earlier this year since my sister Shannon got married last weekend!:)
My fifth anniversary is in a couple of weeks (we jumped on the fabulous 8/8/08 bandwagon:), and I’ve been reflecting about all of the twists and turns of the past five years. It’s been wild at times, ya’ll. In lots of good ways but in some harder ways too. And when it comes to the harder ways, I think about how my sweet little barely-twenty-two-year-glowing-fiancee-self didn’t think at the time that she was signing up for all this twisty-turny stuff. 🙂 But you know, I think I did–even at 22–have a heart for God, and a heart for trying my heart out to say yes to whatever I discerned as best I could that He had planned for me. I wouldn’t have even gone on a first date with my husband if I hadn’t been somewhat attuned to God’s whispering in my heart (and a couple of dear friends whispering in my ears) to give him a chance.
I was fairly certain that I wouldn’t ever be bored married to Michael Franco, but I really did assume he would settle into a nice, safe, decent-paying engineering job, that we would live near our amazing families and many dear friends from college, that we would have lots of babies, and that I would get to be a stay-at-home mom. We would live probably modestly but very, very happily, all the days of our lives.
Other than the stay-at-home mom part and three beautiful, wonderful, precious babies part (and oh yes, the living modestly but very, very happily parts:), life has not gone as I thought it would, especially with Michael’s job changes and with us moving away from “home” to Houston.
I really have no idea if every single thing Michael and I have done in the last five years is God’s will. I am loathe to call every major action of mine or of my husband and me a perfect response to a calling from God. I can tell you we’ve tried our very, very best to discern his will for us so far. But we could then and now be totally off. It’s just a humbling, real fact.
I have tried to say yes, though, and I think Michael has tried to do that too. I have taken a least a few baby steps in the art of the fiat in the past five years. I pray God gives me the grace to say yes to Him more and more in both the larger and the very smallest things in my life.
Happy (early) anniversary to my husband of five years! God guide us, God protect us, God sustain us, God provide for us, God sanctify us, God bless us–now and all the days of our lives!
One of our engagement pictures. I looked kind of cute as a blonde, dontcha think? 🙂 |
All dressed up at Shannon and Myles’ rehearsal dinner at Palace Cafe in NOLA. 🙂 |
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