It's been 14 years!

Today, Bryan and I celebrate our 14th Anniversary as husband and wife. In fact, 14 years ago to the minute I was standing hand in hand with Bryan in the midst of our wedding ceremony!

If you had told me on the day of our wedding that, a decade later, I would love Bryan more than I did at that very moment...I might have strongly disagreed with you. I didn't think it was possible.

By the grace of God, it's not only possible, but it has been a precious reality for us. As God continues to sanctify us and grow us in our love for Him, through His great mercy, it overflows into a deeper, sweeter love for each other. It is a beautiful mystery. The more we abide in Christ...the sweeter the fruit in all the other areas of our lives!

In honor of our 14 years, I thought I would list 14 articles/quotes/writings that I have posted on my blog in the last couple of years that have enriched our marriage and encouraged our hearts!

1)"She asks not how her behavior may please a stranger or how another's judgment may approve her conduct; let her beloved be content and she is glad." Spurgeon...and some thoughts on the priority of truly listening to your husband.

2)How Sweet It Is Some thoughts on marriage, sex, and some good book resources!

3)"I have found the one whom my soul loves." Song of Solomon 3:4

4)Lichen, Fungus, Algae and Marriage...you'll have to read the post to find out how those things go together!:) Scroll down a bit and you'll find the section on Lichen!


5)Reflections on missing Bryan: I sit here typing having just got back from dropping Bryan off at the airport. I'll be honest, I miss him already...miss knowing that he will not be home at night and that I will not get to wake up with him in the morning. Times like this are good, they just can be hard. It is good to be reminded just how precious marriage is, two becoming one so that you forget what it is like just to be "one". I love that! I love Bryan...I am so thankful for the almost 12 years of marriage God has given us, thankful for each year of growing and learning, of fighting less and less as we learn to appreciate more and more the differences that would often lead to an argument, the familiar beauty of living with someone who knows you so well and yet still loves you and wants to be with you. I was reading through the Song of Solomon in my daily reading this past week and was so blessed by the descriptions of love...they DELIGHTED in each other. And, by the grace of God, I am so thankful that each year it keeps becoming more and more of truth...the beauty of delighting in each other, delighting in the friendship, the fellowship and the love that is shared between just the two of us! I will miss my other half this week but I am also thankful to realize just how much I will miss him!:)

6)Favorite marriage book of 2011:What Did You Expect by Paul Tripp...read a piece of it here!

7)"It is no wonder if so many years, so many endearments, so many obligations have produced such an uncommon effect, that by long habit, it is almost impossible for me to draw a breath, in which you are not involved." John Newton

8)Tim Challies highlighted a GREAT article last year on how one wife's submission to her husband just might not look the exact same as another wife's.

9)Almost 2 years ago, John Piper took a leave from his pulpit to work on his marriage. It was a sobering reminder and I was and continue to be thankful for his example in this regards.

10)Breathing the Air of Grace...in our marriage

11)"False Messages" the e-book on sex written by Aileen Challies. Her book blessed many ladies that I know, including myself. You can still download it, and read it, if you haven't already!

12)A Father's Day tribute to my handsome husband!

13)One sinner praying for another sinner...it can bring about "A Convicting Chuckle" when you think about it!:)

14)“A wife if she is very generous may allow that her husband lives up to perhaps eighty percent of her expectations. There is always the other twenty percent that she would like to change, and she may chip away at it for the whole of their married life without reducing it by very much. She may, on the other hand, simply decide to enjoy the other eighty percent and both of them will be happy.” Elisabeth Elliots husband, Lars