I have known from the very first day that we would be here right now it's I've
never had a clear affirmation from the Lord and I have with you and I am having
really ugly tears right now because of it but this has been a holy journey and
it's going to continue to be and I'm so excited to be your wife and I'm I'm so
excited for this day and how special it is getting to start that together but I
am more excited about sharing my life with you and getting to receive you
sharing yours with me. I love you more than I can ever describe and I know I
will continue to love you deeper every day and I'm excited for adventure and
for laughs and for joys and for all that life brings us I know that we're going to
be a great team and that we have a Lord on our side and we can get through
anything so I love you.
I think I've got someone for you I think I think I've got someone that you'll
really like okay so let's let's do it what every every guy does and let's pull
up her Facebook and let's see let's see what we can figure out about her and so
you pulled her up and I was immediately just taken back by how how beautiful she
was but then also her profile picture was from when when she was in Ghana so I
kind of asked myself so where is she now and well she's actually in Ghana that's
kind of the caveat to this is that you're gonna have to wait a while. I
actually came back after living there for about six months I came back for two
of my best friend's weddings and met this guy this random guy at church one
day that was a mutual friend of my friends and he kind of struck my
attention but I didn't think much about it after that so I went back to Ghana
and it was a season of a lot of loneliness but also a lot of joy so it was a
season that I was praying very fervently for my husband and little did I know that
people back in the States were talking to him about me and telling him things
about me and trying to get us set up when I moved back. A couple a couple months
later he let me know you know she's come back early so we're gonna try and
try and set you guys up we're gonna do a bonfire and there was this guy he was
really quiet and he was like tending to the fire yet a flannel on so manly. I
just froze up I couldn't say anything to her she was she was so pretty and I
just I just was so nervous to talk to her that all I did was just stoke the
fire I just went back got more wood stoke the fire made sure everyone was warm
and I don't think I said two words to her the whole time and then the night I
went to Dylan I said I think I blew it he said yeah I think you did and he
totally stole my attention and that was Matt but little did he know that him
being quiet and just observing and listening to people really caught my
eye.
When I started this book back in 2012 my goal was to have a filbert and I got
married. That obviously hasn't been the case but I'm actually glad it isn't full
because our story and adventure is far from closed book. Consider all these
blank pages future adventures and love notes to be filled along the way. I pray
the Lord does not stop teaching us through the other person. May we never
stop chasing Christ with the goal and purpose for our relationship. May we be
a powerful team for the Lord properly using our giftings for His glory and our
joy. As the small book shows I've been praying for you for a long time I thank
God for the beautiful gift that you are for entrusting you to me. I promise to
love your heart, mind, body and soul with all of my heart, mind, body and soul.
Lastly I promise to submit to the Lord's will for this life together to be yours
forever and ever.
So Matt is just so good at being there, being present with me, laughing with me,
goofing off with me, pursuing me emotionally and I love that about him
because he makes a really good companion. He makes a very loyal friend. One of the
things I love most about him is he's very trusting of me. He's trusting of who I
am and of my qualities and that's hard to be that trusting of someone and to not
try and take control of it. So because he was trusting it just allows me to
flourish and be more secure in the woman that I made to be. She has a depth of
understanding of who she is in the Lord that just really attracted me to her.
She's thought things through more than than most people I know and just the
fact that she's that forward-looking was just kind of blew me away. I think that
at first Emily was a little hesitant to try new things. I think that she's a very
structured person which which comes in handy just in a lot of aspects but I
think that throughout the course of our relationship it's probably just because
of kind of how goofy and weird and that I can be that she's she's really kind of
opened up to that goofiness and she doesn't just accept me for it but she
goes along with it too and that pleasantly surprised me. I knew the person I
married wasn't somebody that just was going to accept how weird I was but that
was going to contribute to my weirdness. He is so constant. I don't really I don't
think I know anyone that is as constant as he is whether I'm in a good mood or a
bad mood. He's just he's always there. He always comes back around and he's
always true to us and sometimes I doubt and sometimes I have problems
trusting and he's just always constant. He's always the man that God created him
to be, the man that I know and that doesn't change and so it instills in me a
lot of trust for him and trust for what the Lord's doing.
Emily I just I don't really know what what to
say or what to feel right now. There's so much going on and and and there's been
so much work has been put into today but I'm so excited to marry you. I'm so
excited for what the Lord has in store for our future days. I can't wait to go
through future joys, future trials with you just hand in hand walking step in
step with the Lord in that as he paves away for us. There's going to be hard
times and there's going to be laughter and birthdays and holidays and vacations
but when it comes down to it I'm continually blown away by who you are
in Jesus and your foundation in Jesus has just opened incredible doors in our
relationship and it's just been you've been such a strong you just had such a
foundation this entire time and it has made it infinitely easier on me and
especially in the times when when I've been prone to to wander myself so I
just want to thank you for being strong in this in this relationship or to
continuing to love me through my faults continuing to pursue me when I don't
want to be pursued or when I don't want to pursue you and I just want to thank
you for for your grace and ask for for more as we continue in this in this time
because they were going to be they're going to be trials and temptations and
arguments but may they be quickly reconciled may we continue to grow
together I love you I guess I'll see you soon
you
you
