"Through all kinds of weather, what if the sky should fall, just as long as we're together, it doesn't matter at all...
Just travelin' along singing a song side by side"
The picture above is of me and my husband Chester. It captures us side by side with the ocean rolling in the back. No matter what waves have crashed onto the shores of our life, we have got through it together-side by side :). As the latest storm of shingles has come our way we are managing with grace and help from the Lord.
I have been battling with a very painful bout of shingles (adult chicken pox that burns like crazy) on my face for the last week. It is on my scalp, forehead and eye lid. For awhile, they were scared it would go in my eye because that could causes blindness.
Thankfully we are past that point. It never went in my eye and praying that it all ends quickly.Oddly enough, it's dealing with this nasty, oozing, excruciating sickness (that makes me unable to wear makeup or hair products) that has me thinking about love and romance.
Not only have I been thinking about love in my life today, but also what I used to think it meant when I was younger. It started as a facebook status and then I realized that I had a note on my hands. I kept mulling over it in my heart and adding more and more until I realized I had a blog post on my hands. I titled it side by side because I have actually been singing that silly song several today. Looking at the lyrics, I can see why it's appropriate :)
I learned that song when I was a kid at First Baptist in Mrs. Bean's music class, but I won't go back that far. I was thinking more about when I was a teenager and what I thought of love then. I wondered how my future husband would be. I had all these plans and hopes of how our future life would be like. I prayed for the day that God would bring us together. I dreamed about these grand romantic gestures that he would make.
My future husband would make sure I had the best. He would send me flowers, teddy bears, and candy. He would plan get-away trips, write heart felt notes, go with me to church things... and of course one day I would get a wonderfully romantic proposal.
I got into my twenties and while I was thought to make a list. A list of character qualities that I wanted my future husband to have. I didn't want to put God in a box, but I wanted my future husband to have a heart like Jesus.
I eventually met my future husband at grad school. We were best friends and suddenly we were more than friends. We laughed together, took classes together, sat next to each other and had a great time.
It turns out that he had been praying for his future wife too. He says that when he met me he knew I was the one. It took me a little bit longer to recognize it, but I am glad I finally did :)
Long story short, he got to know my heart and gave me the greatest engagement story I could have asked for. He asked for hand in marriage in the most romantic way and made my dreams come true.
I got to experience an amazing proposal that would change my story forever. (http://branchlovestory.blogspot.com/2006/10/engagement-details.html ) It was so incredibly romantic and intricate and perfect for me. If you have never read it, I encourage you to click the link. It was awesome! :)
On my engagement day, I was totally overwhelmed by God's love for me through Chester. It was better than I hoped for and beyond my prayers and dreams. I was in awe of God's goodness and at the same time floored by the creativity and awesomeness of such a grand gesture of love on the part of my future husband.
Till this day, our engagement day was one of the best days I have ever experienced. I was totally wowed by the romance of it all. Whenever I get to re-tell it, I still get all giddy and bubbly inside just thinking about it. That day,I didn't know how Chester could ever top such a cool day, but I knew he would keep trying :)
After almost five years of marriage, strangers still wonder if we are dating because we look so madly in love. Being married has been better than I imagined, and it has help expand my view of love. I have seen that while those things my heart longed for when I was younger are wonderful, exciting and welcome...the grandest romantic gesture my husband has made and continues to make is that of SelfLESSness.
To say that we have been through several trials with my health these last 6 years would be an understatement. Together we have dealt with the pain of miscarriage, the dangerous brain threatening eye infection, blood issues and almost dying from scary bout with sepsis, the 3 days in I spent icu and a week in the hospital, surgery in my upper arms and the difficult recovery, facial paralysis, what seems like infinite check ups and now shingles... phew... and my husband has been by my side through it all. In case you were wondering, the health stuff has been all me... my hubby is part wolverine :)
Chester really meant it when he said in sickness and in health. When we made our vows, we had no idea what was coming our way, but God did. He gave me the perfect person to walk through these things with. Chester has loved me at my sickest and weakest and what I felt like was my ugliest, point. When I couldn't even bear to look at mirrors for myself, he would lovingly look me in the eyes and say: "Do you know how beautiful you are" and it would hit me in the soul. He loves me for me and will do anything for me.
My husband has tenderly taken care of me every time an unexpected sickness has come. He has laid down his life again and again. He has done things for me that I just could not do for myself and has kept a great attitude the whole time.
Now that I sit back and reflect, I can see that THAT is true love... not just the grand "romantic" gestures but the little everyday acts of selfless love.
"Greater love has no man than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends." John 15:3
My husband is a true reflection of Christ's heart and lives that verse out every day.
<3
I hope my story inspires you to believe in a good God who gives good gifts to His children. I hope that it encourages you to know that true love DOES exist. First and foremost it exists in the way that God loves us, then it exists in the way his children love each other.
Love is not only in the extravagant displays of affection, but when we choose others before ourselves. Christ died to reconcile us to God in an extravagant way and everyday he pursues relationship with you.
May God romance your heart and share His incredible love with you. Just as He saw my teenage heart, He sees your heart and your dreams. What He has planned for you is exceedingly, abundantly above what you could ask, think or even dream.
Don't be scared to ask... just ask Him how to pray prayers that agree with His heart. He will answer you. He will show you and desires that you would know the goodness of His heart in a deeper way.
May you know what it is to love selfLESSly and choose others above yourself. Blessings to you wherever you may find yourself.
In Jesus’ name :)
