Twenty Four – that number feels both ordinary and miraculous.
Ordinary because life has been made up of daily routines—meals, work, responsibilities, laughter, misunderstandings, and mornings that come whether we feel ready or not. Miraculous because there were seasons when I genuinely didn’t know if we would make it here. Not because love was absent, but because life was heavy, hearts were fragile, and the road felt longer than we expected.
If there’s one truth that rises above everything when I look back, it’s this:
God has been faithful— even when we weren’t strong. Even when we weren’t sure. Even when our love felt thin.
The Story We Didn’t Expect
When we said “I do,” we didn’t imagine the exact shape our story would take. We had prayers and hopes, and that bright-eyed belief that love, once chosen, would always feel easy.
But marriage isn’t a straight road. It’s a pilgrimage.
We’ve faced challenges over the years—some loud, some quiet, some public, some that only God witnessed in the hidden places of our home and hearts. We’ve walked through days where it felt like everything in us wanted to retreat. We’ve wrestled with misunderstanding, pressure, disappointment, and that particular kind of loneliness that can happen even when you’re not alone.
And yet… here we are.
Not because we are extraordinary.
Not because we never got it wrong.
Not because we always felt in love.
But because God kept meeting us in the middle.
The Grace That Wasn’t Theoretical
Marriage taught me grace in real terms:
Grace is choosing tenderness when you feel irritated.
Grace is apologizing without needing to “win.”
Grace is staying in the conversation.
Grace is forgiving not because the pain was small, but because Jesus is bigger.
Grace is asking God to change me before I demand He change you.
There were seasons when grace was the only thing holding us together — not the Pinterest-perfect kind, but the gritty, kneel-by-the-bed, “Lord help us” kind.
And looking back, I see that God didn’t just carry us through — He restored us in ways I couldn’t have predicted. “I will restore to you the years that the swarming locust has eaten…” (Joel 2:25).
That’s what amazes me about our story. The Lord doesn’t only heal what hurt — He redeems it. He gives back meaning, tenderness, laughter, and strength in places the enemy meant to empty. And somehow, He keeps doing “far more abundantly than all that we ask or think…” (Ephesians 3:20).
Sometimes the miracle wasn’t that conflict disappeared.
It was that resentment didn’t get the last word.
Sometimes the miracle wasn’t that we instantly understood each other.
It was that we kept trying to.
The God Who Builds in Seasons
Marriage has seasons. Ecclesiastes was right.
There were seasons that felt light.
Seasons that felt foggy.
Seasons where we were in sync.
Seasons where we had to fight for joy like treasure buried in dirt.
But God isn’t only the God of the “good seasons.”
He is the God of the growing ones—the refining ones, the stretching ones, the ones that taught us how to love like Christ and not just like our emotions.
Some of our hardest seasons weren’t punishments… they were our classrooms.
Nine Days Away
In nine days, we’ll stand at year twenty-four and step toward whatever God has for year twenty-five. I don’t know all that’s ahead. But I know Who goes with us.
Marriage isn’t mainly about finding someone who makes you happy.
It’s about becoming a living picture of Christ and His Church—imperfectly, yes, but faithfully.
Love that stays, forgives, and grows. Love that remembers covenant when feelings wobble.
So today, before we even reach the date, my heart says:
God, thank You for our marriage.
Thank You for carrying us.
Thank You for teaching us.
Thank You for never letting go.
And to Jeff —before the God who has held us all these years:
I still choose you.
Not because it’s always been easy, but because it has been holy. Our marriage covenant with our Abba Father remains sacred, constant, independent of our inconsistencies. He has indeed been beyond good to us.
Here’s to twenty-four years!
Here’s to the God beyond the years – We give You all the glory and praise!
