Posted on 06/08/2013 2:43:02 PM PDT by NYer
Since we’re in the middle of wedding season, now seems a good time to post this picture, which apparently caused a sensation when it first appeared online a few months ago. This blog post, by the bride, explains the story behind it: she and her groom holding hands in prayer moments before their wedding, trying not to catch a glimpse of each other before the ceremony:
Right around the corner sat my soon to be husband, I so was nervous he might see me yet secretly hoping to catch a glimpse of him. In my excited state I was the first to speak,
“Hi sweetie! We’re getting married today!”
“I know baby and I want to pray with you before we do.”
There we sat around the corner hand in hand, and together we bowed our heads. People were rushing about; the wedding coordinator directing people here and there, the photographers snapping photos and the bridal party enjoying each others company. Yet in that moment, in the quietness of our hearts and minds, my husband and I were alone in the presence of our Savior, Jesus Christ.
My husband prayed that God would bless our marriage, that through thick or thin together we would never lose hope in one another. That instead of focusing on each others imperfections we would always rely on Christ’s perfection. That we would wake up every day and chose to love one another not through our own strength but by the power of Christ’s perfect love.
With our hands clenched tightly to one another together we said “Amen”, both with shaky voice and just like that I was whisked away to blot the tears off my face and put on my veil.
Read it all. Share it with anyone you know who is about to get married, thinking of getting married, or even marking a wedding anniversary.
A couple weeks ago, my wife and I celebrated our 27th anniversary. We went to a steakhouse for dinner and the young waitress congratulated us. ”What’s your secret?,” she asked as she handed us our menus. ”Patience,” I replied, smiling. My wife quickly added, “And prayer.”
Yep. That about sums it up. The recipe for a successful marriage: patience and prayer. (And not necessarily in that order.)
Beautiful. I hope that they are soul mates. Sometimes it’s hard to find the other half of your soul, even when he’s right around the corner.
Wow, you’ve been married longer than my parents! You have to expect cold and snow in Northern Illinois, but it had been 80 degrees in SA just a couple of days earlier. My father-in-law and my maid-of-honor were iced in on the runway in Dallas. “She’s a substantial blonde, and she’ll be sewing a blue satin dress on the plane,” and sure enough, she was. They were friends by the time they landed!
I spent two nights in the airport waiting on people whose schedules went crazy with the weather. My cousin and his family got stuck in Denver and couldn’t make it. My bridesmaid’s family had an ice-trek by car from Dallas.
I have to laugh about “sewing a blue satin dress on the plane”. My daughter worked in a bridal shoppe when she was in graduate school doing alterations. She had a bridal party that came to Washington State from American Samoa. They had mail ordered their bridesmaid dresses (red satin) and arrived the day before the rehearsal dinner. Luckily the bridal shop owner had had the foresight to order a BOLT of extra red satin. Sure enough, these bridesmaids were hefty, and my daughter had to insert 2 panels down the sides of each dress. She sewed all night, but the wedding party was resplendent in red the following day.
Rough first several years..but we got some excellent advice one day..based on James 5:16
We physically out loud pray for each other every single day when we wake up...been doing it for over twenty-five years..
James 5:16 Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.
We will be 32 years in August. Some rough times, it has sort of smoothed out, though. I miss some things...
Marilyn is one of your last-minute people. Even after stitching all through her plane trip, we still had to safety-pin her cuffs for the wedding, because she hadn’t got all the buttons on.
I had only the two attendants, and I’d sent them each a piece of ribbon and said, “Get something you like in this color.” My teenage cousin had a basic ballerina-style bridesmaid dress, and Marilyn designed and almost finished making her own dress. Everyone was happy.
So beautiful, so moving. There is hope for us yet. Thank you for posting.
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Keep treating each other as you did in the beginning .... and there will be no end.
Thank you for your prayers. Please pray for my daughter-in-law, too. My son has tried so hard to please her, and nothing “material” is never enough.
She doesn’t know what she is doing, and so I forgive her, worry about her, and fear for her future.
My son can’t take any more abuse, and he is strong enough to go on. I am not so sure about her, however.
I fear the worst. And there are two young teen-aged boys involved. Mom is working hard to alienate them from Dad.
My job is to stay out of it. I wish I could talk to my daughter-in-law, but know she wouldn’t listen to anything I might say. My heart breaks for all four of them, but it seems to me (I am objective) that she is expecting more than any man can give.
Please pray for us. This hurts.
Thank you, Verga.
I am bookmarking your link, in hopes that she will come to her senses and get some counseling, because I seriously doubt she understands how much my son cares about her.
I do not want to criticize her, but it is hard, because she is causing my son so much pain.
just down in lake geneva earlier this week on our anniversary day. a little buggy but a great day. we walk a good part of the lake, see lots of ducks and turtles.
even if it’s “Lord you gave me her, you gotta fix her because i can’t”... :-)
she may just be on purpose asking for too much, so that he goes away and she isn’t the bad one.
if it goes the d way, get your son to be the plaintiff and get the papers in first. you want to be the plaintiff, especially if you are the man.
Awesome. The family that prays together stays together.
Don’t give up! A friend of mine showed up at my door about a year ago in crisis. She thought that her marriage was over. With lots of prayer and by her allowing God into her life she and her husband are now in the process of reconciliation and repairing what they both were ready to throw away last year.
If you had asked me the odds last year of that happening I wouldn’t have give very good ones.....God can - and does- work miracles. I’ll keep your daughter & son-in-law in prayer.
I’m so sorry, especially for children at such a vulnerable age. We have ten children, so the possibility of separating just wasn’t there. “The Cause,” as we put it, is bigger than both of us and any of our personal problems. A zombie marriage, of course, isn’t the best thing, and I hope we’re revivified now and it’s not just an illusion.
They’ll both be in my prayers, and your grandchildren as well. We don’t have this trial, yet ... our oldest child is 22 and single. She’s got a military career, a car, and a dog, and no energy for relationships!
saw this on Facebook, beautiful picture, reminds me of the book of tobit.
She really is asking for too much, but I don’t think she is malicious, just clueless that life isn’t about McMansions, clothes, and expensive vacations.
If he says no to a “vacay” to San Diego over the 4th of July, after taking her and the boys to Italy for a week over Easter, she won’t talk to him for over a week, never mind other marital relations. (What the heck is worth visiting in San Diego in July, anyway?)
I don’t want to hijack this thread. My pain is overwhelming my better judgement at the moment, and I hope this young couple have a life-long marriage adventure ahead of them.
My husband and I did for 45 years, until Parkinson’s Plus claimed his life. I was his solo caregiver for the last ten years, and it was a challenge, but I know he would have done the same for me. I hate Parkinson’s Plus, by the way.
Being close to 70 yrs old, I can’t fathom why people do not get the concept that marriage isn’t what you get from the relationship, but what you give to it.
Will pass your wisdom on to my son, and thank you for your advice.
Tax-chick, you are truly blessed. My husband and I wished so often that we had had the courage to have a quiver full. Alas, we only had four, and if we could have a “do-over”, we would have had as many as we could.
I miss my good husband so much now that he is no longer here. Appreciate yours every day, no matter how he might irritate you at a moment. When he is gone, you will miss his quirks more than you know.
I hope this young bride and groom know what a life-long challenge they face, once the excitement of the early years of marriage wears off.
The later years of marriage are so much more rewarding, if the couple can make it through/overcome the “middle-storm” of life.
Thank you for your prayers for my son & family. I pray constantly for them too.
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