in the name of...

sorry, it's been a little while since I've been able to post. we've gotten sooo much snow!

I feel like it's only appropriate for me to discuss my wife in this post, the love of my life. We were able to get away this weekend to celebrate valentine's day in Williamsburg, VA and just enjoy being together! It back a lot of memories as I used to live relatively close to there when I worked for a web firm in Hampton, VA. It was hard to believe where I was 2 short years ago, when I hated WBC (my college), hated life, wasn't consistently pursuing God, in a relationship that hurt me very much emotionally and spiritually, and in a completely different physical location. I needed that though. Those rough times helped me to understand how great my life really is. Life is all about contrast and God has to throw up the dark strokes in the painting or it would just be a white canvas. It's those dark strokes that help us to see the details, to see the painting take form. I was thankful when He started using colors and shades of white again, when he started to add highlights to my life.

My wife, is the greatest of those highlights.

Her love for me is truly unconditional (as unconditional as can be for mere humans) and I hope that I reciprocate that to her. When we first started dating and talking about marriage, several people voiced concerns because it seemed fast, and it was, but we both firmly believe that it was God's timing, down to choosing a Wednesday instead of a Saturday, as was expected, thus completely missing the devastating effects of a December blizzard and leaving us with only the residual white blanket of snow adding beauty to our wedding day. But some of these people vocalized concerns about only being in our "honeymoon" phase and not having to deal with any problems. But honestly, we dealt with more problems in those first three or four months then either of us have since. It was amidst the problems that we fell in love, when we were broke and no money was coming in and we dealing with conflicts with those around us, we saw how we responded to those problems and fell in love through that. We knew that God was painting with the dark strokes in those times, but nonetheless, they were tough times. I want to publicly declare my love and thankfulness and just how proud I am of my wife for how we handled our relationship, our friendship, and our situation through that time.

She is the most beautiful girl in the world, and I honestly question sometimes why she chose a guy like me. She loves Jesus, she loves music, she loves movies, she loves deep conversations over coffee that actually challenges us to think, she loves square plates, and she loves me. She is absolutely everything that I have ever wanted in my spouse. There's nothing that I had on my "list" that she didn't fulfill. She forces me to be a better person by loving me and loving Jesus and seeing past where I am and seeing the potential in me for the person that I am to be. I love her with all of my heart and praise God for her and for who He made her to be.

In the midst of the shadows, God gives us the highlights and midtones to create a beautiful painting. A painting that we call life, we just can't get stuck on which color of paint he's using but instead what the painting will look like in the end.

I love my wife.

I love my God.

I love His painting.

period.