For me (& Zach too) the day was one big beautiful moment
of intimacy with each other & with Father. I woke up the morning of May 9th & before I
started into any of the typical “bridal preparations” I wanted to prepare my
heart for what was about to come by spending time with Papa God. I had barely even gotten situated on my
sofa & cracked open my Bible when I heard him say “get on the floor &
just talk to me”. As soon as my
knees hit the floor my heart became so over whelmed with what a privilege it is
to not only marry my best friend but to be an earthly representation of Christ
& his bride-the Church. I
began to tell Father how honored I felt by that. In tears I told him that other than
Jesus, this was the greatest gift He’s given me to this point in my life. This marriage was the most precious
thing I would possess & be part of.
Since it was the most precious thing in my life -the thing I placed the
most value on- I immediately became overtaken by the awareness that He was
worthy of having me give it right back to Him. He is so worthy of everything I am. When you’re in love with someone you want to give
them the very best of you & the very best thing you have. I wept on the floor at what an amazing
gift I would be given on this day & how honored & happy I was to lay it
right back down at Father’s feet to use & do with us what ever He would
like. After 5:30pm that evening, I
would have a better gift to lay down at His feet than I’ve ever had
before. Not only would I be giving
Him my life alone, but Zach & I would be giving Him our lives as a team to
work in tandem & covenant partnership with him to accomplish the purposes
of His kingdom. We would learn together what it means to die to ourselves in completely new ways as we step into marriage. We would learn how to take on the heart of Jesus in new ways. I could keep going
about the depth of the revelation He gave me on this but then I’d be out of
space to share the reset of the day!
After getting off the floor (& putting cold water on my
eyes) I spent the morning getting ready with my very best friends. We took our time, relaxed, had brunch
together (thanks to mama Pam!), laughed & enjoyed each other. It was perfect. I wanted all of us to be together that
morning & just enjoy friendship as we started the day & we did just
that.
We arrived at The Loom (the venue) early afternoon for
pictures & my & Zach’s first look. Another one of my favorite moments was in our first
look. When we saw each other for
the first time all we could do was burst into laughter! Our hearts were so full of joy that it
wouldn’t stay inside of us. That’s
the best kind of laughter :) I also got to present Zach with a letter I’d written to him almost 2 years ago
when he did his 3 month stint at Harvest School in Mozambique (little did I know at the time that
I would follow his footsteps there a year later). I had addressed the letter to “my leader” & signed it
“your bride” because I knew even then that He was the one who would be given that role in my life. It was a page of
blessing & declaring identity over him in ways specific to the role of
husband. I loved finally being
able to give it to him.
The ceremony held my MOST favorite part of the day! After the vows & rings were
exchanged, we took communion together & then invited all of our friends who
had been in Mozambique with us at Harvest School or had served with Iris
Ministries to come forward & lay hands on us to bless & speak life into
our new marriage. We told the Lord
that we wanted this time to be what ever He wanted it to be & that He had
full cooperation from us to crash in.
We wanted what ever He wanted even if that looked different than what
some people had seen at a wedding before.
When our friends began to pray for us & declare things over us His
presence fell on us so beautifully & heavily. The musicians played “On Christ the Rock” by Kim Walker as a
declaration of what we wanted our marriage to stand on & when the song was
over they could tell that the moment wasn’t finished so they went into
spontaneous worship singing “Holy holy are you Lord God Almighty. Worthy is the
Lamb”. As they sang the song of
the throne room (Revelation 4 & 5) everyone laying hands on us picked up on
it & we all began to sing to the King together. You could feel the holiness in those words as our hearts
united to lift Him higher. It was
so beautiful. My hearts desire was
for our wedding not to be about us, but for it to be about Him & in that
moment of worshipping Him, where all eyes & hearts were on him, my desire
for the day was fulfilled. His
presence was so thickly surrounding us.
That was the most precious gift Father could have given me on that day. I just wanted Him to come in & be
part of the ceremony as our most honored guest & He did. It was amazing.
After the ceremony, we partied & danced our shoes off at
the reception. It was a
blast!! The only thing I would
change if I could, would be to have slowed down time. I felt like I blinked once & it was over!
It really was the best day & I’m so thankful for all the sweet moments & surprises in it. They made it perfect for us. Thank you for taking time ready up on how it went down! :) Love you friends!
Side funny fact: We all forgot about signing the marriage license at the wedding so it was signed at Cracker Barrel the next morning-haha. That’s how we roll
Side funny fact: We all forgot about signing the marriage license at the wedding so it was signed at Cracker Barrel the next morning-haha. That’s how we roll