My Wedding Miracle

Alex and I got engaged September 15, 2012 (read that story here and here ), and spent the next couple of months just being engaged. Everyone's first question in response to our engagement was when is the big day, but my mind took awhile to connect the fact that being engaged meant that I was now to get married. 

We spent several deliberate occasions praying specifically for the Lord's guidance on when to get married and eventually decided on fall of 2013 (thinking late September or early October). We spent probably close to a month praying about when to get married- this important detail comes into play later!

My frugal side came out as we spent months (literally) relentlessly searching for a venue that was pretty, affordable, and big enough to fit 200+ guests.  In March (remember, we got engaged in September), we finally decided on a beautiful little event center called Kendal Mountain Recreation Center in Silverton, Colorado. The only dates they had however, were late in October, or September 14. We decided to go with September 14th even though it was a little earlier in the fall than we had originally planned.  We chose this date simply because of venue availability... or so we thought.

I joyfully planned my wedding over the next few months- and by plan I mean I looked on Pinterest a lot. And by joyful I mean I tried not to get annoyed on a daily basis with all the ridiculous details that go into a wedding (I am not a details person, people).

I spent the vast majority of my engagement in peace, confident in my decision to marry Alex. The main (and really the only) thing I questioned throughout our engagement was if we had chosen to get married at the right time.We had prayed so deliberately about when to get married that I wondered if we were following God's will or simply our own desires.

But enter wedding miracle #1.

About two weeks before the wedding, I was sifting through a box of momentos I had kept and I stumbled across a blue velvet drawstring bag. I immediately remembered what it held. Five years prior when I was 16, my parents had taken me out to a nice dinner and given me my purity ring. In the blue velvet drawstring bag came with a pledge that I signed, promising to save myself till my wedding night, and a silver ring that had adorned my hand ever since.

The memories washed over me as I opened the drawstring bag and pulled out the card that I had signed years back. I reread the pledge and then my breath was taken away as I saw my signature and the date that was signed at the bottom.

At the bottom of the purity pledge that I had signed five years earlier was my name and the date September 14, 2007.

That's right, my wedding date was exactly five years after I signed a pledge promising to save myself for my future husband and wedding night.

As the chills ran over me, it was then I knew. I knew that this day had been chosen by the Lord. September 14th was no arbitrary day that was decided on because it was the only date the venue had available. September 14th was a date that was chosen and ordained long before I signed the purity pledge at age 16, and long before Alex and I decided that that would be the date of our wedding. Our quest to get married in God's timing, and our intentional prayer surrounding the issue had truly been heard- God had answered our prayers and that night I knew we were getting married in His timing.

I went to bed that night completely at peace that, not only was Alex the man I was supposed to marry, but that September 14, 2013 was the day that I was supposed to marry him.

This peace and assurance was a blessing, and the necessary assurance I needed to make it through the week leading up to my wedding...

Read part 2 of the story here

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