Tuesday, March 1, 2011

The Refining Silver Anniversary

It's appropriate the anniversary 
Scott and I celebrate today is the
Silver Anniversary,
because silver is a precious metal refined by fire,
and we're in the flames.

Silver is the metal of redemption,
the reminder of our purchase by the blood of Christ.


I find it ironic, now, that our wedding was filled with tears of joy.

Instead of traditional vows,
we read marriage prayers written by a godly older man
who still disciples my husband.
Our hearts were so filled with gratitude to the Lord we wept.

Our ceremony was simple, but filled with faith and love.

Were those tears foreshadowing of the type of marriage we would have?

We're still best friends.
We're still so in love our children pretend to shudder in horror
frequently yelling things like,
"We're scarred for life!"
when they catch us stealing a kiss in the kitchen.

But, we've had our share of sorrows. 
I can't say more than our share,
because we trust the Lord has written our love story.
Everything is part of his plan.

In the early years of marriage there was no money to celebrate anniversaries.
Once, we went to McDonald's
and were thrilled to EACH order a meal,
NOT share our fries,
AND order desert.

As the kids multiplied there wasn't money to buy a meal
AND pay a babysitter.
Since we didn't want to do either/or,
we usually did neither.

For our fifth anniversary, we were determined to celebrate.
The kids came down with chicken pox.

For our tenth anniversary, we were determined to celebrate.
Our kids had a horrible flu and rash.

For our fifteenth anniversary, we were determined to celebrate.
I can't remember what thwarted our plans.

For our twentieth anniversary, we were determined to celebrate.
In the throes of  my cancer, we managed one night away.

For our twenty-fifth anniversary, we were determined to celebrate.
For a year we dreamed of cruises and trips.
A month ago, we were still undecided.

Not just undecided, we didn't feel peace.

We didn't feel right about going to Hawaii.
We didn't feel right about going to DC.
Nothing felt right, and we had no peace,
and we didn't understand why.
We trusted the unction and didn't book flights or hotels.

On Valentine's Day, we discovered why the Lord kept us home.
We thank Him for keeping us from making plans
we wouldn't have kept.
We have no desire to do anything, but fight for an Innocent Man.


Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego were thrown into the fiery furnace,
but found themselves in the presence of the Son of God,

Like these men, we're in a purifying fiery trial,
but strongly feel the presence of the Lord.

Today, Scott and I are celebrating the SILVER of our marriage,
knowing the fire will burn off dross and reflect
 the beautiful image of the Savior in the perfected surface.


Someday, when the Lord gives relief,
we'll celebrate the ANNIVERSARY of our marriage. 

11 comments:

  1. Happy Anniversary, Uncle Scott and Aunt Mindy. Our prayers and thoughts are with you!

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  2. HAPPY ANNIVERSARY YOU TWO ! Keep fighting the good fight and running your race to win.

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  3. Happy Anniversary! It's nice that you can find humor in your "missed" celebrations. Maybe it will work out next year....

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  4. Happy Anniversary! Still praying!

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  5. Happy Anniversary. Continuing to think of you... with love.

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  6. Happy Anniversary!! Wow 25 years, praise the Lord! Praying for you and your family.

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  7. Happy Anniversary :) You two are a beautiful picture of what marriage is. Truly dedicated to the Lord and thus to each other. Thank you for being that great example to many of us. Shawn and I appreciate you guys very much!

    Tears of joy and tears of sorrow the Lord God knows the reasons. We're continuing to pray.

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  8. My heart aches for you two. Happy Anniversary! I pray to have what you two truly have someday... I pray that is possible for me and him... God has been glorious for me today!!! I am standing on his rock, I sometimes feel so alone, but I am standing on his rock!!! I miss you and I love you both so much. Keep praying for me and him!!! God will have his glorious outcome!! I WILL CONTINUE TO STAND ON HIS ROCK!! Much Love,
    Ann (Of Green Gables)

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  9. Oh, Momma Mindy! I haven't been here in a while, and I want to wish you a Happy Anniversary! And also my prayer support. What I am learning through trials is that God is always good, and He has everything under control. We may not understand what is going on or why, but we have Him to trust!! He is lovingly trustworthy. I will pray!

    Love,
    Shellie

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  10. Happy Anniversary to a couple who invested so much time and energy not so long ago.... Thank-you once again. Love you both, and would love to watch the couple of kidlets you still have at home for free so you could do dinner and a movie - hey, you could even leave town and not pay us a dime!
    When it's all over... you need to celebrate BIG!

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  11. I haven't been doing much blogging lately, so missed that your family is going through a fiery trial (I also went back and read the Valentine post). I'm praying God will be with you. I was just doing a study in Daniel (Beth Moore) and she talks about when we go through trials, sometimes we are delivered = faith built, sometimes we have to walk through the fiery furnace and come out on the other side = faith refine (the goal is to come out of the other end not even smelling like smoke because we walked through fire with Him) and the other alternative is that God completes our faith if He choses not to rescue us. Oh, this was so challenging to me. I need to look through my trials through God's eyes to be confident that he does have my best interests at heart and not matter what my faith will be either built, refined or completed. Hugs to you. I pray that God will carry your family through whatever you are going through. Happy Anniversary!

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