I know, I know, I am a little late on this one…I’m still trying to figure it all out. I apologize for how long it has taken me to write post number two. I said I would usually blog while Andrew is in the deer stand, but this past week, I actually was given the wonderful opportunity to go hunting with Andrew. Which I promise does not happen often and this is why…
We were headed out to my parents property with a new ground blind that Andrew was so excited to use. When we arrived, we marched out back, Andrew in about five layers of clothing, while I wore my leggings because I insisted it was warm enough ( I was wrong), do not try that ladies. What I also did not know about this little trip was the work it takes to set up a deer blind. We had to chop down ( bare handed) brush, thorns, burrs, weeds, and tree branches, I probably grabbed a birds nest too. Andrew kept saying we were blending the blind into the field, but I felt more like we were decorating the blind. The biggest mistake of the whole experience was Andrew asked ME to stake the blind down. With no hammer and just my Bean Boots, I stepped on each stake till it was right at the edge of the ground. During our few hours, the blind was fine, it did not budge. However, the next day when Andrew went out to hunt, lets just say the deer stand was not in the same place as I staked it down and the stakes were gone… Andrew learned a lesson that day: do not let your wife stake down your really nice brand new deer blind.
Something that I have learned in the past week, is that the first few weeks in November are some of the best weeks to hunt. Because my husband is such a selfless and loving man, he sacrificed his weekend to spend with his wife, his brother and sister-in-law and their kids in Michigan. He knew the trip meant so much to me, that he was willing to give up prime hunting time. Usually in a five hour car ride, you talk about life, about the future, play games, listen to music, but nope, not in our car ride. Our car ride was designated to looking for deer, hunters, deer stands and geese. I had never heard someone get so excited about such things. He told me that if he can’t be out there hunting, he might as well be looking for them. At one point, he told me he was going to take a nap and if I saw anything to wake him up…well I might have forgotten and when he woke up, there were geese flying above, you would have thought I missed his birthday…
On a more serious note, Andrew and I had such a relaxing and encouraging weekend in Michigan. In the midst of work and school, it is nice to just get away from it all and be with the ones you love the most and do nothing but eat, drink and sit on the couch and talk about life. His brother and sister-in-law are some of the most encouraging, loving and Christ-like people I have ever met. Their marriage is such a great example of what it means to be centered around Christ and Andrew and I are constantly being fed truth when we are around the two of them. Andrew is one of seven and as a wife, I could not have asked for a more loving and kind family to marry into.
I left the weekend being more excited than ever to be married to Andrew. I was so encouraged that we have a God who has orchestrated the two of us to be together to carry out his plan. He knows every detail of how it will all play out and the exciting thing is, we have no idea what all is going to happen. I make a reference back to the deer blind, because its exactly what faith is, I am so blind about what is happening in my future, but I am so thrilled that I get to walk by faith next to the man that I love and trust that the Lords will, will be done! How fun is that? It is always so fun for me to look back on Andrew and I’s relationship and think that the Lord knew we would be together one day! He was right in front of me the whole time and with the lords perfect timing, I married him just a month ago. Our God is so good and gracious and continues to bless me daily. Sense it was read at our wedding, the scripture below has constantly been on my heart.
Psalm 139: 1- 18 which is as follows:
1 You have searched me, Lord,
and you know me.
2 You know when I sit and when I rise;
you perceive my thoughts from afar.
3 You discern my going out and my lying down;
you are familiar with all my ways.
4 Before a word is on my tongue
you, Lord, know it completely.
5 You hem me in behind and before,
and you lay your hand upon me.
6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,
too lofty for me to attain.
7 Where can I go from your Spirit?
Where can I flee from your presence?
8 If I go up to the heavens, you are there;
if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.
9 If I rise on the wings of the dawn,
if I settle on the far side of the sea,
10 even there your hand will guide me,
your right hand will hold me fast.
11 If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me
and the light become night around me,”
12 even the darkness will not be dark to you;
the night will shine like the day,
for darkness is as light to you.
13 For you created my inmost being;
you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful,
I know that full well.
15 My frame was not hidden from you
when I was made in the secret place,
when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.
16 Your eyes saw my unformed body;
all the days ordained for me were written in your book
before one of them came to be.
17 How precious to me are your thoughts,[a] God!
How vast is the sum of them!
18 Were I to count them,
they would outnumber the grains of sand—
when I awake, I am still with you.
Every step of the way, the Lord is with us. He knows me, he created me, he created Andrew and as we start our new life together, we constantly have to be reminded that we were fearfully and wonderfully made in his image and because of that, we have to put him as the center of everything and from there, we can love one another unconditionally.
-AT
Tied With A Bow 