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February 14, 2007
he doesn't miss a detail...
well, this entry has a couple of purposes...
first of all, as with every valentine's day, i heard plenty of young women express distress at their lack of plans for the evening. and i admit, here towards the end, i was definitely getting sucked into the world's version of this so-called romantic holiday. jensen has been really busy lately, trying super hard to kick it in gear with school. most days and most times, i'm really proud of him for dedicating so much time to being faithful with school. but of course, there are those moments where i wish he would just throw it all to the wind and come hang out with me (selfish, yes, i know). and i'll admit, today was one of those days. he came over last night after a long night of studying to exchange gifts, but that's about all i've seen of him these last few days.
but, rather than lamenting my alone state for the day, i took advantage of the opportunity to get with God for awhile tonight. and i can tell you for certain that it was more satisfying than any amount of time i might have spent with jensen. now, the world would say, "girl! what's wrong with you? better than the man you love?" "yes!" a resounding "yes!" is my reply. as much as i am satisfied with time spent with jensen, he can never know my heart (my needs, wants, desires, passions) as intimately as my first love--God. and so, i enjoyed some time by the little fireplace in taraccino, journaling and pouring my heart out to my Valentine.
so, for all of you who might have spent the evening, feeling like you were missing out on something others have, this is just a small reminder that you too can be greatly satisfied. and even if you didn't take advantage of that opportunity today, it's okay. you'll have that same opportunity tomorrow, and the next day, and the next...God's always ready and willing to be your Valentine. from his perspective, every day is a day to romance you.
anyway, in other news, i just wanted to give God some props for what he's been doing with our wedding...
so, some of you may know that we changed our date. if you didn't know, you do now :) we're now getting married on july 14th, 2007. if you're interested in the details motivating the change, i'd be happy to share, but that's neither here nor there for now. what's cool is that when we signed our contract for our reception (which included a $500 deposit), we were supposed to lose our deposit if we changed our date within six months of the event. well, we found out we needed to move our date about three weeks ago. our original date was may 12th. do the math. it equals losing $500. BUT, when i initially told our catering manager that we might need to change the date, she talked to her boss (without my asking) and not only did they decide to not penalize us, they gave us almost a MONTH longer to decide on an exact date! this was a huge relief. this was a huge financial blessing. so, God showed up in the reception planning.
now another big deal, at least to the bride, the dress. i originally went dress shopping back in november. i fell in love with the first dress i tried on but it was WAY too expensive. i decided to just wait and try and find something else. well, a number of circumstances made it so that i couldn't go shopping again until last weekend. we went to a different shop and i tried on about a dozen dresses before i started to get really emotional. i know this is probably going to see really shallow, but i wasn't really like any of the dresses. i was starting to feel like my wedding dress would be something i could just settle for. that i could tolerate. some part of me was just crying "this is NOT what it's supposed to be like!" i just felt like God's heart about this was not about settling. it was about blessing. but some other part of me didn't trust the heart of God.
anyway (haha, by now most of the guys have probably quit reading...), my sister suggested that we just try and go back to the store where THE dress was. discouraged, but with a glimmer of hope, i decided we could stop by. get this: the dress was $200 off. and they had my size in the store. but, i'm not someone who easily drops large amounts of money. i wanted to go away and think about it for awhile. i was planning on going back earlier this week, but with the bad weather, it wasn't possible. i wish i could said i was filled with faith, but anxiety started to set in (why, oh why, do we choose to be anxious when God is in control?). finally this evening, angie and i were able to go back down to des moines. and GET THIS...today, the dress was $300 off! how cool is that? so, despite my not-so-trustful waiting, God still blessed.
the one last thing i'll comment on is that we really wanted to have some puerto rican food at the reception (we're just doing appetizers and desserts), and get this, one of the chefs for the caterer just got back from a year in puerto rico. in case you're unconvinced, and i certainly need the reminder, remember, we serve a fun God.
so, we'll see what God still has up his sleeve. don't get me wrong, we still need tons and tons of prayer (well, prayer is probably part of why these things even happened!), so keep it up on our behalf!
Posted by Autumn at February 14, 2007 10:45 PM