I was the traditional "good little church girl" saved by the grace of God and he was the traditional "bad boy" saved by the same grace of God. He was a tall, dark, handsome motorcycle riding Bible believing guy who made my heart melt in an instant.We were two strangers out on our first date. Hands collide, eyes lock and fear strikes me. He really likes me. Who is he? I don't feel I know what makes this man tick. He's mysterious. His home life is so different from mine. His outlook on life has a different tint. Yet we connect - he fascinates me.
But fear again. I don't want my heart to get ahead of my head so I speak up. Please don't let our hands collide or our lips meet - I'm not ready for that. He listens, he loves, he waits in purity.
6 months of laughter, love, fireworks and deep talks and I am head over heels in love. I wonder when our lips will meet. I struggle with these desires. Is it too early - am I too young or are we ready?
We sit in the park reading together God's words. We talk deeply, our souls connect, we laugh, we love, we dream together...and then it happened...
He puts a cert in his mouth. I ask for one too...he is smooth - "Come and get it." he says with a smirk. Waves crash inside of me - do I go get the cert in his mouth? Is it time? Is he the one worthy of my kiss?
He waits patiently for my reaction. He had listened to my request and would not cross my boundary until I signaled I was ready. I lean in, he leans in - it feels so natural. The cert is exchanged and we come up for air laughing! Such joy in two young adults falling in love.
It was 13 years ago today that I had the crowning day of my life. I married my best friend. I wore the most expensive dress I've ever worn. And my parents pulled out all the stops to make it the most beautiful, delightful, and meaningful day of my entire life. My favorite people on the planet surrounded me as we said our vows to one another. And I hold today, my anniversary day, in sacred honor. This day stands out above all others on the calendar day as a day to remember and cherish.
This world encourages brides to go into debt to make their wedding day spectacular but when the flowers wither and the pictures fade, they forget what this day represents. Marriages are in crisis because we have forgetten our sacred vows before God and man.We must daily work to nurture our marriage relationship. Remember your first kiss? Remember to pause and kiss your husband LIKE YOU MEAN IT today! lol! Remember to cherish your anniversaries - above all other days of the year.
Matthew 19:6b "Therefore, what God has joined together, let man not separate."
Today we are remembering...
Walk with the King!
Courtney, what a sweet story! Now, go get a pack of certs tonight and have a WONDERFUL anniversary!!!! You have made a beautiful family and life together.
ReplyDeleteHappy Anniversary!! Love that story & the picture!! =)
ReplyDeleteHappy, happy, HAPPY Anniversary Courtney!!!! Have a wonderful day with your precious husband. You two deserve it!
ReplyDeleteI teared up reading your post! Beautiful!
ReplyDeleteHappy Anniversary and may our Gracious Heavenly Father bless you with many, many, more! :)
Happy Anniversary. I forgot all about Certs! Do they still even make them? LOL.
ReplyDeleteMy husband and I are the opposite...I was the bad girl and he was the good boy. But the good news is we were both saved by His amazing grace.
Neither my husband or I grew up in strong Christian families (even though I attended a private religious school for the second half of my school years). We dated for 8 (yes, EIGHT) years before marrying, and have been married for 20 years now and I love him sooo much.
ReplyDeleteIt sounds like you had a blessed and wonderful Christian upbringing, Courtney. As a first generation Christian, I hope that one of the fruits of our walk with Jesus is that our future generations will have that same blessing.
Have an absolutely wonderful anniversary. Hope you and Keith get to go out and celebrate your most special day together. I soooo love the story you shared with us. It is precious.
Blessings,
Toni
Happy Anniversary! You both are so cute and this post had me reminiscing about our first kiss!
ReplyDeleteLove you!
What a great story!
ReplyDeleteHappy Anniversary! Have a beautiful day!
ReplyDeleteHappy Anniversary! My husband was also a very patient man and didn't kiss me until we got engaged. I know it was hard for him, but I love that he thought I was worth it. Have a great evening!
ReplyDeleteI just found your blog and really enjoy it! Great post!!
ReplyDeleteI just love that picture of you both in the car! x
ReplyDeleteHow sweet! Happy Anniversary Courtney!
ReplyDeleteWonderful story Courtney!
ReplyDeleteI heard a great saying a couple of days ago "If there was more courting in marriage, there'd be fewer marriages in court." We should always hold our marriages and our spouses in high regard. Celebrated our 29th anniversary in June!
Bernice
Ohhhh I can't believe it's been 13 years Courtney!!! Feels like it was just yesterday! Congratulations my sweet and dear friend! I love you!
ReplyDelete-Angela
Happy anniversary! (Ours--14years--is tomorrow, so for me this time of year is filled with many happy memories of celebrating with my beloved!!) Thanks for this look back as we journey forward into an exciting future with our husbands! :) ~Kim A.
ReplyDeleteOh yes I'd have to celebrate with a cert tonight if I were you!
ReplyDeleteWhat a sweet story :). Happy Anniversary!
ReplyDeleteWhat a great post and a sweet reminder! I've been with my guy for 10 years now and he was my first kiss too! We were 16 when we met, 17 when we started dating and 21 when we got married. Now we have a little baby girl and it's easy to forget to kiss like those first kisses so thanks for giving me an idea for today:) What a beautiful story of how much you love your hubs! Happy Anniversary!
ReplyDeleteThat is so sweet. Marriage is sacred and not everyone knows that today. Your post made me realize that, I should hold "our" firm in my heart and remember it often. We got married on Valentines Day, and don't really celebrate the holiday, just our anniversary. I wouldn't change it for anything! Happy Anniversary and 14 years is a lot to look up too!
ReplyDeleteHappy Anniversary, Courtney!! So sweet!!
ReplyDeleteIt is definitely not the "going broke" wedding that matters. We just could not wait to get married, so we invited our immediate family and got married in front of the lake at his family's lake house. That was one year ago September 20th and I cannot WAIT to celebrate our first anniversary! It is the VOWS that are most important!! Yay for love :)
What a SWEET story!! Happy Anniversary!!!!
ReplyDeleteThat is a wonderful story! Happy Anniversary!!
ReplyDeleteHave a wonderful and happy anniversary and congratulations on 13 years of marriage!!
ReplyDeleteHappy anniversary!!!!
ReplyDeleteWhat a beautiful story!!!
Enjoy your cellebration!Priscila.
I enjoyed your sharing post today! Happy Anniversary, by the way! I couldn't help but laugh at the similarities in our story. I was the traditional good little church girl, too, and while my husband grew up in church, he didn't get saved until age 20--about 3 months before we met. Though he didn't have a motorcycle then, he has one now and has owned a variety of "dangerous toys" over our 11 year marriage. The funniest thing is, we played the "Cert game", too--not for our first kiss, but you are the only other couple I've heard of doing that! LOL
ReplyDeleteOne thing I'll have to differ with you on, though. Tall, BLONDE and handsome is definitely better! ;-)
Happy Anniversary! My hubby was very patient too. He never kissed me until he was sure he was in love with me (and told me so) and after asking me to marry him he waited a whole year for me to say yes (I was nervous about getting married, we had a lot of divorce in our family and I was afraid).
ReplyDeleteWe have been married 27 years now, and I married my best friend then and he still is now!
We especially need to be reminded of that first kiss as the kids come and we get so busy with mommyhood that we can neglect our hubby is we're not careful.
Thanks for linking up to Making Your Home Sing Monday.
Happy Anniversary! You make a lovely couple. Here's to 13 more.
ReplyDeleteLove that story of your smooth hubby ;) I hope your anniversary is sweet, Courtney. I am thankful for your love of marriage and your partnership in building up homes that love Jesus.
ReplyDeleteHappy Anniversary! Great blog post!
ReplyDeleteHappy Anniversary! Great story! I have to admit it made me cry... so sweet! Again, thank you for your ministry.
ReplyDeleteHappy Anniversary! Thanks for the reminder to make it count!
ReplyDeleteHappy Anniversary! Reading this gave me chills. I will most certainly kiss my man like I mean it today.
ReplyDeleteI hope you all had a very blessed day. May God bless you with many more.
~Amy
Happy Anniversary, Courtney and Keith! Thanks for sharing your story- now I'm curious! Since you just had your birthday, I can do the math and figure out you were barely 22 on your wedding day. :) And you said you were dating about 6 months before that first minty kiss, so how old were you at that time, and how long between the kiss and the wedding? Am I correct to understand that was your very first kiss ever? SO sweet! And beautiful that he was patient with you. I wish I had been taught such total purity at a young age: my first kiss was at age 13, and I now regret not having known better to save it for the right person- my sweet husband of almost 14 years! I am so happy for you and Keith that you had the blessing of knowing a true, pure love before sharing something so intimate and special. Love & blessings, SaraA
ReplyDeleteHappy anniversary! Wasn't it just last night that I called him Mr. McKissy? You two are so sweet. :)
ReplyDeleteI agree with Janelle, but buy two packs of certs, you'll need them!
Happy Anniversary! That is such a wonderful story! I agree that anniversaries should be very special. :)
ReplyDeleteThanks for all the anniversary wishes! We had a great day - so glad Labor Day fell on the same day so my hubby didn't have to work!!!
ReplyDeleteSara A - we dated a LONG time - 4 years - we were highschool sweet hearts but we were dating long distance as I lived in Chicago and he lived at Ohio State for all 4 years! We dated in high school but didn't kiss until we were in college.
We sent lots of snail mail and saw each other on holidays. The hundreds of miles between us kept our physical relationship slow.
Darlene - love the McKissy title for my hubby I have to tell him that one!! :-)!
Courtney
Awesome. Wow! He was wayyy more patient than I even thought! Yay for Keith! :). Chicago!! You went to Moody, right? I grew up in a suburb 40 miles west of the city, but it is named "West Chicago,"- About 5 min from Wheaton College. I attended Judson College in Elgin, 1995-96. Sometimes students from all 3 schools, plus Trinity, got together for worship. I have some very good friends who went to Moody! :). Was your high school in Chicago, too, or Ohio? Fun! Thanks for putting up with my 20 questions! :)
ReplyDeleteSaraA
Hope you had a wonderful anniversary!
ReplyDeleteThere is a children's book that my daughter received before she was even born from a student in my 2nd grade class. It's called "The Princess and the Kiss" and if you've never heard of it, you should get it for your children. It's a book about God's gift of purity and the princess saves her kiss for the one she marries. My daughter (6 now) found it on the shelf and read it the other day. She brought it to me when she was done and said, "This is such a sweet story. And it has a great lesson!" I agreed! The link on Amazon (in case anyone wants to read the synopsis of it) is www.amazon.com/Princess-Kiss-Story-Gods-Purity/dp/0871628686.
ReplyDeleteThis was so fun to read Courtney! Happy Anniversary! ( a little late.)
ReplyDeleteHooray!! Makes my knees weak to re-think all the sweet firsts with my love! Happy Anniversary!
ReplyDeleteSara A - thanks for sharing a little about yourself - I love learning more about my readers!
ReplyDeleteAs for us, we were both born and raised in Ohio!!
Courtney