I can’t believe we’ve been married for a FULL YEAR on Monday. 365 days of being Michael’s wife – and it’s been a dream come true. My good friend Abbie was sweet enough to do a little in-home photo shoot for us for our anniversary and I am obsessed with them! They’re so dreamy, yet simple because they document our regular life together!
In honor of our anniversary, I wanted to share with you guys 5 things I’ve learned in the first year of marriage. I’ve learned A LOT, and I’m so thankful to God that He has given me this gift of loving Michael and navigating life with him. I could have written a novel, but here are the top 5 things!
1. Marriage has taught me to be a servant. There are things I just do because I know they will make Michael happy, and vice versa. There is no keeping score because we each strive to serve one another. We’re obviously not perfect at this, but we try to remain servant-hearted and always trying to do little things to make each other feel loved. Sometimes I surprise him when he gets home by doing all the dishes and tidying up – his reaction is always worth it. Or sometimes he gets up before me on Saturdays and does the same thing plus has my coffee ready. It’s all about looking for those opportunities to serve.
2. Marriage gave me a confidence that I can be my true self. Being married involves being fully known and wholly loved. There is a reason scripture compares Christ’s love for us to that of a bride and groom. When you marry someone, you show them every dark corner of your soul and they choose to love you regardless. It is the most freeing feeling in the world knowing someone has seen every side of you and still chooses you. It gives you courage to be yourself because you know you have them in your corner no matter what.
3. Marriage has made me more intentional. I’ve always been extremely aware that time is fleeting, and we’ll never have these moments back (I’m a bit dramatic) BUT wow. Being married to Michael is the best feeling in the world, almost every single day feels like a dream, so I am PRAYING for it to slow down. For instance, I CAN’T BELIEVE IT’S BEEN A YEAR ALREADY. Lol. I am very intentional about our time together each night after work, our *precious* Saturdays (we take weekends very seriously in this house – Saturdays are the most fun ever with him!) I’m soaking up every minute of our life together and plan on keeping this honeymoon phase going forever. Also, I can’t imagine how I’ll be when we have kids if I’m already this hyper-aware of how fast time flies. Yikes.
4. Marriage has heavily affected my prayer life. Not only am I constantly on my knees in prayer asking God to help me love and serve Michael better as a wife, but I now have another half of me, so his concerns are my own. I’m even more dedicated now to praying for him, his job, his day, the man he is, etc. because he is mine and a part of me and I feel the need to talk to God about him daily.
We have a sign in our kitchen that says “this kitchen is for dancing” — we dance A LOT in this house!
5. Marriage has given me an entirely new understanding and perspective of God’s love for us. In our small group at church, we just finished a book where countless times the author compared our relationship with God to that of a marriage. He talked a lot about how in a marriage, you have to give each other your all. You can’t do it half way, there can’t be anything else between the two of you, and you have to work at it every single day. You have to talk to one another. You can’t do things for each other just to “check off” that you did them – your spouse can see right through that – your actions have to be out of love and a real desire to serve one another. You may see where I’m going here, but the same goes for your relationship with God. Michael and I have been moved by this idea of being essentially married to Christ just like we are to each other. Now that we have experienced marriage, we know a little bit more about what that’s supposed to look like and we are challenged by it.
This past year has been nothing short of amazing. I have laughed, cried, grown, and experienced more love than I knew existed. Michael is my very best friend and I can’t wait for the rest of our years together.
Happy Anniversary, my love ❤
