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Monday, June 29, 2009

My Best Friend


Today marks seven years since I said “I do” to the love of my life, Craig.

In the summer of 2000, I met Craig – hold onto your hats! – on the internet. We exchanged a few emails and a couple of phone calls in the first week. Late one night, we spent nearly four hours on the phone, just talking about our lives. Without ever having laid eyes on him, I fell in love with his heart and his gentle spirit.

After years of running from God, without realizing it, I had turned from the broad road I was walking, and had taken the first step down the path that led back to Him.

I had spent the first twenty years of my adult life in a marriage that was doomed before the wedding day. A rebellious, know-it-all young woman, I thought I had it all under control. And tried to maintain that tenuous appearance for the next two decades. When I jumped out of the frying pan, I landed in the fire. Ironically, that’s exactly what it felt like … like I was living on the fringes of hell.

After many bad choices, many embarrassing situations, and too many wasted and forgotten moments, I heard what I now know was the Holy Spirit directing me to do something totally against my nature. Taking that course of action led me directly to Craig.

Once the Lord had the two of us together, He worked on both of us at the same time. We didn’t really have a chance. It was all over. We just didn’t know it yet. We married in 2002, but it was the fall of 2003 before we committed the rest of our lives to the Lord.

He is the godly man that I love to come home to every night. His is the ear that hears my heart, his is the hand that dries my tears. He is the first person I call when something wonderful or something awful happens or when I’ve seen a really neat bumper sticker. From the divine to the mundane, he hears, sees and knows it all. He knows my heart’s desires and the little things that drive me to the brink. His ears have the unique ability to filter out the whining, the harshness, the unlovely that comes from my mouth. I’ve often thought that he loves me like Jesus does … unconditionally.

He’s the one I want to wake up next to every morning for the rest of my life. I do not want to spend a single day on the face of this earth without him. Apart from my eternal salvation, he is the greatest gift God has given me.

In a world where many marriages are nothing more than a reason to throw an expensive party, I feel like the most blessed woman on the planet to have such a man as my husband. Grateful doesn’t even begin to describe it.

7 comments:

  1. CONGRATULATIONS LOVE BIRDS!!!!

    This picture is just beautiful and truly captures your love as does this post. Kim, the one thing that drew me to you, the thing that is most like Jesus to me is your humble love - it oozes out of you and "the church" needs more like YOU!

    With love and see you SOON in NC roomie!!!

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  2. What a sweet and beautiful tribute to your husband AND to the goodness of God! My love story with my man and my love story with God are also totally intertwined...and I LOVE that! My hubbie and I celebrate 11 years together tomorrow! :)

    I wanted to come by and thank you so much for your sweet comment. I love how God works...how He used your giveaway to cause us to "meet". :) Thank you so much for always being so kind and encouraging. You have definitely have been a part of the blessing of blogging!!! Thank you!

    And I hope you have a fabulous time at She Speaks! I am sure it will be so wonderful!

    Love and prayers,
    Kimberly :)

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  3. I enjoyed this post and visiting your blog. I am in the Jacksonville area and traveling to the SheSpeaks Conference! When are you leaving? Are you flying out of Jax, too? My Delta flight leaves for Charlotte at 9:25 a.m. I would love to connect with you and find out some more about the conference. This is my first time (can't you tell??)
    What all do you bring with you? Please e-mail when convenient...Blessings, Leslie Flemister
    leslieflemister@bellsouth.net

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  4. What a wonderful tribute to your husband and what an amazing story of God's grace!! Awesome!!
    And I love the bumper sticker comment! I can completely relate!!
    Can't wait to see you at She Speaks!

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  5. WELL! Do We have some things in common, fellow siesta. My hubby and I were married in Dec of 2002 and guess how we met? Hold onto your hat.... on the internet!! Haha!! It was sort of by accident, but it happened and we fell in love over the long distance of being an entire continent apart.

    And if that werent' enough, my story also mimics your own in that the Lord really had a hold of both of us at the start of our relationship as well. In fact, I wasn't even a believer when my hubby and I started communicating, just as friends at first. I was in heavy seeking mode, really hungry for the truth, and Caleb really answered a lot of questions for me. I became a believer and our relationship took a different turn, and I was a brand new Christian and he was a kid finding his faith in his own right when we got married. Talk about an adventure!

    And I feel just the same away about my darlin' man... he's my best friend, and it's only by the grace and love of the Father that two such different people, with different backgrounds, could love one another so much (not to mention like one another!) for almost seven years now.

    So many congratulations to you and I am blessed that you 'found' me on my little corner of the internet. I appreciated your comment over at my blog, and consider yourself 'followed'.

    God Bless, sister!

    -Nicole from Armchair Housewife

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  6. How awesome! Can't wait to meet you at She Speaks! :)

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  7. Thanks for the comment over at my blog, Kim. :) The whole deal with my blog was to be honest about the process of getting out of the armchair and being a better homemaker, so yeah I can be brutally honest sometimes, especially in my "confessional" posts. But I know lots of ladies have said they appreciate my honesty, that I don't have it "all together", cause most of us don't. :) but my blog isn't all posts about dead plants and mildew stained shower walls, lol, I do other more pleasant stuff, too. ;)

    Nice to have "found" you here in Cyberspace. No I am not doing the Proverbs 31 event you mentioned, but I see oyu have an icon on your page and i'll click it to see what you're talking about.

    God Bless!
    -Nicole

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