January Wedding

  

   For those of you who do not know, or those of you in shock.... SURPRISE!! After a lot of praying, talking, and reading in Bible study together Joel and I were married Friday night. I know many were surprised that we had only been engaged for three weeks, however I believe when you know, you know. On Friday morning I picked Joel up from the airport and drove down to the courthouse to apply for our marriage license. Eight hours later back at the courthouse, we exchanged our vows and our rings. Honestly, I do not believe I would have had it any other way. Neither of us like to be the center of attention. Plus, I would have been a nervous wreck getting married front of 150+ people. Thankfully, our family was in support of this and we had a small reception of just our siblings, parents, and grandparents. It was sweet and simple exactly like, if not more than we could have wanted. 
  I think that the movie When Harry Met Sally says it best, "When you realize that you want to spend the rest of your life with someone, you want the rest of your life to start as soon as possible." Joel and I knew we wanted to spend our lives together, so why not go ahead and build our life together now? Especially when we have put Christ in the center of it all. I am so blessed to have married a man who loves Jesus as much as he loves me, and even more so he loves me as Christ loves the church. I've always been told and firmly believe that true love is putting the other person before yourself, which is what we strive to do and I pray we will continue to do. We have taken a big life changing step, but  we serve an omniscient God who knew our future together before I could even imagine it! I never would have thought that I would be married to the boy I had a crush on over a year ago, but Psalm 139:16 says, "Your eyes saw me when I was formless; all my days were written Your book and planned before a single one of them began." I am so excited to start this journey with my best friend. I know were made for each other; he truly is my other half and God certainly knew what He was doing when he brought us together. With that, here are a few of my favorite wedding photos: 

"The man said,

"This is bone of my bones

and flesh of my flesh;

she shall be called 'woman,'

for she was taken out of man."

That is why a man leaves his father and mother and is united to his wife, and they become one flesh."

Genesis 2:23, 24

I have found him whom my soul loves.

   One of my favorite books in the Bible is Song of Songs. I love the story that is created between King Solomon and his bride. Not only does it reflect the intimate relationship between a husband and wife, but it also reflects the relationship of Christ and His bride, the church, which we are called to have in Ephesians. Another reason why I love this book is because Joel included a passage of it in one of his letters to me while he was in OSUT.
   I don't think I can begin to tell y'all enough how much of a blessing he is. He has such a giving heart and always makes sure that I am laughing or smiling. He listens to me when I rant, tell him stupid stories, and when I'm down right confused on what to do. I praise God that he is a man who prays before every one of our meals and before he makes decisions. I am thankful that he seeks after God in everything that he does. People see Christ in him; one letter I got from him while he was training talked about how some of the guys had started reading their Bibles and were asking him questions. Most of all, he loves me, just as Christ loves the church. I have absolutely no doubt that Joel will be the leader of our household that God has called him to be.
   We took our engagement photos the Friday before he left to go back to Texas. Miranda, Joel's (and soon-to-be my!) sister-in-law, took some amazing shots. Pictures that captured our silliness and our love for one another. There were so many great ones that I wanted to include on this post, but I've narrowed it down to some of my favorites.

"His mouth is most sweet,
and he is altogether desirable. 

This is my beloved and this is my friend,

O daughters of Jerusalem."

Song of Songs 5:16

He has made everything beautiful in its time

   I met Joel Gregory Reece a year and a half ago. I had ran into a friend on campus who invited me to a church he was interning at and the college Bible study at his dorm. Lately I had felt God was calling me elsewhere to a new church community and I needed a group of people my age to fellowship with, so I took him up on his offer and visited.  One Sunday afternoon, all the college kids were meeting up at the dorm to have lunch and get to know each other before we started meeting regularly for the summer. That was the same day I met Joel. I had seen him around, we had some mutual friends and played ultimate frisbee at the same place, but I had never really talked to him. Plus, he's quiet. I think he barely said a word the entire time we were eating lunch that day. He tries to play the mysterious role, and can honestly do it pretty well haha. Over the next few months, he actually started talking to me though and eventually picking at me. Joel didn't really like all the sweets that I brought each week, so I had to start cooking real food every week to take to Bible study. We learned a little about each other, like we both worked our butts off at jobs and we both come from big families. I had a HUGE crush on him, but I'd never admit that. Like I would come home each week and tell my mom about him. He would walk me out to my car every week and carry my stuff, but never ask me on a date. Once school started, I had in mind joining a sorority and I did. It was something I felt would be good for me and something I thought I really wanted. I became busy with it and tried to balance it with our Bible study, but eventually everyone became busy and our group got harder for everyone to meet up. Jon, Joel's brother, was leaving for YWAM Hawaii, so we met for dinner one night. I remember Jon telling me to keep hanging out with Joel while he was gone, which was something I didn't do. Those next few months, we went for walks at Swift-Cantrell, went to dinner, and eventually stopped talking for about six months.
   Fast forward to March of 2013, Jon comes back from his YWAM trip and I am in need of guy chaperones for youth trip to Dare2Share. So I text Jon and see if he and Joel want to help out. Jon says okay and tags along on this awesome trip to Chattanooga where we see God move in the lives of so many middle and high school students. The next month, Jon invites me to his birthday dinner, where I am the only one there not related to him. I sat between him and Joel at dinner, of which Joel talked my head off and I learned that he had enlisted in the Army. He would be leaving in August for OSUT. Afterwards, we all went to a movie and I wondered what I had been missing the last six months. From then on I started going over to the Reece household each week for Bible study. Each week, Jon paired Joel and I up for prayer. I got to know his family, he met my family, we went to frisbee together, took a trip to Charleston, and saw a lot of movies. Joel and I started to spend just about every day together.  I guess you could say "the rest is history," but I don't necessarily believe that, our story is still being written. All during this past summer, over and over again I was told "this isn't a date" and "I'm leaving soon," but I very much knew that he was the one. I'm crazy about him and have been from the beginning. Finally, on August 1st, we sat in his truck and talked for a long while, one of many talks we had this past summer, and established that we we're indeed dating. A week later, was the first time either of us said "I love you." Then, on August 19th he left for OSUT at Fort Benning, and the next three months we wrote over one hundred letters. With a blessing in disguise, Joel was snowed out of Texas after his graduation at the beginning of December, and he was able to stay home for four days. Then come home again last week for Christmas, where Joel surprised me with the best Christmas present ever. On December 22nd, after our first real date, he took me to the Marietta Square and proposed! 

Our first "real" date

How he asked me to marry him

  I believe our relationship is such a blessing from an awesome God. It may have taken us a while, but it wasn't our timing, it was God's. Like Ecclesiastes 3:11 says, "He has made everything beautiful in its time." I had to let go of my want to fit in with the crowd and God was working in Joel's heart too. While I wish I hadn't waited months to talk to him, I realize that it all worked out for our good. He has made our relationship beautiful, and He has so much more He wants to do.