A love declared has conditions.  We are expected to keep our promise “to love, to honor, to obey—until death do we part.”  A few years ago, for our thirty-eighth anniversary, our daughter purchased a book for us:  The Story of Us.  This journal allows the married couple to record their story, writing together, capturing their memories of laughter, tears, and moments to cherish—forever.  We received this gift and began there (year 38) writing our FUTURE story.  Just yesterday, I found myself picking up this journal and turning to the current pages where we are writing—our 40^th year of marriage.

• What is a moment from this year we want to remember?
• What is something from this year we have discovered?
• What challenges (from this 40^th year) have we faced?
• How do we hope to keep improving our marriage?  &
• What is our greatest strength as a couple?

We can only learn to love by loving.  When we were married (my husband and I), our youthfulness caused many grey hairs to come to the heads of my parents, for sure.  For instance, when my betrothed first proposed marriage, we were committed to marry in the spring, but over the span of weeks, we moved the wedding date closer, much to the anguish of my mother who was sewing the wedding suit.  Then, in my youthful thinking, I decided to “change-up” the order of the wedding ceremony and reception, scheduling the cutting of the cake, the toasting the bride and groom, and the opening of the gifts—to the night BEFORE the actual wedding.  No one does that, RIGHT, but I did, much to the surprise of all who willingly agreed to humor a naïve teenage bride.  For the wedding ceremony, I adamantly deleted a certain word from my wedding vows (obey) thinking that single word was archaic and unnecessary in the covenant relationship I was about to make with my betrothed.  Truly, this caused our pastor anguish as he knew in his godly wisdom how the marriage vows were sacred for a reason and should not be altered.  Finally, in a crazy moment of decision, I decided to walk ALONE down the center, church aisle, while my dad came out from the left front door of the sanctuary and my betrothed came forth from the right-side door.  Clearly, this loss of DUTY I had stripped away from my dad caused him anguish, but in my young mind, everything I did seemed to be right.  Now, forty years later and looking backward in time as we write The Story of Us, I see all the wayward decisions made as we prepared to be married, decisions that did not seem so wrong at the time, but that, now in hindsight, seem so youthfully wrong.

1. To keep the natural order of a wedding ceremony and reception is expected.
2. To remain focused on the set day is important to the ceremony.
3. To allow for the giving of the bride in the proper way is a beautiful picture to the marriage.  &
4. To obey is crucial to any covenant relationship.

When considering my own covenant with my betrothed years ago and while reading the book of Deuteronomy in the Bible, it’s easy to see how God declared His love for His people when He made a covenant with them.  God promised blessings and not curses.  They were to love Him with all their heart, soul, and mind.  In return, He promised them an inheritance:  The Promised Land.

As expected, there were conditions—When one desires to receive the blessings and not the curses.  The Israelites quickly agreed to all of the LORD’S conditions, but in a short span of time, they broke ALL of God’s Covenant.  As their punishment, the LORD allowed His people to wander aimlessly in the wilderness for the next forty years (until the sinful generation all perished and were buried).

• BUT GOD NEVER FORGOT HIS PROMISE!
• BUT THE LORD NEVER FAILED IN HIS FAITHFULNESS!
• BUT HE MADE A WAY TO RESTORATION!

Simply Grace Through Faith.

• How do we know if our faith is genuine?
• How do we know if what we believe through faith in Christ’s work on the cross and the grave and have received, the inheritance of heaven’s promise is genuine? &
• How do we know if the love we give to God is genuinely true and long-lasting?

We choose daily—

To KEEP our FAITH to the One who gave His life on the cross, to give us eternal life.

We choose daily—

To OBEY our LORD with our heart, soul, mind, and strength.

We choose daily—

To LIVE for JESUS, our LORD and SAVIOR.

The decision to follow Jesus Christ—Life or Death, Blessing or Curse—is offered to every person alive, “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,” (The Letter of Paul to the Romans 3: 23 NASB).

The decision to follow Jesus Christ—Life or Death, Blessing or Curse—is seen in what God Did for Us.  “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” (The Letter of Paul to the Romans 5:8 NASB).

The decision to follow Jesus Christ—Life or Death, Blessing or Curse—is free to be received, “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (The Letter of Paul to the Romans 6: 23 NASB).

The decision to follow Jesus Christ—Life or Death, Blessing or Curse—becomes The Story of Us (God and you & God and me)—WHEN WE CONFESS OUR SINS & BELIEVE IN JESUS!