Staying in the land...for 25 and counting!

 Today, we are celebrating 25 years of marriage!  What joy!!  All glory to God.  

I was lost on campus and this mysterious dark haired boy offered to show me the way.  He has been leading me every since!

A very country girl in turquoise boots and snake belt, uncomfortable in the required dress code and completely out of place in Bible College.   I was 18 and free spirited.  It was a beautiful fall day in North Dakota.  He was 23 and mysterious.   He had black too long of hair and was a photographer and musician.  It seems like yesterday and my heart still remembers the fluttering!

A gigantic clash of cultures!  A hippie, past drug abusing,  new believing musician and an oldest of six girls independent passionate ranch girl.  He completely stole my heart!  He proposed at Christmas and we were married in May!!

Brother David Jones at Trinity did our premarital counseling and gave us a heads up of what our struggles might be.   We had all of the invincibility and idealism that only the young can have!  And we had our plans all made.  

Reality hit us hard as we struggled to find equilibrium in this new world of marriage!  I didn't know people who slept in and he didn't know people who didn't.  He had this great gift of childlike playfulness and I was a worker.  I was an outdoor girl and he was an indoor kind of guy.   We were both extremely opinionated and stubborn.  He struggled with managing this wild girl he married, and I tried to change him.  

We were sooo poor and covered our windows and doors with blankets and our hot water heater with the electric blanket to keep it from freezing.

We adored our boys together with our first surprising us before our second anniversary.  Finding monsters under the bed, rodeos and wrestling matches, bedtime reading, family nights and traditions bound us all together.

Ministry was rough and nothing we expected.  Through brokenness, we became one.

God told David...to stay.

This became my heart's cry.  We would stay.  Stay in our marriage.  Stay in our family.  Stay with God.  Stay in ministry.  Stay in the land God call us to.

We made a million mistakes and will make a million more.  But, we will stay.

" …and said to them, "Thus says the LORD the God of Israel, to whom you sent me to present your petition before Him: If you will indeed stay in this land, then I will build you up and not tear you down, and I will plant you and not uproot you; for I will relent concerning the calamity that I have inflicted on you.  Do not be afraid of the king of Babylon, whom you are now fearing; do not be afraid of him,' declares the LORD, 'for I am with you to save you and deliver you from his hand.…" Jeremiah 42:9-12

42:7-22 If we would know the mind of the Lord in doubtful cases, we must wait as well as pray. 

God is ever ready to return in mercy to those he has afflicted; and he never rejects any who rely on his promises. He has declared enough to silence even the causeless fears of his people, which discourage them in the way of duty. Whatever loss or suffering we may fear from obedience, is provided against in God's word; and he will protect and deliver all who trust in him and serve him. 

It is folly to quit our place, especially to quit a holy land, because we meet with trouble in it. And the evils we think to escape by sin, we certainly bring upon ourselves. We may apply this to the common troubles of life; and those who think to avoid them by changing their place, will find that the grievances common to men will meet them wherever they go. Sinners who dissemble with God in solemn professions especially should be rebuked with sharpness; for their actions speak more plainly than words. We know not what is good for ourselves; and what we are most fond of, and have our hearts most set upon, often proves hurtful, and sometimes fatal." Matthew Henry Commentary.