JJ and I celebrated our tenth wedding anniversary last week. Our approaching anniversary had me feeling nostalgic as I remembered some of the highs and lows we’ve experienced throughout this past decade.
Within these ten years, we have lived in three different cities and called four different apartments and one house our home.
We’ve welcomed two precious sons into our lives and await to meet our other child in heaven.
We’ve certainly had our share of grief—of sickness, loss, and heartache.
But we’ve also had so much to celebrate, too.
Besides the blessing of getting married and welcoming our two precious sons into our family, JJ has been able to experience a gamut of opportunities within his career. Most importantly, I’ve seen God use JJ in that place. He has grown in his love of the gospel and boldness to share it as God leads. We expectantly wait to see what God might have for him as we prepare to move out of state.
As for me, I’ve found purpose in writing—a sense that God wants to use my words for His glory. It has been humbling and overwhelming in the best way. I pray it always is for as long as He wishes to use me in this way.
Ten years ago, we were five weeks out from a move across the state. We just didn’t know it yet. Ten years later, we are once again around five weeks out from a move. This time, however, we are fully aware of it. We have been for quite some time.
It is interesting to see how much our marriage parallels what it once was ten years ago. And yet so much has changed, too.
We move forward with a bit of nervousness but also with a lot of anticipation, believing this is where God is leading. And I move forward with JJ toward this new place and new life with trust because I know the man he is and the one that he has become.
I’m so grateful for these ten years and the ways I’ve witnessed God shaping JJ and molding him and giving him a greater love for prayer, His Word, and the lost. I’m also so thankful for how God sustained us. He has been our constant, faithful in all ways.
We may not know what these next ten years may bring, and we certainly don’t know what it will be like to live in a new state. But to be in God’s hands, in His will, is the best place to be. Our security is found in Him, and I look forward to seeing what these next ten years will bring.
Colleen James Publishing 