Valentine’s Day – Celebrating 18 Years

Valentines - Rings

Eighteen years ago, a wondrous thing happened.

On a torrential Valentine’s Day, in a small church in Southern California, I walked down the aisle and pledged my love and my life to a man I was ready to spend the rest of my days with.

As part of our wedding ceremony, I spoke these words to my husband from the Book of Ruth:

Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay.
Your people will be my people and your God my God.

– Ruth 1:16

Making a commitment to love someone isn’t always an easy thing. In our culture, we associate Valentine’s Day with all of the external trappings of romance. But life-long love between a man and a woman requires much more than chocolate, flowers and romantic dinners.

Love involves self-sacrifice, trust, and faith in an unseen but ever-present God.

Love is not for the faint of heart.

Do you know what the Bible says about love?

1 Cor 13 - Love Is Patient

Love is patient, love is kind.
It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.
It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking,
It is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.
Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.
It always protects, always trusts,
Always hopes, always perseveres.
Love never fails.

– 1 Corinthians 13:4-8

As you can see, God gives us a high standard to live up to when it comes to love!

Love isn’t just about finding someone who will make us happy. Love is also about finding someone we are willing to lay down our lives for, just as Jesus lay down His life for us. (1 John 3:16)

When my husband and I met, we lived on opposite sides of the country. As we corresponded and spoke with one another by phone, we knew from the start that if we wanted our relationship to grow – if we envisioned a life together – it would require huge sacrifices on both of our parts in order for things to work.

From the beginning of our relationship, we prayed. We sought counsel. We asked God if it was in His perfect will for us to move forward – and if so, in what time frame.

Eventually, circumstances made the path clear. To move our relationship to the next level, I moved over 3000 miles to begin a new life. I sold my home and left my family, friends, church and career behind.

I took a leap of faith into our future.

Adjusting to a new life wasn’t easy – but it was a sacrifice I willingly made to be with the person I loved.

Marrying my husband was one of the best decisions I’ve ever made. Every day, in so many ways, he demonstrates to me how much he loves me. I hope he feels the same way about me too and knows how much I love him as well!

But lately, God has laid an even more amazing truth upon my heart…

Faith Gateway

Would you like to hear the rest of the story? Please join me over at Faith Gateway and continue the story in my devotional, Do You Know How Much God Loves You?

You’ll also find my entire collection of inspirational devotions at Faith Gateway – a HarperCollins Christian Publishing site dedicated to helping you grow and share your faith!

Have a blessed Valentine’s Day dear friends!

Copyright © 2016 by Create With Joy. All Rights Reserved.
If you see this content posted elsewhere, please contact the site owner.
Thank you for helping to prevent content theft!

18 Responses to “Valentine’s Day – Celebrating 18 Years”

Read below or add a comment...

  1. What a beautiful story <3 Happy Valentine's Day. Extra Pawkisses for the occasion 🙂 <3

  2. Ellen Pilch says:

    Happy Anniversary! And Happy Valentine’s Day!

  3. Christina Morley
    Twitter: tinarobmorley
    says:

    Congrats on your 18th Anniversary! I was blessed reading your story. Wishing you another 18 years of a rich marriage and more!

  4. Miz Helen says:

    Congratulations on your 18 years! This is a beautiful post, thanks so much for sharing. Hope you are having a very special day!
    Miz Helen

  5. Congrats on 18 years.

  6. Shadow says:

    That is a great story. I am thankful for the man the Lord gave me. Selfless love, although not always easy has been worth the sacrifice to me.
    Sarah.

  7. Karren Haller
    Twitter: Myllls
    says:

    Hi Ramona, such a sweet story on Valentines, I like you also move to join my now husband, giving up family, friends I had known for 30 years, a business I nurtured for 25 years. But it was worth the sacrifice and lucky to have a good man that cares deeply for me!!

    Thanks for stopping by to share!
    Pinned and Tweeted from #SmallVictoriesSundaylinkup
    Karren
    Oh my Heartsie Girl

    Reply

  8. meowmeowmans says:

    Happy Anniversary, Ramona! And Happy Valentine’s Day, too!

  9. Claudia | ImagesByCW
    Twitter: Imagesbycw
    says:

    Thank you for sharing your story with us. And you are telling it so beautifully, Ramona.
    While I do not agree with everything you say (I may have mentioned before that I am not big on church or religion. But I have faith), I do see the beauty in it and am happy that you are sharing such positive words with our often times by negativity consumed world.
    Thank you!

  10. thisdayilove says:

    I hope you had a great day

  11. stevebethere
    Twitter: bethere2day
    says:

    That was lovely …hope you and hubby had a brilliant Anniversary

    Best Wishes

    Steve

  12. Terra Heck says:

    Happy anniversary! Here’s wishing you many more happy years together. I believe that a marriage should be God-centered. After several years of my husband and I being unyolked, that changed and we are now more happily married than we were in the beginning.

  13. LaVoice says:

    I truly enjoyed the sacrifices you made for someone you loved and trusted it to work. Not every case turns out as well as yours. May you continue to be blessed with great years together.

  14. Tanya @ Mom's Small Victories
    Twitter: momsvictories
    says:

    Aw congrats to you and your husband on your 18th anniversary. I love hearing other people who got married on holidays. My Superhubby and I have been together 20 years this past V day and will have been married 18 years on July 4th. My comical husband tells anyone who will listen he “lost his independence on Independence Day” but at least we always have our anniversary off and never forgets our anniversary! Congrats on you taking the leap of faith and wishing you many more years of happiness together.

Trackbacks

  1. […] And I am blessed to spend my life with someone I love. I invite you to read a little about our love story […]



Leave a Reply to Shadow Cancel reply

*

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.