Redeemed by Grace: When Two Become One

I know I have really not been blogging as much the days, but boy have I been busy! I will try to post more often! :)

Last night, someone submitted a topic to me for discussion and it is a topic that is very near and dear to my heart...my marriage so I had to write about it :) Here is the submission.

"What do you love about your marriage and what do you love most about being married to the love of your life? Tell those who have never been married yet, but hope to one day and give advice about marriage, the pros and cons. Just tell us about the married life."

Being married has been one of the most amazing experiences of my life, but at the same time, I'll be honest, it can be one the hardest things you will ever work at. But, once you find that one that is worth working at it with, you are set for life!

I'm just going to warn you, this is going to be a LONG post. I am going to share our story from the start and we have 8 years of history, so if you make it to the end, you rock! :)

I met Daneil shortly after I moved to Jacksonville back in 2004 at church. It is so crazy how things happened because before I moved to Jacksonville, I was so far into drugs and alcohol and in straight party mode. Living my life how I wanted to and having no purpose. My dad worked here as a Store Manager and one if his Employees (those of you that remember Kevin, he is the Employee...RIP), invited me to come to his youth group one Friday night. I had no friends in Jax and nothing to do, so I thought, why not? The day came that I was supposed to go and I almost backed out, but my mom said "go, I have a good feeling about this...what have you got to lose"...that was the best advice she gave me, because I went, gave my life to God that night and it was the start of the rest of my life. I still feel like Kevin was an Angel sent by God to save me...he is in Heaven now enjoying his reward and dancing with the Angels, but looking back and watching how God set it all up, still amazes me.

The first time I saw Daneil, he was on a pink kiddie car thing riding around the church...being an immature 17 year old boy...I thought to myself, "wow, what a loser"...but as I continued to hang out with him, we became best friends...and one night, over a bonfire, I found out he was 17 and I was 18 and that was close enough for me! I remember coming home one night from church and laying on my mom's bed with her and my brother and I didn't even know Daneil's name so I called him the "drummer boy" because he plays drums at our church. I told them, and I quote "I don't know what it is about him, but I'm going to marry that drummer boy one day". Little did I know, I was prophesying over my own life! :) We continued hanging out and were pretty much inseparable from that point on and one day as he was telling me about these girls flirting with him, I decided I had to tell him how I felt about him because I was falling for him and the moment I told him he was in shock and said he thought I was way out of his league and would never go for him. We started dating back in December 2004 and he asked me to marry him on his birthday in November 2007 while we were at my parent's house. We got married in June 2008 and we had a small, simple wedding, but it was beautiful!

Now, onto the actual topic...marriage...I won't lie to you, the first two years of our marriage were the hardest. There was a lot of attacks on our marriage and we went through some very hard times that a lot of people hopefully never have to go through in their marriage. In 2010, I was ready to walk away and throw in the towel, but every time I would try, my heart wouldn't let me. Another thing that kept me fighting was the fight I saw in my husband. He told me, "when he said "I do" I meant it" and he was not going to let us fall apart. We made a pact when we first got married that Divorce was not a part of our vocabulary. It took a lot of fight, a lot of forgiving, a lot of tears, a lot of counseling and putting God back as first priority in our marriage, but we came out on top and stronger than we were before. I have shared this at our Ladies meeting and with a few friends, but I got to the point where I had to realize...Daneil is not perfect...but he is MY perfect and I wouldn't want to share my life with anyone else.

Today, we are the parents of a beautiful baby boy and have become closer than ever and formed a bond that no man can separate. God continues to be put first and we work very hard at keeping things fresh and keeping that "chase" going. One piece of advice I would give newlyweds is to never stop the chase. Once you get married, keep yourself up, dress up from time to time just because and want to look nice for your man or woman. Just because you are married doesn't mean you don't have to try anymore...keep him/her wanting more of you! :)

To those of you that have yet to meet your prince charming/your princess or to get married...DON'T SETTLE! God has your Prince/Princess out there and is preparing him/her for you, and if you wait on him/her, you will not have a statistical marriage...you will have a love story that never ends! Don't rush it...you have plenty of time to be married...enjoy where you are now...whatever season that may be...it is just that; a season! Enjoy every piece of the puzzle that God has made for your life. Before you know it, that season will be over and I know it may sound crazy, but you will miss it one day.

Marriage is not a fairy tale...it isn't how they portray it in the movies...sometimes it is hard; really hard...a lot of the time, it is so amazing but when you share it with the one that God created for you, at the end of the day, they are worth every moment...your hard times will make you stronger...your good times will remind you of why you fell in love with them in the first place and if you both put your whole heart into it, you will never be shaken!

I thank God for Daneil every day...He has my heart, always and I am devoted to him and our marriage. What God put together, let NO MAN separate!

I love you, Daneil Hinds, and I thank you for being the man of my dreams, for loving me no matter what and for never giving up the fight for us. You are the strongest man I know and I am honored to call you my Husband! :) I wouldn't want to grow old with anyone else!