Celebrating 9 years of togetherness

Wow.

9 years.

Nine years ago, today, there was this young man falling in love with this young woman. He had been praying for her before he took courage to tell her that he had feelings for her.

She was totally shocked.

Clueless, she had been teasing him about his always being near her for the past two weeks. She had been jokingly accusing him of having romantic feelings for her.
Upon hearing such precise "accusation", he could only grin awkwardly.

It took her a couple of minutes to recover from her shock of his confession, and she could only mumble two awkward words: "Thank you".
After several minutes, she was finally able to say, "Let's pray about this and see God's will."
He said, "Oh I have been praying for you, for two weeks now. But as for now, let's both pray for it."

~ Fast forward 3 years ~

A mission field, Borneo.

The same young man and woman sit on the couch of a lovely wooden livingroom, on a warm, sunny afternoon. A wise, Godly old lady was praying for them and with them. Asking for God's guidance for taking this flourishing relationship to another level.
Both the young man and woman learnt a lot from the lady's experience in 4 decades of inspiring marriage to a wonderful missionary doctor. She told them not just the sugar and spice and all the nice things a marriage could bring, but also the land mines and potential chasms and abysses. And still some more that they would have to learn on their own.

~ Fast forward another 3 years ~

In yet another part of the world, the man and the woman -still young, but not THAT young now :)- sat side by side in their own humble livingroom. In a nearby bedroom, a precious little boy was fast asleep. They recalled over how far it had been since the event 9 years before. They reminisce over the tides and ebbs of life. The dynamics of a man and a woman's journey together.

Thus far they concluded, what matters most is one word. It is called COMMITMENT.
Commitment to God, creator of man and woman and marriage. Commitment to each other.
Commitment to accept, commitment to forgive, commitment to let go of the unnecessary. Commitment to bear with one another no matter what.

Ever since the fateful day 9 years before, they still pray together. Even more keenly. That the merciful God Creator would guide them through the years ahead. Not knowing what the future holds doesn't matter. They know who holds the future.