Love Never Fails

Today I had the privilege of marrying a young couple in our home.  The bride was beautiful in her sparkling tiara gracing her curls and her beautiful floor length gown.  The groom was handsome, a little nervous, and then he smiled as his bride walked into the room on her dad's arm.  The music played softly, as the bride's chin quivered and  tears of happiness threatened to escape and ruin her carefully applied make up.  Her mom wondered that her baby daughter, who seemed to have just been born yesterday, could now be getting married.  God was present in this service as we asked the Holy Spirit to be present and abide over the ceremony.  Of course, no wedding would be complete without the reading of 1 Corinthians, Chapter 13, also known as the love chapter.  I contemplated the words, "Love is patient.  Love is kind.  It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.  Love never fails."

I couldn't help but remember the time in our own married life, when Jim and I were on the verge of divorce.  He wasn't sure what he wanted the rest of his life to be; he only knew he didn't want to be married.  However, I felt no release in my spirit that we should be divorced.  And so I contemplated and prayed and asked the Lord for His solution to this sad and lonely situation.  I was experimenting with calligraphy at the time, and the Lord impressed upon me to write the love verses in calligraphy, frame them,  and hang them on our bedroom wall.  So I did.  Each morning as I sat on the edge of the bed, I read those verses and asked the Lord to give me the grace and ability to love Jim like that.  Was it easy?  Absolutely not.  Yet, there was no release from the hand of God to do anything differently.  And so I continued, day after day, reading those verses over and over and over and then reading them once again.  My reactions to Jim were so out of character for me.  I was patient and loving and kind.  I know it was not anything that I did in my own strength, but rather something I did only through the grace and power of the Holy Spirit.  Our marriage was restored and continues stronger today than every before.  I knew from that time on and believe with my whole heart that God's Word is alive and powerful.  God's Word and His power saved our marriage. 

Our gift today to the bride and groom was a wall hanging with those verses on it.  Our prayer for them is that they live each day by those words and have a long and successful marriage.  Jim and I value our marriage, our love, our family.  We both know that "Love Never Fails."