My True Love…

I am SO in love. With this Amazing, Wonderful man. He treats me like a princess. I DO NOT deserve it…but I’m so unbelievably thankful for it.

Recently, She Magazine asked me to write for them. Ummm…WOW. I am so honored by the request! I think this magazine is AMAZING and I am humbled to be a part of it each month. This month was about Love, appropriately. 🙂 I thought I would copy and paste my article to the blog in honor of this day that honors my favorite thing…LOVE.

Collin, I adore you. Thank you for loving me like you do.

Love. This is something I know. I know the never-ending, unfailing, constant and always faithful love of a Saviour. I know the supportive love of family, the always there for you love of a best friend. I know the unbelievably overwhelming love that takes over when you become a momma. In fact, I was first in She Magazine February six years ago, and that Baby Love is the reason why. I had just given birth to my first child, my son, and was experiencing first hand the in your face, knock you down, overwhelming, you’ll never EVER be the same again kind of love that comes when you see that baby’s face for the first time. It’s powerful. All of those loves I’m referring to are powerful. Love is an AMAZING thing and I am so blessed to have so many loves in my life.

But the love that immediately came to mind when I thought about writing this? The love of my Beloved, my husband, Collin. Collin and I will be celebrating our tenth anniversary this year. And there is no one else on this earth that I would rather spend time with. I know it sounds cliche, but I am so much more in love with him now than I was when we were dating…engaged…on our wedding day…even on the days that we had our two precious babies. I love this man on so many different levels and words could never do it justice.

I remember the night we met. It was at a Fellowship of Christian Athletes meeting at USC. One of my friends was dating his roommate, and Collin and I were introduced after the meeting was over. There was some casual flirting, but really nothing special. BUT…after I got back to my apartment that night I could NOT get him off my mind! And when my roommate said “So, Aron, who’s this Collin guy?” I immediately responded “I’m going to marry him.” She of course looked at me like I had completely gone off the deep end, and rightfully so. I mean, I knew NOTHING about him. Other than I thought he was really hot in that Carolina Lacrosse tee-shirt! Weeks passed and we kept running into one another. For a year our paths had never crossed and then all of a sudden I couldn’t go anywhere without running into him. We met up at parties, walking around campus, summer concerts in the park. It was becoming hard to get him off my mind! We soon started to be more intentional about our meetings, and when we finally decided that we were in fact, dating, our friends responded with “Yeah, you have been for awhile.” They all knew it…it just took us a little while to figure out.

Our courtship and engagement were typical…but far from typical to the two of us. This was a love like nothing I had experienced before. I knew that The Lord had given to me what I had prayed for since I was a young teenager…a Godly man to love me unconditionally. Collin and I have gone through so much in these past ten years. We’ve lost jobs, started a business from the ground up, lost a business, had babies, lost babies, seen the thrill that comes from owning a successful business. I’ve experienced the most painful times of my life with this man. But I’ve also experienced the most joyful times. And both have made us as a couple stronger.

When I think of marriage, I always think back to a simple diagram that was presented to us in a college Bible Study group long ago. It’s a triangle, with one of the bottom points being the husband, the other one the wife, and the top point God. Basically, as each person seeks God individually, it will draw them closer to one another. It’s simple, makes total and complete sense and is something you’ve probably seen before. But I am here to tell you that it works. Without a doubt, any rocky times in our marriage can be traced back to times when individually Collin and I were not where we needed to be with God. But experiencing this love that God has given to us when we seek Him is mind boggling. And SO FUN!!