The Wedding | "The marriage is to be held in honor among all..."

Well, the busiest 6 months of my life thus far are finally behind me. As I look back on our Engagement/Wedding planning months, I am overcome with gratefulness. God was there through it all. He truly provided, where provision was needed. Thomas and I are grateful as well to our family, friends, and all the other angels that assisted us in preparing for that day.

December 3, 2012 I wrote in my diary:
 "Thomas Paine, I think I might just love you. I think one day I might just marry you. But until that day I'll love you silently. Love Koti"

I never would of believed that that day would come, but September 20, 2014 it came, and it came so beautifully. I will never stop thanking the Lord for bringing us together. I never thought that I could be as happy as I am right now. I love my new husband with every part of my heart and I can't wait to spend the rest of my life with him.

 "The marriage is to be held in honor among all..."
Hebrews 13

Below are some pictures from our Wedding:

The Bride

The Groom

The Wedding Party

The Mothers

The Fathers

The Grandparents

The Ceremony

The Couple

The Reception

Her Family

His Family

Our Family

On the best day of my life not only did I gain a Husband and a brand new family began, but I gained 13 new family members and 2 great families were joined together. 

Here is a link to Thomas's post about our wedding: http://constant-survival.blogspot.com/2014/10/married-honeymoon-and-hilton-head-south.html

I praise the Lord for all the joy He has brought to my life! 

In His Arms, 

<3 D 

Our Engagement

        Thomas Paine entered my life in 2010. He was 21 and I was 16. I noticed him and was impressed right away. From that point on I have had this crush that wouldn't go away. ;) However, I quickly ruled him out as a possibility, knowing I had a lot of spiritual maturing to do before he would ever be interested. 

        It was a few years later till I worked up the nerve to talk to him, but once I did, I couldn't really stop. I fell in love with his heart for investing in young men and his passion for Christ. As we began a friendship, I was completely impressed by his self-controlled way of interacting with girls. (I guess you could say, he was the opposite of a flirt, whatever that is.) ;) He was the first person I had ever met who wholeheartedly stuck to his beliefs and convictions of what was right and wrong, and always had the bigger perspective throughout tough circumstances. 

       The more I got to know him, the more I realized he was everything I wasn't..and I loved that. Our personalities are polar opposites, however, we are similar in our introverted ways, our love for music, our sports addictions, our Christ pursuit, (and my personal favorite,) our strange sense of humor. 

        In November of 2012, Thomas asked my Dad if he could pursue a relationship with me, (at which time I had no idea he was interested in me.) Thomas was the only person I have ever been able to do absolutely nothing but talk for hours upon hours and love every minute of it. On January 5, 2013 we began a relationship. That day was one of the best days of my life, until March 28, 2014 blew it out of the water. Thomas asked me to marry him and I said, "Yes!" Outside of Christ coming into my life, this was the biggest question I'd ever been asked, the most life changing decision ever presented, and yet the easiest one to make. 

My diary said it best on December 8th, 2013: "I have liked Thomas Paine ever since I can remember, and I will love him til the end of forever."

Thomas, thanks for challenging me to dive deeper with my relationship with Christ, for forgiving me over and over again, and for showing me what 1 Corinthians 13 kind of love looks like. I will never deserve you, but I am willing to spend my life trying. "Because of you, I have been changed for good." ;) Can't wait to marry you on September 20th 2014! I love you babe.

Ecclesiastes 4:9

"Two are better than one..."

1 John 4:7

"Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God..."

Proverbs 17:17

"A friend loves at all times..."

1 Peter 4:8

"Above all, love each other earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins."

1 Corinthians 13:7-8b

"Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails."

 

1 Corinthians 13:13b

"...but the greatest of these is love."

To check out Thomas's blog go to this link: http://constant-survival.blogspot.com/

Thank you all for reading! :)
In His Arms,

<3 D

A Letter

Dear 14 year old,

I know you, and though you don't know me yet, you will. Oh, in about 7 years from now, we'll meet.

We're similar us two, not in ways others would notice, but in the ways only we would see. You feel so misunderstood, but the truth is; I understand and I'm not the only one who does...you'll meet someone... :)

The reason I am writing is because I want you to know that all of it will be okay. I know you don't believe me because right now, you're not okay, but you'll see. Currently, Satan has you feeling trapped, but he doesn't write the last chapter, not of your story. Right now you think your future is a big, black, hole you can't help but fall down. You're anxious, depressed, and feeling completely out of control. But those dark, broken, dirty parts that no else sees...one day those will look different in the light. You won't be ashamed anymore, or bitter. No, one day you'll see your life as beautiful. Not as something you want to throw away.

Not gonna lie, you're not through the worst of it yet. It will get worse before it gets better. But when that moment comes, and you feel like you couldn't possibly take anymore, that's when you meet Him...

...He changes EVERYTHING.

You're scared. You'd never admit it, but you're scared everyday. You have a lot of secrets, that you've promised yourself you'd never tell. One day, when you're ready, He'll ask you to tell them all and you will. I know that it's unfathomable to imagine breaking free from your jail of secrets, but when that day comes, He will give you the strength to do it. You won't be scared anymore.

People have always thought of you as having a lot of friends, popular even, but you and I both know that when it comes to TRUE friends, you're quite alone. That also will change. You will learn to let people close to you. Little do you know, you've had a friend all along, He just hasn't been introduced yet.

As for guys...oh, if I could make you see how much trouble you could avoid by putting that area of your life on the back burner for a few years. I promise you, it's not worth it. They might make you laugh and feel special for a moment, but deep down you know they weren't created to fill that void. You will find some who will tell you you're pretty, and some that will tell you that they love you, but as soon as you hear it, you won't believe them anyway. You've never been very trusting.

You're beautiful. You look just the way you were suppose to. And I know the moment you read that you looked down at your hands, and biting your lip, you inwardly rejected that truth. You are so predictable. You reject a lot of truths, especially ones about who you are and what you're worth. I know the only person you've ever truly hated is yourself. But sweetheart, when you meet the Guy who created you, and you see for yourself how perfectly, unimaginably, beautiful He is and you can't help but fall head over heels in love with Him? That is when you will learn to love His creation, because you'll see that just like a Father-Daughter resemblance, you look kinda like Him too. ;)

Don't give up. It won't all be for nothing. You'll finally meet Him, right before your 17th birthday, right on the day you need Him most. It won't all be fixed, but from that moment onward, everything, and I mean EVERYTHING, will begin to change.

The first year of your relationship, I'm not gonna lie, it will be a rough one. He will ask things of you that you never dreamed you'd give up, but after a while you'll see the things He gives to you in return are always the better option in the end. You'll relearn things about Him, that you had thought you'd already known. But the stuff you learn about Him, it'll be special this time, because He showed them to you. You'll fall in love. He will bring freedom and joy into your life.

I know that you won't get this letter for another 7 years and you will have to learn all this the hard way. But right before your 21 birthday and you write this letter...you'll see there was always a plan for you and hope for your life. God had the plan and He supplies the hope. He really loves you and so do I.

Love,
Yourself 7 years later.

In His Arms,
<3 D

A Year Later...Part 2

To continue my last post, there were a few more things that took place over the last year that I felt were significant enough to mention.

October 2013 & February 2014:

I had the opportunity to do two Journey to the Heart programs in the Florida Prisons. October was the first time that I had ever been apart of Prison Ministry, however it was such an amazing experience, I was ecstatic to be invited back in February. God did so many eye opening things through those times! I was so undeserving to even meet the inmates that attended the program, let alone, be able to watch as God broke down the walls around their hearts and brought freedom to their lives. Christ is so powerful and nothing makes me happier than being able to be apart of His work. I praise God for the inmates He brought to salvation through the time we spend there. One of the highlights of the last Prison Journey was that my boyfriend and some of his family came as well! It's always such a blessing to spend time with them!

February 2014:

About a month and a half ago, God deemed it the right time to take my Grandma home to be with Him. Her funeral was held on February 24th. God was so good to work it out so that Thomas and I could join my family in traveling over to PA to be there to celebrate her life. It was an honor for me and my sisters to be asked to sing at the funeral, I know Mom-Mom was listening from heaven. :)

I don't really have a full understanding of death, which makes it that much harder to write about. All I know is that her passing has made me reevaluate how I spend the time God has given me. In my quiet time this morning, God really laid on my heart the story of the talents. (Found in Matthew 25:14-29) After reading that passage two questions came to mind: 1. What am I doing with the time He has given me? 2. What am I doing with the "talents" He has entrusted me with? My hearts desire for when I get to heaven is for God to look at me and say, "Well done thou good and faithful servant, thou hast been faithful over few things, I will make thee ruler over many things, enter thou into the joy of the Lord." (Matt 25: 23.)

I don't know how people who don't believe in God cope when their loved ones die. All I know is that there is one thing that I take peace in, during times like this..and that is hope. With God, hope never runs out. It's always in abundance with Him. Isaiah 40:30-31 "Even the youth shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall. But they that hope in the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall mount on wings as eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk [through it all] and not faint."

March 2014:

I completed my C.N.A. training and after praying and studying like a crazy person, God was gracious and allowed me to pass my state exam! :) I am now a Certified Nurse Aid. Praise the Lord, could not of done any little bit of it without Him!

In His Arms,

<3 D