A week from today, I’ll be married.
In just a handful of days, I will stand before God and family and friends and marry the man I love.
Next Friday evening, I will walk down an aisle in a garden and vow to choose to love him for as long as we both shall live.
It’s still surreal to consider the gravity of the covenant we are making next week. I have no idea what the future holds and no concept of what marriage will feel like. I am, in many ways, a starry-eyed bride who dreams of a beautiful life together. In other ways, I’m old enough and have seen enough of life to know we carry scars. We are two imperfect and selfish people promising our best to love each other, no matter what.
Next week is the culmination of years of prayers coming to fruition – both mine and my fiancé’s. We cannot wait to celebrate the faithfulness and kindness of God. When we were thinking about what music to have at our wedding, I knew immediately the song I wanted to walk down the aisle to: “Goodness of God.”
We chose Psalm 34:3 as our wedding text: “Come, let us tell of the Lord’s greatness; let us exalt his name together.”
That’s exactly what we want to do together – tell the world how good God is, and how kind He has been to us.
But here’s what I want you to know today: God is not good simply because I’m getting married next week. In Psalm 16, David wrote these words that I’ll cling to and believe in until the day I die: “Every good thing I have comes from You.”
All of it is a gift from Him. Each day, each breath, each flower bursting forth after a long winter.
I look back at my thirty-one years on this planet and see God’s kindness in every season. I couldn’t always see it in the moment, but I see it now. There were days I thought God forgot me, but God was preparing something better than I could have imagined. There were moments I questioned if God cared about the desires of my heart, but He was planning someone for me that I couldn’t have even dreamed of. God’s goodness has been there every step of the way. His goodness has been chasing me down from the moment I was born.
As we’ve been planning our wedding, I can’t help but think of the Wedding Feast we will all be a part of someday. If you don’t see the goodness in your life now, hold fast to this:
There is goodness coming. Goodness is on the way. Goodness is chasing after you!
There will be a day when all crying and mourning and tears will be gone forever, and you and I will dance and eat and celebrate at the Greatest Wedding there could ever be.
It’s all goodness – and it’s all because of Him.
Next week, I will wear my wedding dress and walk down the aisle to stand before the man I love and this song will play behind me:
All my life, You have been faithful
All my life, You have been so, so good
With every breath that I am able
I will sing of the goodness of God
And as we vow to love and protect and hold and cherish and respect each other until death do us part, I want to also vow to always remember the goodness of God.
Maybe it’s easy for me to say all of this now, a week before I walk down the aisle. But I wonder if we could all look back and gaze at the glimmers of goodness God has been chasing us with — every moment, every breath, every day.
No matter the season, every good thing comes from Him.
Congratulations on your upcoming wedding! I love the song you have chosen for your wedding! Yes, God’s goodness is all around us, even when we sometimes don’t recognize it as such.
Aliza, this is so beautiful. God has been playing this song for me all morning, even in my pain, He’s reminding me of His love. Congratulations and best blessings for your wedding! You’re starting well.
Best wishes! May y’all always see God’s character & plan for redemption in & through your marriage! Blessings, (((0)))
Congratulations and prayers for a beautiful day and the beginning of a beautiful life together.
Aliza,
Congratulations on your wedding. Love the song you have chosen. It is easy for me to forget God’s goodness. Trials come & that consumes us. When that happens I make a thankful journal. Remind myself of ALL the good things God has given me. Reminisce about the many past trials He has brought me through.
Prayed for your marriage. I, too, was once a starry-eyed bride. Know 21 years later we’ve had our ups & downs but God has faithfully kept us together through prayer.
Blessings 🙂