Marriage and Mountains

My life has been oh so busy these last couple of weeks. I keep telling people I'm going to update my blog and I just never get around to it. Alas, here I am!

I was blessed to be involved with a wedding. Marriage... Created by God because man should not be alone. What a genius God is!! God is in a complete relationship ever since the beginning of time. "Then God said, "Let us make man in our image..." Genesis 1:26. Then he made the institution of marriage to glorify himself: God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit. Imagine God being the speaker at your wedding! I loved every minute of the Wessman Wedding. I made friends and some definite memories I won't soon forget. It was such a blast hanging out with the wedding party. Saran wrapping the wedding vehicle and even racing one of the bridesmaids in high heels right before the wedding started. I would like to brag that I won, but Eva Opfer bested me. My life is never boring with friends like these!!

This month I went out to Granby, Colorado with cars packed full of stuff and people. I was so stoked! We set out right after Epicenter into the night on our way for adventure. I fell asleep in the car almost immediately. haha! I woke up for my turn to drive and for the winding drive up the mountain, of course. Couldn't miss that photo op! We drove so close to the peak we could have hiked up and had a snowball fight. In the middle of summer! How epic would that have been?

We climbed a mountain while we were there. I yelled at myself "Endurance, perserverance!" over and over. I probably lost more breath yelling than actually climbing. Climbing a mountain is such a good example of faith. You can't see the top of a mountain on the hike up but you trust there is a top. Keep on fighting even when you're tired and believing the top is near. Hearing the sound of my friends calling when I get close really gets my legs pumping. My heart yearning for the top is nearly killing me. Finally, at the top I pump my fists in the air victoriously then lay down for a little bit of rest. Heaven is going to be even more restful and victorious than climbing a mountain. I can't wait.

One night we went up to the park where Mariah stayed and went swingdancing. Definitely a highlight: teaching crazy asians how to dance! We couldn't hear the music in the room and that was the end of the night. Not! We pulled up a van, blared some swing music, and danced under the stars.

The stars in Colorado are magnificent. I even saw the milky way for the first time! Through all this, I was expecting a mountaintop, blood rushing to my head, head over heels experience with God. I was excited to be in Colorado but I didn't get that extreme feeling I had been waiting for. Colorado is the type of place where people see God's creation and seek out his grace for their first time. Why didn't I have this feeling?

During my prayer time, I prayed to know God and his steady love for me. I completely forget that I had been asking to know him and love him a little bit more every day all summer long. God's love for me never changes. It's absolutely constant and perfect. His love doesn't have highs and lows like me but is everlasting. I could almost hear the whisper on the wind, "Aren't the stars beautiful? Aren't the mountains mighty? Isn't the sunset the most dazzling that you have ever seen? Laurie, I love you more than these." I finally believed it. It took all summer long and quite a few tears but I understand his grace and love just a little bit more. He dances over me and is enthralled with my beauty. I can just imagine him in Heaven having a good God-like chuckle saying, "She finally believes it!" I sat under the stars astounded by the beauty. God loves me more.

My promise verses:

"And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, that they should seek God, in the hope that they might feel their way toward him and find him. Yet he is not far from each one of us." Acts 17:26-27

"Be still, and know that I am God." Psalm 46:10