I want to take this opportunity to tell you all how much I love my amazing husband Jeremy! Or my Boaz, as I often call him, and have ever since we started dating.
First I'll take a little rabbit trail as to why I call him Boaz... As some of you may or may not know the book or Ruth is one of my favorite books in the Bible, as it a display of what I feel Christ centered romance should look like, as opposed to all the ooey, gooey, gets my needs met type of emotional lusting that gets confused with romance these days. I love romance, and having tried it the world's way and knowing that didn't work for me, once I became a believer in Christ I was searching for something much deeper. Once I read the book of Ruth it really resonated with me that that was what I wanted, I was searching for my Boaz and for the Lord to bring me a man of noble character who would love Him and push me and our relationship towards Him. That's easy to say, but it really takes a lot, it takes a man who is willing to die to his flesh every moment and trust the Spirit to lead Him. It takes a man who can be a strong leader, but not in an authoritarian way, in a humble way. It takes a man who can look at every situation and with prayer and discernment know what direction to lead his family in. I am so thrilled that God has brought me that man! He did it when, where, and how I least expected it, and ever since then the heart and character of Jeremy have continued to blow me away and humble me time after time. God has more than met any of my deepest desires and expectations and given me way more than I could have asked for in a man of God. I do have to say that Jeremy is strikingly handsome, but that's really not anything that got me or kept me interested... or at least was a very small portion of it. As I said, I was searching for my Boaz. In the book of Ruth it never even talks about the physical appearance of Boaz or Ruth, but it elaborates on the great character of each of them. So anyway... I'm sure you get the point by now... I call Jeremy my Boaz because I am astounded by his amazing character and by the way that he honorably pursued me throughout our dating relationship.
Speaking of honorable pursuit... how about a little walk down memory lane and a little of our story for those of you who may not know some of the specific details. (I'll try not to be too long winded). Jeremy and I met at a young adult church service called Refuge that Jeremy used to play guitar at and I attended regularly for several years. After a few dates, prayer, Bible study, and several talks about whether we could serve Christ better together or as singles we decided to actually start dating. Immediately in our relationship Jeremy told me that he felt that the Lord was leading him to protect our relationship from physical lust, therefore we should not engage in any physical affection (such as kissing etc) while we were dating. So we didn't kiss until the day that Jeremy proposed to me, and I said yes... we surrendered the physical aspect of our relationship to the Lord and asked Him to protect it. Emotionally Jeremy also wanted to protect our hearts and not get too carried away or wound up ahead of ourselves. I didn't know his plans at that time, but I always trusted and waited on his lead in our relationship, so Jeremy did not tell me he loved me until he proposed also, and that day was beautiful. It was filled with tears, joy, emotion and the first chance for us to connect physically (just with a kiss) and emotionally in verbally expressing our love to each other. It was well worth the wait, and wouldn't have been the same had we not waited. (Please don't think I'm saying this is the format everyone should use for dating, we don't have any answers at all, I'm just saying this is what we were called to and it blessed us significantly along the way). So that is how my Boaz honorably pursued me, I think that we could honestly say that if a man was pursuing our daughter we would want it done the same way... it's great to have a clear conscious about our dating period.
Dating, engagement, wedding, and 6 months of marriage under our belts and I love Jeremy more than ever! And not in the selfish way because he makes me feel good, or because he does nice things for me (although he does all of that), but really so much deeper. I love the way that through marriage we have both grown in our relationship with the Lord and can serve God together. I love the way that he is so different than me, and that we both push each other to be better people by having different strengths. I love the way that we tackle life together as teammates. I love everything about him, his heart, discernment, entrepreneuralism, A.D.D., randomness, goofiness, musical ability, intelligence, wittiness, individualism, love for Christ, love for his family, and did I say that he's handsome also... I could go on and on.
Jeremy, I love you and am looking forward to persevering through the trials of life with you!
P.S... Happy Birthday Mom, I love you!
Little White Lavendar (read Jeremy's post from earlier today to understand this one)
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