First, as far as life goes, we have been very busy with a few very exciting things! Our wedding celebration is next weekend, so we are in the final crunch time of wrapping up loose ends and remembering all the things we forgot about then desperately trying to get it done (like for instance my dress fitting. Good thing I remembered that eventually instead of wearing a dress 2 sizes to big down the aisle...).
Now, some may be confused so let me back up. My hubby and I DID get married...I mean eloped... back on a beautiful October day. We had picked the date of June 15th as our wedding date when we became engaged over a year ago and went full throttle in preparing for the wedding. We had some gorgeous save the date photos taken, thank you to Chris' talented cousin, I purchased my gown for June, as well as we picked out a venue. Then, in September last year, we started to feeling like God was telling us we were ready. Why wait when we knew we were suppose to be married, that God had brought us together and made us for each other. Chris and I had also been living together at the time and were feeling very convicted. Originally we felt like if we were suppose to be together and we were planning a wedding for our marriage, really what wrong were we doing? We were committed to each other so were we sinning? After many discussions, a lot of prayer, and in depth Bible study, we came to believe that God intended for living together to be shared between a husband and wife.
We were led to this belief in many ways. First, if we believed we were right in living together, even though we were not legally married, then why wait? If we were that ready to be married, ready enough to act married, what was keeping us back from actually marrying? All the verses in the Bible when referencing marriage and actions suitable for a married couple, always referred to husband and wife. Not committed boyfriend/girlfriend. We also know that even though Mary and Joseph were engaged, they had not been with each other intimately (Matt. 1:18), and also likely not living with each other. Chris and I acted like a married couple, so why not make it right in the eyes of God and the community.
We became convicted by what the Bible talks about as the "appearance of sin". As 1 Thessalonians 5:22 says, "Avoid every kind of evil". Appearance of evil is a kind of evil/sin. If someone views your action as sinful, that is getting in the way of them viewing you as a Christian and them either discovering Christ and/or furthering their relationship with Christ. How can others take you as a serious Christian if they do not believe you are acting like one? Why would someone want to come to know our Lord if they see hypocrisy? Romans 14: 19 and 21 also uphold this view by stating "Let us therefore make every effort to do what leads to peace and mutual edification" (19) and " It is better not to eat meat or drink wine or do anything else that may cause your brother to fall" (21). Despite what we thought, what others thought is what God wants us to be concerned with. We may feel married, but people see how we live more than we get to explain why. Our livelihood could be a stumbling block to potential new Christians, children, teens possibly experiencing these same thoughts, and/or it is something looked down on by elders in our community. On this note, we decided we should not live together until we were married.
So, this long story made not so short, I moved in with a good friend of mine for three weeks and Chris and I moved up our wedding date. And let me tell you, feeling like we did what God wanted as well as being Mrs. Johnson 8 months early, there was no better feeling. However, due to not all of our family members and friends could make it to our wedding in October, not to mention we had money invested in June, we have decided to continue on with our Wedding Celebration in June! So between cake, food, decorations, and flowers, a lot of our time has been occupied there!
Next, WE MOVED! Chris and I found just the cutest place minutes away from our work! Our cottage home is the PERFECT place for us! Hardwood kitchen and dining room, huge backyard, and a small enough place big enough for us two but not too big that I never have time to clean it all...it is just the place God wanted us. With moving, however, comes unpacking. Oh. The unpacking. Good news, we are probably about 60% unpacked. Good news again, husband is fine living in a 40% packed house until after our wedding celebration. Good/bad news, I have to unpack soon! But, I wouldn't trade it for anything. We are so happy to have each other and to enter our "nesting" stage.
So, what does this mean for our radical life?
I am finally out of Numbers! Now, as much as I appreciate Numbers, I am A) excited to be making progress through the Bible and B) LOVING Deuteronomy. Oh my goodness have I found some amazing verses in Deuteronomy...so great in fact that Chris and I have found one that we have made our family verse, our family motto that we are living by and making a conscious effort to apply daily. So what is the Johnson Motto?
"And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates" Deut. 6:6-9.
With this verse, we have made it an attempt to talk about scripture everyday, whether through text or a sit down conversation, depending on work schedules. This allows us to keep scripture in the front of our minds and sets a good tone to our day. Not only this, but it allows us to grow closer as a couple as well as keeps God in our marriage. We also have been sure to put up some decorations that refer to scripture, faith, and God, that way we are being reminded of scripture throughout our day.
Now that we are almost settled and about done with planning for our wedding celebration, Chris and I have started to plan for our time in another context. Our family focus is still on homeless. Between brainstorming what we can do with others and just our family, we have come up with a few ideas we are excited to do to care for the poor. Some of these ideas include:
-Help in a homeless shelter.
-Christmas morning, deliver hot food and hot chocolate to the homeless.
-Blessing Bags
- Jerky bags
We are looking forward to keeping you updated on our progress in this area!
We are still having a blast working with the teens in our church! Really looking forward to our time this summer with them! A few Sundays ago, we were blessed to attend youth group and listen to the guest speaker, Anthony, from Uganda. What a blessing this was indeed! Being able to experience some Uganda style worship and meet another brother- in- Christ was very exciting!
Well, that wraps up a very eventful and radical May! We are truly blessed and look forward to what June will bring!
So VERY proud of you, daughter! (And son!)
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