DEVOTION: Happy Anniversary!

Last month

At the beginning of last month, two things happened. My husband and I celebrated our 50th Wedding Anniversary. And I forgot to write the post for this blog. (Sorry!!! Please be gentle with the wet noodle!)

Our Wedding Anniversary was a special occasion, and we spent it at a holiday resort a few hours from home. Although not many of our family were able to make it on the day, we had a good time with those who could, as well as some special friends from way back when.

Many friends and cyber friends on Facebook sent us congratulations and oohed and ahhed over the photographs I put up. Many commented on how cute or young or pretty or whatever we had been at our wedding.

Strange comments

Two comments particularly amused me. They said how amazed they were to see that we hadn't changed a bit!

Okay, now seriously? I think their sight has changed! They need new glasses in a big way. There would be something very wrong if we hadn't changed over a period of fifty years!

I think you'll agree/ We've changed just a bit!

I know we have changed dramatically. When I look in the mirror today, I don't see a young bride. I look into the face of my mother.

More importantly, I have changed as a person. I am way more patient, more caring, more understanding. (Those are some of the good qualities! I'm not telling you the others.)

But as I compare the photos of our wedding, and those of our anniversary, I see two very different couples. Overnight we went from being boyfriend and girlfriend in love and not sleeping together, to being a married couple.

Changing Family Roles

Fifteen months later, we became a family of three, with the birth of our daughter. Some months later, my husband was called into full time ministry, and then along came the gentle, shy number two. Three years later, number three erupted into our lives with a joyous enthusiasm that took our breath away.

Our lives kept changing, and with it our characters developed. Sometimes for the better, but maybe not always. By the time number three had reached his last few years of high school, number one had changed us again--into grandparents. At the time of our 50th Wedding Anniversary, we were parents of six adults (three through birth and three through marriage) and grandparents to six charming young people ranging from 24 to 4.

4 years ago, taken before Zane joined our family as a newborn.

A more important anniversary

But that makes me think of another anniversary. One far more important than a wedding anniversary. And it's a date that, to my shame, I don't remember. I don't suppose that should surprise me as I have to rely on my phone to remind me of all the family anniversaries!

I clearly remember the occasion and how it happened. I can go so far as to say it was in September (or October or maybe November) in 1963. Unlike my husband, I can't name the date. I'm referring of course to the night I gave my life to the Lord Jesus Christ.

Many people would say it was the time I found Jesus. But He was never lost! Nor was it when He found me. Looking back, I know He always knew exactly where I was and kept His hand firmly upon me. It was only a matter of time before I listened to His call.

Do a quick calculation and you'll see that was nearly 54 years ago. If I were to say, "And I haven't changed a bit!" that would surely cause you to question whether my commitment to Him was for real.

A couple of years ago, my husband met a man who had been at school with me. We'd had no contact through the years, so he asked the inevitable question, "What has Shirley done with her life?"

"Well, she's a registered nurse and a minister's wife for a start . . . " The chap's mouth dropped open and he exclaimed, "Shirley Geddes? A minister's wife? No way."

Very impolite, I felt.

But yep, he was right. No way would anyone who knew me at school have seen "minister's wife" in my future. My commitment to Jesus changed me completely, and is continuing to change me as I walk through life's highs and lows.

If you were to ask me (as some have) if we would still "do it again" referring to our marriage, my answer is "Absolutely!"

If I faced that same night's challenge in the church again, would I give myself to Jesus again? I have the same answer. "Absolutely!" I have many regrets over things I have failed to do or times when I haven't listened properly to Him. But all the regrets are on my side. He has never once let me down.

So sometime in September (or October or maybe November) I will wish myself a "Happy Anniversary" as I remember the day I received Jesus Christ into my life.

How about you? 

Do you have a Happy Anniversary when you gave your life to Him? If not, would you like to have that experience? Please share your answer in the comment box below.

SHIRLEY CORDER lives on the coast of South Africa with her husband, Rob. She has recently embarked on a series of eBooks titled, Out of the Shadow.

Available now:Naomi, Beloved Mother-in-Law;  Eve, Mother of All; Miriam Part 1, Devoted Sister

Please visit Shirley through ShirleyCorder.com, where she encourages writers, or at  RiseAndSoar.com, where she encourages those in the cancer valley. 

You can also meet with her on Twitter or FaceBook.

Strength Renewed: Meditations for your Journey through Breast Cancer contains 90 meditations for those facing cancer.

Another Twenty-Six Years

A couple of weeks back, my wife and I celebrated our 26th wedding anniversary. We have always both been pretty casual about the whole anniversary thing. Our shared view is that, if we have to place too much emphasis on the milestones, then perhaps we’re not enjoying the journey as much as we should. Also, raising our children was so demanding we did not really have the presence of mind to remember much beyond surviving each day. It was only when our kids starting preparing to leave the nest that we found ourselves remembering our anniversary.

“Say, didn't we get married in March?” my wife asked.
“Yes we did. It was the 10th or 12th, I think,” I replied.
“How long has it been?”
“Twenty-two years. No wait, twenty-three. Wow.”

That was three years ago. Last year I bought a fancy silver picture frame with “25th Anniversary” engraved along the bottom and two oval holes for photographs. The plan was for me to find a photo from when we first got married and another more recent picture.

That never happened and the frame stood empty all year. This year, however, I made the effort and found two suitable candidates. The first was taken on our wedding day (we looked vaguely terrified). The other was from our first trip to England without the kids (we look relieved). So we now have a beautiful silver frame showing where we started and how far we have come. Through a trick of perspective, my wife’s wedding gown appears to run diagonally across the other, more recent, picture. It looks almost like a path, as if God is showing us that he knew our steps long before we did and that those steps would lead us...here.

What struck me while searching through the albums and computer folders, was just how much we have been though since tying the knot a quarter of a century ago. I got to revisit my children’s lives, from them clinging to us while we helped them take their first wide-eyed steps, to them gazing into the distance with that longing in their eyes that meant they would soon be gone. Our aim was always to raise them to love Jesus and build their lives on God’s unshakable foundation. They have both had their struggles with faith, but my daughter talks about God as if he is a part of the family and last night my son had to end our Skype session early to attend the church youth group he leads. This gives me hope for their futures.

Somewhere in those photographs was a snapshot of my very first novel and I remembered so clearly why it was I started writing. I wanted to create stories that Christians could enjoy and that perhaps atheists could read as well. What I never expected was for it to take so long for that dream to come to fruition. In fact, the journey of my writing coincides almost exactly with that of my children. Last year both my son and daughter moved out to start lives of their own. Earlier this year I discovered something about my first novel that made the years of effort worthwhile.

While searching for my book “Alpha Redemption” on Google, I found it listed on a site of top 25 A.I. novels, surrounded by secular books from the likes of Asimov, Banks and Clarke. The reviewer said that he never thought that he would one day write a positive review for a Christian novel, but that that day had come. Looking at my little book sitting on that list of secular titles among the giants of science fiction, I realized that I could happily stop writing because this is exactly what I set out to do all those years ago.

But, like any journey, it doesn't finish till you get to the end. My children’s lives have just begun and the path leading from my wife’s dress does not stop but appears to pass out of the frame and on into the unknown. And I have too many stories inside my head to stop writing now. I hope that this is just the beginning and that, twenty five years down the line, I will be looking for more photographs to put inside a frame and marveling at how much we have lived during that time.