On April 6, 2006, my life changed forever.

But I didn’t know it yet.

On that day, I received a MySpace message from a guy named Stephen Mount. I knew him from college, and we had some mutual friends, but we hadn’t seen each other in a few years, so it was a surprise to hear from him. However, I responded to his message, and after a flurry of emails and endless phone calls, we were a couple. And I was completely smitten. I knew early on that I loved him and I would marry him, and he must have too, because just 4 months after that first email, he asked me to be his wife. I thought at the time that August 4, 2006 was the happiest day of my life, but then our wedding day came, June 2, 2007, and I couldn’t imagine being any happier or more in love than on that day.

But I was wrong.

Every day, I find I fall a little more in love–become a little happier–just waking up next to the man I call my friend, my confidant, my love, my husband. He makes me laugh, dries my tears, soothes my fears and calms my worrying, gives countless hugs, serves me, looks after me, protects me, places me first. There are many things I love about Stephen Paul Mount, but one of the things I love the most is the way he loves me (selfish, huh?). He loves me unreservedly, unselfishly, unwaveringly. I know there is nothing I could do that would cause his love for me to wane because on June 2 he committed to love me always and forever. In making this commitment he is making a choice to love me every day, even when I am terribly unlovable, and I in return choose to love him always and forever.

In realizing Stephen’s love for me, I realize the extraordinary love that the Lord Jesus so freely and graciously lavishes on His children. If I am secure in Stephen’s love for me, how much more so should I be secure in God’s love? And yet I doubt and forget and worry. It is no accident that Paul in Ephesians draws a parallel between Christ and the Church and a husband and wife. The marital relationship comes the closest to reflecting God’s immense, extravagant love for His people, yet even the love between spouses cannot compare to the depths and the riches of God’s love. What a precious gift we are given, that we are able to love! But we love only because He first loved us. God created marriage first and foremost for His glory, and I long for Him to be glorified in us.

Stephen, how grateful I am that you sent me that first fateful email, and how grateful I am that each day is a gift because you are in it. I love you, forever and always.

“May your unfailing love rest upon us, O LORD, even as we put our hope in you.” ~Psalm 33:22