John Was There to Escort the Bride

My last blog is dated July 18th.  It's been a whole month!  I see the month as a roller coaster hurtling up and down, up and down, and I am seated on it, holding on for dear life.  The first couple of weeks after John's surgery we were not entirely sure he'd make it.  It was a real battle; and as in all the other health battles he has gone through, he's coming out physically strong, though mentally diminished.

His one and only son responded to my call for help and came to spend five weeks with us, shortly after surgery.  He was a great help to us, but I was unaware of how the visit was so deeply impacting him.  He's been a troubled young man, in and out of jail, in and out of relationships. We knew he was currently living with someone we had not met. 

On Friday evening of the week he was here, and just as John and I do every single Erev Shabbat of our marriage, we sat at our dining room table, lit the two candles, asked the Lord to take a seat at the table with us, and invited Holy Spirit to be in our prayer time. Then we blessed each other with the traditional blessings of Proverbs 31 and Psalms 112.  I saw Jeff's tears.  It seemed as if he was taking in a whole new understanding of what marriage looks like to God!

Two days after he left, he sent me a text that said, "I was so moved by yours and Dad's marriage and your devotion to one another. I knew I needed to honor my girlfriend and honor God by marrying her and making promises to her that I will keep.  We want to come back out to Colorado next week and have you marry us in your back yard."  Glory to God!  He really did have a huge awakening in the Spirit  and his desire was to get things right in his life before the Lord.  We agreed and he brought his sweet, believing fiancee to us for a wedding.  The night before the wedding was Friday night, so we gathered again at the table and we taught this precious couple how to bless one another and how to set this day apart for the Lord, praying for their families and setting aside their differences to fill their home with shalom.

Our little home church group had rallied around us and got a sweet, heart-shaped cake with pink frosting and gold sprinkles, two huge vases of fragrant lillies, the tall menorah we had at OUR wedding ceremony nine and a half years ago, champagne for a toast, and a shofar to seal the marriage.  The ceremony was utterly anointed by the Holy Spirit, graced with amazing Colorado sunshine and soft breezes, filled with tears of joy and marked by heart-submission to God and to one another.  They said the powerful call of the shofar at the end, with the Aaronic blessing, moved them in the deepest place.  

John was there to escort the bride to her groom.  He was there to read Proverbs 3:5-6 over them, and he was there to lead the toast.  John was there because God was there, and He had preserved this father to share this day with his son. Hallelujah!