thoughts from the beach on my 47th wedding anniversary

47 years ago I was just a baby.

18 years old.

I stood before God, family and friends at the front of Northwest Avenue Church of Christ in Tallmadge, Ohio and made a commitment I will never regret. 

I entered into a covenantal relationship.  

I married William S. Bondurant. 

10 years ago we celebrated our last anniversary together.

The Lord called him home just 23 days later.

Since 2014 these few weeks in between can be a crap shoot of emotion.

This year I needed a beach trip and God worked out the details. 

As I sit on a balcony in Orange Beach, Alabama 

I am thinking about my life...

and with a more panoramic view than I had in 1977, 

this is what I know to be true:

There are pirates, enemies, patrolling life's waters.

Their sole aim is to plunder, stealing treasures they didn't work for. 

Today alone there have been at least two direct attacks.

But God is my protector.

And in the morning when I rise,

in the heat of the day,

when the waters are choppy,

in late afternoon,

in the evening of my life,

in times of darkness,

in tears

in confusion

in anger,

when I choose to stop, 

when I look up,

I am reminded of truth.

The same God who calls the stars by name

knows my name.

He loves me.

He sees me. 

He cares.

He holds me.

He protects me.

He provides for me.

He is ever present.

This is a beautiful life I get to live.

Easy?

Absolutely not.

Worth it all?

Absolutely yes. 

How?

Why?

The same God who tells the ocean "this far and no more"

is aware of what is going on in my life.

And I know, 

without a doubt, 

He is setting limits of just how far the enemy can encroach...

and it is never more than the He, the Love of my life, will carry me through.