We’ve had our wedding anniversary, our seventh, to be precise! Which is awesome. I’d got to a point where I didn’t really believe I’d get married when I met Chris. I wanted to, but I’d almost (almost not totally) given up on the idea. Then we met.
We met about seven months before we started actually going out. In August 8 years ago, I went to Chesterfield Church in the Peak on a Sunday morning as it was bank holiday weekend and the Matlock one was not meeting. I can remember someone in the meeting actually saying ‘I would have a weekend off if I were you’, but I’m very glad I didn’t. I went to the Chesterfield meeting, we met, we didn’t say much to each other, sort of smiled and I got made a fool of from the front of the room as usual. I think we were flying paper aeroplanes but I can’t remember why :).
Then over the next seven months we just seemed to ‘bump’ into each other. I also started helping with a Freedom in Christ course at Chesterfield which Chris was on. But I ended up not finishing the course with them. It just felt wrong at the time, so someone else took them through it. I went to join a new home group from the Matlock church which had started meeting on the same night. But again, as I said, we kept ‘bumping’ into each other. I even saw him one night when I was Street Pastoring in Chesterfield Town Centre and had a chat. It was really lovely to see him.
Then, I think it was around Christmas 2012 ish or maybe January, I got a face book friend request. So we started skirting around one another on there, commenting on things, having conversations, then in March Chris asked me out. The thing is, I said no, not because I didn’t want to but because I was going to our church group night that night. I’d been single a long time and made mistakes whilst being single so I was convinced that God needed to come first. I think that confused him and it took a little while but then he asked again and we met and went for a walk one Saturday for the first time. then we met the next day too and then most days/evenings after that from March time I think.
The walk was lovely, it was at one of my favourite places in Derbyshire. Time after that went quite quickly, it was accompanied as usual by many emotions and things accelerated fairly rapidly. From going out for the first time in March, we got married in October 2013 and then started living together and it’s been a journey ever since!
Chris is one of the most faithful men I’ve ever met, he is hard working, he is straight forward, he can turn his hand to almost anything. He is not all sweetness and light (who wants that) but he is definitely the right man for me and I’m the right woman for him. We compliment each other.
Marriage has been a roller coaster, getting used to one another, trying to learn just to love, not put each other down for being different. Trying to manage the stress of life whilst still loving one another is difficult! But it is so worthwhile. The main thing as well I’ve found about marriage is that the promises made to each other and in front of God is the most difficult part but needs taking seriously. For better or worse is a promise and it means you stick together through everything. When one hurts the other, you forgive. I’ve made some massive mistakes in our life together and so has Chris, but we are together and will remain so. God is the glue.
The Shepherds Adventure 