We're going on an adventure!

From this...

April 29th, 2012

 To this...

April 13th, 2013

To this....

August 17th, 2013

23 days. I'm getting married in 23 days. I will be Mrs. Joseph Keith in 23 days. That's just over three weeks away, in case you didn't know. 23 days. Think I'm excited? Maybe a little.... :) Okay, I'll stop with the excitement.

But no seriously. I'm super excited. But one of the questions I am getting asked the most is what I'm the most excited about. And the question always makes me stop and think. What exactly is it that I'm the most excited about? Is it not having to say good bye every night? Is it the adventures I'm sure we will have? Is it being able to have and raise a family with my husband? Is it the countless nights we will spend eating dinner together just talking? Is it the companionship? Is it the countless messes that will be made while we wash dishes after dinner? Is it the arguments I know we will persevere through just because we love the other?

While I truly am excited about all of those things, I think what I am most excited about is learning more about the Lord through my husband, and seeking and serving the Lord alongside my husband. I'm not married, so my following thoughts are only pontifications, but as Joe and I have spent the last couple months in counseling and as we have been studying and preparing, I realized one very important thing: my life is not about my marriage. My life, as it always has been, will continue to remain about the Lord and His glory. Our marriage will be about the Lord and His glory. And while Joe becomes the second most important person in my life, the first is still the Lord. As I have begun to let this fact seep in, the Lord is giving me such a joy and excitement about simply serving Him alongside my best friend and companion for as long as the Lord shall give us. I am excited to learn more about Christ through my marriage, and I am amazed at how much I have already learned about the Lord through the way that Joe has loved me, and as well through the way that I am called to serve Joe. I am excited to fight, and I am excited to cry. I am excited to laugh, and I am excited to play, and I am excited to grow into the ornery mischievous old couple that I want us to be. But most of all, I am excited to serve the Lord alongside the most amazing, wonderful man I could ever have dreamed of (let alone be blessed to marry), and see what the Lord is going to do in and through us.

We would very much appreciate your prayers as we begin this new stage in life, as I know we will fail each other many times and experience the Lord's grace so many more times. Thank you so much for celebrating and supporting us as we are about to begin this new adventure!

On a side note, the Lord provided an apartment for us! I moved in last weekend, and hope to post pictures soon :) God, in His faithfulness, is sovereign over all and He is providing. Praise the Lord!

Grande es su fidelidad

“Great is Thy faithfulness,” O God my Father, there is no shadow of turning with Thee; thou changest not, thy compassions, they fail not as Thou hast been Thou forever wilt be. “Great is Thy faithfulness!” “Great is Thy faithfulness!“ Morning by morning new mercies I see; all I have needed Thy hand hath provided— “Great is Thy faithfulness,” Lord, unto me!
"Come and see what the Lord has done...be still, and know that I am God" -Psalm 46:8,10

46 days until I marry my best friend.

46 days to plan and put on a wedding, find an apartment, try to lock down a job, figure out insurance, do a sports camp, complete my current job, move out, and other things I'm sure I'm forgetting. I have come to realize that life post-graduation is rather stressful, especially in today's economy. And I don't handle stress very well. I went from being secure in my job and education pre-June, to being an engaged graduate with a BA but no job, no place to live (in three months), and not even sure where God was calling her currently. Okay, maybe a bit of an exaggeration...but that's what it felt like! I don't like the unknown. I never have. But over the last month, God has really been stretching me in that area by allowing much of my life to be unknown at this point. 

The biggest thing that I have found stressful is a job. While I have applied to many places, I've gotten turned down at a couple and not heard back from the others. I keep on looking, but nothing seems to be working out. And if I'm completely honest, that makes me nervous. And my prayer has been, as David prayed, "Lord, lead me to the rock that is higher than I" (Psalm 61). I, in no way, have any control over my circumstances. But God has every control over them. I am constantly reminded that He has the power to plop a job in my lap if He so desired. But He isn't, so there is something I must need to learn through this process. And I think part of that something is learning to trust in His faithfulness.

I am reminded of a time when I was around 14. I felt this huge burden to sponsor a child in India, where I was visiting later that year. I really wanted to, and really felt God calling me to. But I didn't have the money to do it. So I prayed and I prayed, and two days later God had "plopped" two different babysitting jobs in my lap that would cover the sponsorship costs. God called me to something, and He provided. 

Two years later, I felt God calling me to go to Guatemala with YMI. But the calling came two months before the launch. I had to raise my entire trip fund in two months, to which God miraculously provided over the amount I had to raise. God called me to something, and He provided. 

Fast forward two more years, I was a freshman in college at Seattle Pacific University, and was in need of a job. I ended up getting a job in Facilities, that continued to be my job during my entire time at SPU. God called me to something, and He provided.

Sophomore year of college, I felt called to switch dorms and room with my friend Emily. Through a series of events, we had to switch floors as well, and God placed us on a floor a week before school started where we knew no one and felt so out-of-place. We spent time in prayer over the year, and God provided amazing opportunities for us to invest in the lives of the girls around us. God called us to something, and He provided. 

I have felt called into missions, yet fearful and nervous about what that would look like, and if I would be alone to do it or not. What guy would want to just go serve with me? Let alone, I had no idea how I wanted to serve and felt rather direction-less. Yet, a year and a half ago, God brought Joseph into my life to be my husband, who has an incredible passion for the church and missions. God called me to something, and He provided. 

My house where I have lived for the past 5 years.

My mom is a breast cancer survivor.

My fiance bought a ring to propose to me.

My passion and love of music, and ability to pursue my passion in instruments.

5 Mission trips.

God calls. and He always provides. 

As I look back at the countless ways God has provided for me over my life, I am reminded that He will always provide for me when I am seeking His will. And I am so glad that He is the one who will provide, and I am not needing to make it happen. So I choose to trust in His never-ending faithfulness, and realize that He will not abandon us. In these times of uncertainty, I am certain of this. I have a God who has saved me. I have a fiance whom I WILL marry in 46 days. and I will never be alone because He is always there. Be still, and know that He is God.