For the past twenty-four years, I have been dating this guy. Yeah, sure, we made marriage covenant twenty years ago this year… but June 7 (yesterday – yes, a day late and a dollar short always) we became boyfriend and girlfriend. The picture attached is at his house in Rutledge, the summer before our senior year in high school began, just before we left to take him to the airport for a mission trip to Scotland. He decided to ask me to be his girlfriend and then got on a plane minutes later – I now see this was going to be prophetic of our relationship together. Every day a new adventure, every day a new plan, every day a new dream, every day a new destination.

He arrives home today from his latest adventure of leading photographers to better see God’s Masterpiece in Yosemite and Lake Tahoe and we are counting down the minutes until he steps off that plane in our beautiful East Tennessee. Each trip is a testing period for us. Most say, I am sure they have not seen struggle and that is the only reason they have been together for so long. And I say to that “YOU ARE CRAZY!” Life with any human creates chaos – it creates chaos in ways only those living with oxygen in their lungs can understand. Living is a choice. Marriage is a choice. Covenant is a choice. And all of it creates chaos in some form or another.

This summer, I am walking through a study on marriage, men, women & family with my group at church. Which is really kind of cool because in Kenya this year, me and some ladies were speaking about how we should cover the topic of marriage on our Kenya 2027 trip. But again, I digress. We are also studying with this same group what God’s Word says about Covenant. Let’s just say, God is at work in revealing Himself to us in a beautiful way. Not to mention, our Sunday nights opening up the book of James – in a deeper, convicting, life-altering way. I am honored to have a group of people to open the Book with. I am honored to have a group of people to walk in life with. We, as a couple, are honored to have a group of married men and women walking in this journey of life together with. And soon serve together with as the Lord reveals our next steps. There is not enough time on this earth to search and know God. When we make His Word our meal, our feast – we are always left with room for more. He satisfies, but also creates a deeper and greater hunger for Him.

We opened our Word together yesterday morning to take a deeper look at the first marriage – Adam in Eve found in Genesis 2. Did you know that marriage was established and created before the fall? Did you know that beautiful relationship was created before the great sin entered the world? Did you know that marriage was God’s idea? Did you know that God shared the entire creation story with us in Genesis – we don’t have to wonder about many things that He didn’t give us the answers for? Did you know… did you know… did you know… so many things I constantly and laughing at how God shows Himself to me.

Genesis 2:18-25

¹⁸ Then the Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone; I will make him a helper suitable for him.” ¹⁹ And out of the ground the Lord God formed every animal of the field and every bird of the sky, and brought them to the man to see what he would call them; and whatever the man called a living creature, that was its name. ²⁰ The man gave names to all the livestock, and to the birds of the sky, and to every animal of the field, but for Adam there was not found a helper suitable for him. ²¹ So the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and he slept; then He took one of his ribs and closed up the flesh at that place. ²² And the Lord God fashioned into a woman the rib which He had taken from the man, and brought her to the man. ²³ Then the man said,

“At last this is bone of my bones,
And flesh of my flesh;
She shall be called ‘woman,’
Because she was taken out of man.”

²⁴ For this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother, and be joined to his wife; and they shall become one flesh. ²⁵ And the man and his wife were both naked, but they were not ashamed.

So many things to unpack. Listen, I definitely do not have all of the answers. I am only a wild-eyed, short crazy lady who has consumed one too many cups of coffee and desperately needs her calm, realistic husband to come home. However, I challenge everyone to look at this passage. Read this passage. Look to God and ask Him – what do I need to better understand about marriage? What do I need to better understand about my role as a woman in society in 2026? Lord, what do I need to hear from you today? And He says “you will seek Me and find Me when you seek Me with all your heart.” Jeremiah 29:13. Now He was also speaking this to the Israelites who were exiled to Babylon from Jerusalem – so context is key. But I think this core principal of God holds true to to us today. He will not leave us wandering this early alone without a hope and without a direction – He wants to guide us and have relationship with us.

Today – make a point to say, where are you God? What does Your Word say? And open it. In January I started The Bible Recap with Tara Leigh Cobble in the Bible app – all free goods. And I know a lot of people use it to study God’s Word and read through it within the year. I am doing it within the year, but I am listening to the Word. If you never done this, do this. It is a great way to be in the Word daily. It is a great guide. And you don’t have to wait for January. Start today. Oh, and thanks for reading another ramble session with HH.