marriage thus far...

Four months ago today I became the wife of Mr. Brian Wesley Smith!

(photo credit: Rhino Media Productions)

 

I moved to winter quiet town of South Haven, Michigan.

(photo credit: Brian's student Dylan)

 

We have been busy adjusting to married life (he'd tell you the transitions have been harder for me than him; I agree!), sharing holidays with each of our families in Sawyer and Kalamazoo, learning and growing as teachers, welcoming the newborns of close friends, training for a 5k, and setting up our home...

Some of the biggest learning experiences for me are still in the making, as I learn to let go of preconcieved expectations I held for myself as a wife (i.e. meal planning & cooking, cleaning, time management, etc). My LORD has graciously been revealing to me that much of my anxiety in transitioning from singleness to wifehood is self inflicted by my own, human expectations of what I always thought a good wife looked like. As I spend time reading the Bible, listening to encouraging sermons, and listening to the wisdom from my gentle, understanding husband, I grow in recognizing that a "good wife" loves Jesus. Period. (Yes, it's true that this was head knowledge for me, but applying it in the real deal has taken some learning.)

In "The Cross Centered Life" by CJ Mahaney, there is a quote by D.A. Carson that grabbed my attention a while back...

"I fear that the cross, without ever being disowned, is constantly in danger of being dismissed from the central place it must enjoy, by relatively peripheral insights that take on far too much weight. Whenever the periphery is in danger of displacing the center, we are not far removed from idolotry."

Convicted to consider what the center of my life was, I was able to refocus and scootch wifehood to the periphery and put Jesus and the cross back in its rightful position at the center. I continue to learn daily what being a godly wife looks like, but without anxiety because putting Christ as my center has brought that all familiar peace that comes from being exactly where he wants me.