Dear Daniel: 21 Ways I Hope to Love You

On Thursday I turned 21-years-old. This was a big birthday for me, because this year some big changes are going to happen in my life. As a 21-year-old I will graduate from university, move to a new city, and become a wife. I am the most excited about the third change! There are so many uncertainties for this year of my life, but it is so comforting to know that I will have my husband to walk through it with me. When Daniel turned 21, on June 25, 2010, he proposed to me. He gave me such an amazing gift on his birthday, so I thought I’d write a “birthday” post for him.


21 ways I hope to love, cherish, and help Daniel as his wife.

1. Honour our Lord: The only way that I can truly honour you is by honouring our Lord first. I am so excited that you will be with me on this journey through life. You make me desire a deeper relationship with Jesus Christ, and because of this I love you more than I can ever express in words. I know that when I honour God it makes you happy, and that is a beautiful thing!

2: Enjoy you: I pray that every single day I will cherish you and delight in you. We have seen one another nearly every day since the day we began dating. I still find it difficult to say goodnight to you and watch you drive away, even if I know I’ll be seeing you again tomorrow! I pray that I’ll always long to be in your company, every day of my life.

3. Respect you: Ephesians 5:33 says, “Each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself and the wife must respect her husband.” You are so committed to loving me as you love yourself, and I am committed to respecting you. Only Christ can bring this to fruition in our marriage, and this is something that we will entrust to him daily.

4. Laugh with you: We have so much in common, but one thing is our humour. Only you know how to make me laugh no matter what the circumstance.

5. Serve you through making our meals: When I first met you I attempted to cook for you a few times and usually failed miserably. I have come a lonnngg way in the past year and a half. I have found a joy in cooking that I never would have imagined was possible, especially cooking for you. You are so appreciative whenever I make you a meal, and I truly delight in creating something that you will enjoy.

6. Fold your laundry: This is the point where a lot of people will wonder if I am a suppressed woman that is stuck in the 1950’s. But, this is an inside joke of ours. I do love doing your laundry, since I have been washing your clothes since we met (Daniel’s laundry machine at home was broken and his school’s cost money). You always bug me about my folding abilities, since you say I suck at folding. This is something that I’m still not very good at, but I love doing it for you and to God’s Glory!

7. Stay at home with our children: We both feel that there is no higher calling for a woman than to be a wife and a mother. I am especially excited to start our family and become a home-maker. Lord-willing, we will have many children and God will use us to shape our children into beautiful little people who love Jesus Christ.

8. Encourage you in your ministry: I know that ever since you have decided to become a Youth Pastor you have experienced more spiritual attack than before. I know that once you graduate and find a position in a church you will experience many hardships as a Christian, spiritual leader, and even husband and leader to our family. I pray that I would provide a support system that encourages you through this. I want to be your personal cheerleader, cheering you on through the battles and the triumphs!

9. Repent often: Our relationship with Jesus Christ began with repentance, but it doesn’t stop there. We need to continually repent before our Lord. Similarly, when I first met you I repented of who I was. Not all men are willing to love a woman who has done some of the things that I have, but you were quick to forgive and comfort me. We have continually repented of our sins against one another and our God. I pray that we will continue to do so.

10. Develop our Theology: Our interest in theology is something that we developed together. We both did not have a very deep understanding of theology, and what we believed. Together we developed our understanding and belief system in what we felt was a biblical theology. We even switched our majors, mine to Religious Studies at McMaster and yours to Religion & Theology at Redeemer University. This is something that we share together, and we will continue to grow and develop in.

11. Grow our Library: We basically love all of the same books, which is why we definitely do not have separate libraries. Even now, we have a book shelf in my closet that holds the majority of our doctrinal and Christian books.

12. Make Traditions: We both come from very different family backgrounds. I come from a single parent family, and had a European upbringing. You were raised by both parents, and have a younger brother and sister. You also are very proud to be PURE Canadian (something I NEVER thought I’d be married to..) But, I’m excited to make traditions of our own.

13. Pray Together: A couple that prays together stays together.

14. Read Scripture Together: When we first started dating we would read our Bibles together all the time. I remember doing Bible studies over MSN. We don’t do that so much anymore since we are set in our own routines. I like reading my Bible in the morning and you like to fit it into your day (and I’m not saying one is better than the other). But, I do pray that we commit to a specific time, even once a week, to read God’s Word together.

15. Dance together: You are the craziest and funniest dancer I know. I want to keep dancing with you until I can’t dance anymore!

16. Travel together: There are so many places that we would love to go! I want to take you to Malta to visit my relatives, and you want to go to Bora-Bora even though it would take forever to get there. Realistically we won’t be able to afford to travel much, but we can always go to the travel place in Wal-Mart and look through pictures in the travel books.

17. Visit Gabriel: If there was only one place we could go, I know that would be Honduras to visit Gabriel. We have grown to love Gabriel so much, and we always talk about the first time we get to see him. I pray that the Lord provides us the chance to meet our sponsor child and many other children like him.

18. Share the Good News of Jesus Christ: The reason we live is to bring Christ Glory. I pray that our life together would be to minister to others. We both have so much passion for evangelism and sharing Jesus Christ to those that do not know him. If this is God’s Will, this will be our life ministry as couple.

19. Sing: Thank you for giving me the confidence to sing. I used to hate singing at church, but you have helped me to have courage to sing to King Jesus. I am no Brooke Fraser, and you are no Phil Wickham, but to Jesus our voices rising in unison are precious to Him.

20. Create a loving family: On May 7, 2011 our family of two will begin. I have always been a family of two. It’s always been my Mom and I. Soon, I will be living with a man for the first time in my life! It will be just the two of us in the beginning, but when the Lord-wills it, our family will grow. Loving our family with a pure and humble heart is going to be a challenge, but something that I yearn for every day.

21. Use our relationship to minister to others: Most people think that we are crazy. This year is a big year for us: we are both 21-years-old, you are still in school, and my job does not pay very well, and let’s face it...we’re young! In the world’s eyes, the odds are stacked against us. But, we have Jesus Christ, and we are not going to make this marriage work, he is. You will love me and cherish me, because HE wills it. I will respect you and care for you, because he produces the respect within me, because he gives me the strength to persevere even when my flesh cannot. I pray that this marriage would be a testimony to all what Jesus Christ can accomplish. We are nothing but inexperienced 21-year-olds, and we have no idea what we are about to plunge into. But He does.