I have a daughter who is about to get married. In fact, it is happening in eighty-seven days to be exact, but who’s counting? Today, when I was praying for her, and simultaneously wondering if there was any pressing wedding business I had forgotten, I was completely overwhelmed with gratitude for all the Lord has done in our lives. I did not have the privilege of carrying this child of mine in my belly, and I was not there when she was born, but she is every bit flesh of my flesh, and I have prayed for her, and specifically for this man, since she was a little girl.

Seeing God bring her this wonderful man, one so suited to her, so faithful and kind and devoted, has been a fresh reminder of the deep and unending love of our Father God. I grew up with a father crippled by addiction and demons he could not overcome. The love of God as my Father was a transformative truth that changed my life, and yet I struggled to know how to be loved, and I underestimated my own worth. When I was praying for my own husband, I emphatically prayed that he be a good father, one who could instill great love and security in my children someday—one who truly revealed the love of Father God.  My husband is a rare gem of constancy and love, and this sweet girl I now call daughter was his at only seventeen years of age. To say that he was the epitome of loyalty and love is an understatement. She has always known the deep love of a father, and despite the obstacles and sufferings of her life, she has known transformative love, and that drew her to her Creator. And then she met the man she was going to marry, and I witnessed what I had seen so clearly in my own life: God used the unconditional love of this man to reveal even more deeply the great love of God, and that love has healed wounds, restored hope, and brought greater joy and love than she ever thought possible.

I know they are young, and that married life is full of unexpected trials and refining challenges, but I also know that God’s love is multiplied in marriage and family, and that these two are ready to accept all that God has for their domestic church. I hope she knows how grateful I am to her for making me a mother. She stood with her dad and I on the day we vowed to love and cherish one another until death parts us, and it will be one of the greatest privileges of my life to stand with her when she vows to do the same with the man God has given to her.