Wedding Miracles

Note: Sorry, you haven’t heard from me in awhile! I guess the busyness of planning Hannah’s wedding, the aftermath, Thanksgiving and Christmas have gotten me out of the groove with writing on my blog. But I hope to do better! Thanks for reading and I hope you are encouraged.

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November 8 proved to be a glorious, much anticipated day- the wedding day for our beautiful firstborn daughter, Hannah. We praise the Lord for bringing a certain young man into her life. We definitely saw God’s hand in their union on that day when she said “I do” and became “Mrs. Jonathan Riddle.” I’ve always loved planning events, having people over, and including others wanting them to feel special. However, planning a COVID wedding in three months while surrounding my own health challenge/needs during this time posed some extra worries for this mother-of-the-bride.

Hannah, from a young age has dreamed of getting married and even had many ideas of what she might like for her wedding.  Two of her dreams were having an outside wedding on a lake and having her “get-a-way” be in a rowboat.  It was fun planning, shopping, looking at venues, getting her dress, addressing wedding announcements, laughing and making many memories together. 

However, in the weeks leading up to the wedding I also had several personal fears: #1- Since it is harder for me to speak, I was worried that well-meaning friends and loved ones might ask me repeated questions of “how are you doing” and this would be difficult for me. #2- I also was concerned that with potentially less sleep and many raw emotions and nervous excitement, I would “fall apart” and be an emotional “basket case” on that day, which would be embarrassing and difficult. For example, one night when Kevin was reading to me what he planned to say to Jonathan when he “gave Hannah away” and we were both crying, I jokingly told him that maybe we should consider watching the wedding on livestream so that we didn’t get everyone wet! LOL #3 There was also the concern with planning an outside wedding that the weather might be too cold or rainy and at the last minute we’d have to change our plans and move things to a different venue, causing extra stress and expense. #4- Also, what about COVID?! We wanted people to be safe and not pick up the virus from attending. These concerns were rehearsed in my mind and I struggled to surrender them to the Lord. 

What to do?! I expressed these things to a cousin who suggested I send out an email to those coming to the wedding addressing my #1 concern. This I did, stating that “just how a disabled vehicle on the highway can slow up the flow of traffic, I don’t want talk about my health situation to interrupt the flow or focus of the wedding weekend…” and shared some other prayer requests and ways people could help. So I tried to get the word out to help with worry #1, but other than trying to get some extra rest to help with #2 the other concerns  were out of my control and I would need to leave them with the Lord.

Suffice it to say, God miraculously answered our every prayer and sustained me that weekend!  The many wonderful guests honored my request and no one asked me about my health so that I could totally focus on and enter into the joy of the weekend. We had amazing friends who came early to help and relieved so much of that last-minute stress. It seemed as if the Lord was holding me up and I was walking on a cloud the whole weekend. I felt His sustaining grace from start to finish. The weather was amazing and, as far as we know, no one picked up Covid from attending (miraculous!). It was a picture perfect wedding!

As I watched my precious Hannah and her beloved leave the shore in a white rowboat bedecked with beautiful flowers amid many beloved well-wishers and row into the sunset, I realized God’s goodness and faithfulness in a new way— He had answered all my prayers and calmed my every fear.  A little later as I looked in through the windows of the reception hall and saw all the many friends and family members pitching in to help cleanup I was overcome with emotion and shed tears of gratitude. How can I say thanks for the things you have done for me? Great is Thy faithfulness, O God my Father!

You can click on the link below to watch some highlights of their special wedding day. Enjoy!

Hannah & Jonathan's Wedding Highlight Video