Renewal of Vows – Our Covenant

This past Friday we celebrated our 50^th anniversary with a very quiet renewal ceremony with our pastor, Jim’s sister, Kay, and her husband Randy in attendance along with a dear friend from our church. We invited staff members who were available to come and join us as we had lots of food and a delicious cake to share. They were witnesses to the renewal of our covenant.

So many of you have commented on that post and on photos I’ve posted of our ceremony. Thank you so much for your best wishes and congratulatory messages.

A PRIVILEGE

Fifty years is a privilege not everyone gets. The marriages of many friends and family members, people dear to our hearts, were cut short by divorce or death. Some made it fewer than five years. Others didn’t make it to twenty-five, and all the numbers in between.

God sees you. He knows the pain you’ve endured. It wasn’t in your plans, yet here you are. Some have chosen to remain single for the rest of their lives. Others have chosen to seek love again. Wherever you are on this journey, know you are in our prayers for the best God has for you.

Renewal of Vows - Our Covenant @DDuPreeWilliams #CovenantMarriage #Faith #Writing Share on X

HEARTFELT WORDS WITH A BIBLICAL BASIS

The vows we exchanged as we renewed our commitment and our covenant with one another and with God were the most precious, meaningful words we’ve ever spoken to one another. And fifty years of words is a whole lot of talking. But these words were given to us by Holy Spirit. This time around, we understood the gravity of those vows. They were spoken from the depths of our hearts and souls, with a Biblical understanding of what they truly mean.

At ages 21 and 23, we knew and understood that marriage was for a lifetime, but it took us a while to get to where we were Friday. We’ve shared a lot of love in those fifty years, with one another, with our children, our grandchildren – a lot of life, some happy moments, some not so happy. We’ve experienced and learned a great deal about who we are, but most recently, about . . .

WHO WE ARE IN CHRIST

Ephesians 1:4-13 tells us in Christ we are chosen, predestined, adopted, blessed, redeemed, forgiven, and sealed. Some of these are difficult to comprehend, like predestined, but that is a discussion for another time. We do understand forgiven and redeemed, and because of all those listed above, and because of Him, we fully understand blessed.

I’ve already told you I feel God planned for J and me to become united in marriage long before either of us was born. After fifty years and much growth in our Christian walk, especially in the past three years, we are more thankful than ever for that.

J and I thank you for all the messages and prayers for our future. You have blessed us abundantly. Our love to each of you.

Blessings, y’all.

 

The beautifully crafted rings in the photo came from Jerusalem and Baltinester Jewelers. They have a lovely shop on Etsy. The Hebrew words are from the Song of Solomon 6:3 and are Ani L’dodi. I am my beloved’s and my beloved is mine (ESV). This verse signifies the relationship between J and me and our relationship with Christ, our Beloved. Our friend, Ragan Hare took this photo for us.

Since I used the Paul Wilbur song last week, Dance With Me, about the Bride of Christ, I had to search for another. For certain, J and I felt the presence of the Great I AM during the exchanging of our renewal vows. I pray this blesses you.