Theme-A-Day - Day 9 - My Wedding

My wedding . . . . ? Errrrmmmmmm, yeah that didn't quite go according to plan.

We had arranged to get married and 3 weeks before the date the whole thing got cancelled. The reasons why aren't important right now. Eventually we sorted ourselves out and planned another wedding, that was 8 months later. Because of the circumstances surrounding the first time, we did not have the BIG dream wedding that girls dream of.

My mom made my dress, my mom catered for the reception and the reception was held at my parents house. My husbands brother did out photographs, but he's pretty good, so that wasn't a hardship.

Vivid memories from the day include our then 2 1/2 year old son yelling "my mummy and daddy" every time the pastor said our names, and one of my distant aunts sat in a corner at the reception telling dirty jokes.

Unfortunately although video was taken, the tape got ruined in the transfer process from the format the camera used, to the one we needed to show it on our tvs. Oh well!

Looking back, I wish we had waited a bit longer before we went ahead with it and got our heads straight first, as consequently we've had our share of battles along the way. Later, we held a 2nd ceremony, just a few years ago in fact, where we renewed our vows. We held an Hawaiian Luau in our church building, complete with pig roast! That was fun!

A couple of photos from our real wedding





and a couple of photos from the Luau

And to finish and make this a completely mega long post, a piece of writing i did a few years ago. This was a vision god gave me, I could literally see and feel all of this, and wrote it down when it was done.


I can see a woman standing over a huge washtub, desperately rubbing this fabric up and down a washboard.

“I MUST get it clean”, she’s crying, “I have to.”
She’s desperate, helpless, the stains won’t come out, there’s nothing she can do.
“I can’t wear it like THIS!” she says as she falls in a heap on the floor.

What’s in the washtub?
Her wedding dress.
How could she ever hope to get it clean, to get it ready, to make it “good enough”.
It had been many years, and many stains, she had no hope of ever making it right.
In hopelessness she cried out to the only one who could make it clean.

“Lord,
Take this dress,
Take this mess
That was our marriage.
Lord, You’ve done so much already.
Dare I ask this one thing more?
Make me clean.
Take away this stain.”

Gently, lovingly, He took her hand.
“I’ve been waiting.
Waiting for this moment of desperation.
Waiting for you to know that I am the only one who can remove this stain, take away this hurt.”

He took her hand and lifted her to stand.

“Come look again.”

He lifted out the gown.

Still, there were the stains, but now they were changing.
They joined, they merged as He touched them.
As He ran his hand over this filthy rotten gown, it became a pattern on the fabric.
A beautiful pattern that even the greatest designer could not have come up with.

“I cannot take away what has already happened,
But I can treat the stain, heal the hurt, take the pain.”

“Take it!” He said, holding the dress out to her “Go, try it on.”

She grasped the dress out of His hands, she ran to the next room and put on that dress.

When she returned, she was truly beautiful.
She twirled about the room, radiant, beautiful, clothed in God’s love, His forgiveness, His healing.

“Now Go!
Now you are ready.
Ready to change hearts and lives.
Change whole cities, whole nations,
Because now you walk in a gown that is clean,
Truly clothed in my righteousness.
You have a job to do out there my dear child.”

“But, I’ll get it dirty again!”

“Yes, I know, but now you know, now you are learning, how to get it clean again.”
By Zoe Gregg - all rights reserved

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