I
am thrilled to share that the design of
my life is changing. I am officially
engaged to be married! This is a most
exciting time, as I have been blessed with a wonderful man who will, in a few
short months, be my husband. So if you
will indulge me, I foresee aspects of wedding planning popping up here and
there in my future columns. For today, I
would like to share some thoughts on how we view “the perfect wedding.”
For
me, “the perfect wedding” is far less about “the big day” and so much more
about the life that leads up to it. Yes,
the little girl fairytales of the dress, the cake, and the flowers are
memorable elements along the way to developing our creativity and
imagination. And I would not trade my
memories of how I viewed being a bride dating back to even my kindergarten
days. Those were some of the earliest
starts to my love of design and creating.
As I look at my little nieces now, I wonder how what their little eyes
will be taking in during the months to come will start to shape their picture
of their walk down the aisle one day.
And yet, my hope is that what we convey as a family shines more light on
Who designed the path that is leading up to my walk down the aisle to my future
husband.
My
perfect wedding will be possible because we serve a Risen Savior Who has loved
me so much that He has had a plan for my life that has been diligently carried
out since before I was born. So many
things have come together in His perfect timing to get to this day. That doesn’t mean I was always patient, or
that I always knew exactly where I was headed.
However, my trust was, and is, and will continue to be in that the Lord’s
design for my life is what is perfect.
His plans, His vision, His timing – those are beautiful things to follow
after.
Here
in the Valley just like everywhere else in our nation, we have young people
pursuing an education without quite knowing what steps beyond that will be
possible. We have families spreading
themselves thin and seeing that their finances are not carrying them as far as
they have in the past. We have marriages
that are struggling under the weight of expectations not reached. We have youth so focused on today that the
consequences for tomorrow are not acknowledged.
And yet, we have hope. We have the opportunity to hand our lives
over to a Heavenly Father Who loves us more than we can fathom. We have the privilege of letting the Master
Designer unfold a path in front of us and walk with us along the way.
A
decade ago, I could not see how I would arrive at this chapter in life. But I knew it was coming. I will be working behind the scenes to ensure
that the little girl fairytale elements come to life on our wedding day. Yet, as a couple, we will know that our
perfect wedding really is wrapped up in the moment we stand before our family
and friends and vow before Christ that He chose us for each other, and that we
will choose to love one another as only our Creator could have designed.
DesignInMind column; appeared in the Valley Morning Star September 23rd.
Krystal Krenek and Tyler Stenseng
