Why I Chose to Marry Young – Revisited

 

This post was originally published on Devotional Diva on June 8th, 2014. I decided that since my husband Brandon and I will be celebrating 5 years of marriage this month, I wanted to rework this post since I (personally) feel it’s one of my most important. Also, there will be no new Devotional Diva posts next week because we will be off celebrating our anniversary!

(side note: Devotional Diva founder Renee Fisher also recently celebrated 5 years! Congrats!)

 

I chose to marry young — at 19, to be exact.

 

Brandon and I have a fairy tale love story – with some major kinks thrown in.

We had a lot of opposition going up against us the whole time we were dating.

For one, I was in a horrible place mentally and physically in the beginning. I talked about this in that post I mentioned, but it really was a struggle. My mom knew that Brandon was the one for me because of how he stuck by me through it all.

I mean, I was severely depressed and Brandon stuck by me. He supported me. He showed me love. I know that I was not able to show him the same kind of love at that time, just because I was going through so much.

But we got through all that stuff. I got better. Things were going great, and we were happy.

Then Brandon decided to join the Navy.

At first, we didn’t even consider getting married before his boot camp. But as we went through his recruitment process, marriage actually seemed like a pretty good idea.

I knew I loved Brandon and wanted to be with him forever. He said he always knew that I was “the one.”

It soon became clear that we did want to get married before Brandon would leave for basic training.

But I was so nervous about what my parents would say.

I felt like they would disapprove, because I was only 19 after all. Now-a-days, that is young.

It wasn’t like getting married so young was in their (or my) plans for my future.

I worked up the courage to talk to my mom about it first, and she eased my dad into the idea. They were accepting, more than I thought they would be. They supported us.

Brandon formally asked my dad for my hand in marriage in June, and a few days later he proposed to me. In November, we said our vows at my childhood church.

My mom said she felt the presence of Jesus so strongly during the ceremony.

We’ve been married 5 years now. We now have an 18-month old son. Our marriage has endured several moves, cross-country and international. It has endured health scares. It has endured distance. It has endured seemingly unending uncertainty (#Navylife). No, we weren’t always perfectly happy. But we always loved each other and were willing to work together.

I see how God had these plans for me, and there’s no doubt in my mind that I was always supposed to be with Brandon.

I followed my heart and ended up with a great man. But getting married at a young age is not for everyone. Honestly, everyone’s situation will be different. When you find your mate is up to God.

I still get surprised reactions when people find out I got married at 19. That’s okay, but I wish there wasn’t so much judgment.

It’s not just people who marry young – I know those who wait until their later 20’s or 30’s are judged too for being “old.”

Bottom line is that everyone has a different path; Let’s get over expectations.

dd-sig