Saturday, June 12, 2021

Silver Linings

Courtney Johnson

Love never fails. While 2020 proved to be an incredibly challenging year, I found myself waking up each day and reciting this verse.

My husband and I were grateful to be married at St. John’s Church on December 31, 2019. Sadly, until recently, our wedding was the last time for over a year that we were able to gather in person with more than just our immediate families. While it’s easy to blame so many ruined plans and upsets on the pandemic - not going on a honeymoon, canceling milestone birthday celebrations, missing out on watching our nephews grow up - we chose to find joy and love in each day and remind ourselves to trust that God has a plan.

2020 was supposed to be the year where we traveled and enjoyed life as newlyweds. Instead, we were home all day, every day. But was that a bad thing? For a couple of newlyweds that had just planned a wedding and bought a house in a matter of six months, it was a dream come true and 2020 proved to be the best year for us in so many ways. We found a deeper appreciation for each other. We rescued our dog, renovated our fixer upper house and found out we were pregnant with our now 3-month old daughter, Annabelle. Becoming pregnant was our ultimate silver living, and Annabelle has brought us more love than we could have ever imagined. Even in the darkest of times, Love never fails. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.