Mommy and Daddy,
Today marks the day of 25 years in your marriage. Although I have only been around for 19 out of the 25 years, I can say that your love for each other is, and will forever be, true. I know this not only because of your words, but your actions. Even since I can remember, I was told that waiting for the right Godly man would make a marriage last a lifetime. Yet, those words could have fallen through the cracks and become meaningless. Thank you for showing me every day that the right man that God has planned for me is worth waiting for. Thank you for also teaching me to love God first and foremost before anyone else. You have guided me and my sisters spiritually in our walk with Christ and showed us that Christianity is more than a religion. You have shown us that our relationship with God should be personal, but not private. This proves to be true in both action and words, as you showed us and guided us in our walk with our all might Savior, Jesus Christ. For this, I know you will surely be blessed in heaven and I cannot wait to admire the fruits of your labor.
Unlike my sisters, who have yet to experience this, you have shown me how hard (and rewarding) it is to be a parent. I think that a lot of times, we as kids, do not worry about what our parents are thinking or feeling. Now, being out of the house and slightly more mature, I find that I have never been more appreciative of your efforts in my life. Thank you for showing me what true unconditional love really is. Just as Jesus loves me, even with my faults, so do you. I had often wondered where my ability to want to love and serve people came from. I wondered how I learned to love people unconditionally just had Jesus had in the Bible. I found, after much thinking, that it was you two all along. The words of the Bible and Jesus’ unconditional love rang true in the letters on the page, yet they were also manifested in the relationship with you two, my parents.
There is one last thing I’d like to say. Thank you, mommy and daddy, for letting me go. As I write these words, I struggle not to keep a tear from falling down my cheek. At the time that you released me into a life of a college student at GCU, I was never more excited to be on my own. I was ready to move on into the world, yet I was unable to see how hard it must have been for you two. Thank you for releasing your eldest baby into the wild and letting me fly free. Thank you for always being there to try to help me up when I fell and showing me that I was stronger than I ever believed I was. More importantly, thank you for always praying for my future and showing me that God always has a better plan in mind. Through it all, you have shown me that true love between parent and child and husband and wife truly exist. So here is to many more years of marriage and celebration. Thank you both for all you do, and I love you so much.
