By Ash
As I was standing on the balcony taking in the view that was our new home I reflected on the past 365 days. 365 days ago I took my first step of the best walk of my life. On the 19th of May 2018 stood two loved up, naive 24 year olds. We did pre-marital counselling, so obviously we were prepared for everything marriage would throw at us. If only we knew what the next year had in store for us.
Getting married doesn’t mean that all of a sudden you have a great side kick that just slips into your life routine. All of a sudden your routine is interrupted by another humans morning alarm, their need to shower at the same time everyday, your food shop goes from a reasonable amount to having to feed a small army. I quickly realised that my life was no longer run by my rules. However I began to notice that this wasn’t a bad thing, all of a sudden my bills were paid on time, I wasn’t locking myself out of the house as much, breakfast (that was a frequently skipped meal) was miraculously made for me each morning. I didn’t seem to be getting myself into much trouble anymore.
August 3rd 2019: A phone call I would never forget, it was a unsuspecting Friday afternoon when I received multiple messages from Ben asking me to call him, I call through assuming he’s just asking whats for dinner, he picks up the phone and the first words that come out of his mouth are “how do you feel about Melbourne”. I mean generally I feel great about it, a nice weekend away would be good, we could do some shopping, eat some good food, so yes, I do feel good about Melbourne. Little did I know, Ben had been offered, to date, the best opportunity of his life.
Our move to Melbourne was a quick decision, how could we not jump at such an incredible opportunity that God had so clearly provided for us. A decision made in such excitement slowly began to become reality and we began to see cracks in our marriage. For a girl that didn't like change, she was about to see the biggest change of her life. My attitude quickly became about counting our lasts in Perth as opposed to allowing God to show me the blessings of our future.
February 5th 2019 — The move: As I watched our 2 year old nephew wave us through the boarding gates an overwhelming emotion came over me, I must admit, it was the first time I had been on a plane where the air hostess offered me wine during the safety instructions. I assume it was do to with the sobbing mess sitting in c3 that was clearly distracting the passengers around them. As the plane took off, Ben grabbed my hand and said “family is wherever you are”. God was about to show us the importance of relying on each other and relying on him.
There we were again, like the beginning of our marriage, in Ikea. For anyone that knows me well, they’ll know that the way to my heart is not through flowers, but through furniture. We began to pick pieces of furniture that would start to shape our life here in Melbourne. The first few weeks were a whirlwind. Ben had started his new job, we had found a new church, met more people then we could remember and mastered hook turns.
I could go on and on about the adventures we experienced in the months following. But I want to share all the blessings we received that we reflect on when things are hard and use them as a reminder that God brought us here and this is where he wants us to be. In the first week we met a couple at church that quickly became very dear friends of ours, I found a beautiful friendship with someone that just “got me”, Ben was seeing opportunities everyday at work that excited him, I received a job offer from a company that I had dreamt about working for, we settled in an incredible bible study, we felt at home in our church after only being there for a few weeks, and each day was a new adventure in a new city.
But what has been the biggest blessing of them all is my husband. Ben has shown compassion on nights that I cry myself to sleep, has always made a conscious effort to put me first, leads us together in our walk with God, and continually supports me when in reality I may be acting a little unreasonable.
So I stand here, looking over the Melbourne skyline and realise, God has blessed us 365 times in 365 days. Looking forward to the next 365 and more.
