On Saturday our son Aaron wed his beautiful bride Suzanne Craddock in a wonderful ceremony. It was not that long ago when we wondered if this day would ever come, or if I would even live to see it. Today we stand humbly aware of how the hand of God touched these two families and made this wedding day possible.
The story of Aaron and Suzanne began as all such stories do, with a meeting. Both up-and-comers in their respective businesses, their paths crossed at an Impact Leadership Network gathering in 2006. It was love at first sight. Not only that, we are blessed to say that as their relationship grew our families also fell in love. (for engagement pictures go to www.droze.com/blog/ (Wedding pictures will come later from Droze who by the way is a personal friend of Aaron from college days in Orlando).
When I was diagnosed with kidney cancer in 2007, Suzanne and her parents, David and Lisa, were right there for us. Then when Aaron also was diagnosed with kidney cancer in February of 2008, our families grew even closer. At that point, we admit that we were asking God, “What’s going on here? … Why is this happening?” Really, we had three choices: 1) to try to fix the situation which Leo as a “fixer” would try and do; 2) get really angry with God and turn our backs on Him; or 3) give it totally over to God and completely trust Him.
We chose Door Number Three, and we thank God every day that we did, because He showed up in a big way; and on Saturday, March 28, we watched Suzanne walk down the isle to unite with Aaron. Praise God! And praise God not only because today Aaron and I are cancer survivors, but because through all of that He nurtured the love relationship between Aaron and Suzanne so that it would grow even deeper; he nurtured the love relationship between our families so that it is hard to imagine we could be any closer; He nurtured the love relationship between us and thousands of prayer partners around the world who followed our family story on this blog and lifted all of us up to the Lord; and, most important, God nurtured the love relationship, the trust relationship between us and Him. Even though it had to be born of pain and anxiety, that deeper trust relationship that Aaron and Suzanne and both our families now have with God is a priceless gift that we all can carry through the remainder of our lives and into eternity.
Lord,we want to thank you for growing our faith in You even through pain and for seeing Aaron and Suzanne through to their wedding day; and I pray that love for You and each other will always fill their hearts and guide their lives. Amen.
