From the time I was a young girl, my faith was something I took seriously. I loved learning about this incredible God of the Bible that loved me in my sin, so much so He sent His own son to take my place in death. I loved reading that He is alive and that He works everything for my good and His glory. And I loved the realization that the pages of Scripture I read were God-breathed and alive, applicable to my day-to-day life. I believed all of it.

Or so I thought.

Then freshman year of college happened. And along with the regular ups and downs that come with freshman year, it was the most stressful year my family had ever experienced.

“Jesus first, others second, and yourself last.”

It was a dictum ingrained in my mind growing up in church. If I’m a Christian then others’ needs should always precede my own, right?

Heck, the Bible makes it clear. Look at what Paul says in Philippians:
“In humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of others.” (Philippians 2:3-4)

It seemed as plain as day to me. How could anyone argue that you can follow God and put yourself above others? It’s an oxymoron.

But about a year ago, someone did argue it to me.

The challenger wasn’t a non-Christian either… it was my Bible study leader, friend, and mentor – easily one of the most giving, loving, and servant-hearted people I’ve ever met.

That caught my attention.

Well, the day is finally here – our first anniversary! Year one is officially in the books!

Photo Credit: Love The Renauds

I’ve thought about this day many times thanks to the classic “We Had the Best Year Ever” Anniversary Facebook Posts –an expected post of course if you follow the unspoken Facebook protocol. Which is exactly why I made sure to post something special myself.

But I can’t help but think that many of the thoughts I have about this first year are a lot different than what I thought I would be thinking (that’s a lot of thoughts/thinking in one sentence…my head hurts).

Here are 7 Things about the First Year of Marriage that I didn’t Expect:

The oddest thing happened to me at church a few weeks ago. After service, I was standing in a circle talking to my friends when all of the sudden, a complete stranger grabbed my arm and announced, “Hi! I’m Karen!” I turned around to find a petite, smiling redhead, about my age that I had definitely never seen before.

Karen proceeded to tell me how her and her husband were new to the area and were wondering how they could get plugged into a community group. I told them about my group and, what do you know, they ending up coming that week! Now Karen and Kyle are regular members of our group, active participants, and new friends.

I left church that day I met Karen thinking, “Man, why didn’t I just do that in college?” Instead of grabbing a random church member and asking how to get plugged in, I spent year after year visiting churches for a while and waiting for someone to come grab MY hand and say, “Come be a part of our group!”

This is a guest post written by my dear friend, Samantha Crick. We lived in the same town as each other for less than a year, but when I needed someone’s Christ-like love and a place to crash she was the first to come to mind and the first to open her door. Grab a cup of coffee, lean back and take in just a drop of this sweet girl’s wisdom-

One of the most common disordered desires for women is perfectionism, a particular righteousness and perfection we yearn for apart from Christ. It’s not in all women and many men I am sure can relate, but it is overwhelmingly true that as women, we desire to be perfect.