Proverbs 18:22 NASB
He who finds a wife finds a good thing And obtains favor from the Lord.
Oh the memories, and today I stop to share with you some of the best. I am blessed, and here you go!
It was early fall and the end of summer, but in south Georgia you can’t tell the difference in the seasons. This was a day I had looked forward to for a long time. A couple years before I began asking God to give me something very special… a wife.
The day was September 4th, 32 years ago today. That day I had the honor of marrying my sweet wife Julie. We were 22 years old. Seems like it was forever ago (or five-ever as Julie might say).
32 years ago. 3 awesome children. 2 grand children now. 7 family dogs. 9 houses in total. 3 states lived in. Lots of money and many memories have come and gone. The list goes on and on because we have been very blessed!
Happy anniversary to my Julie who continues to be my best friend and partner in just about everything that goes on our lives. We have had our struggles. We have celebrated so many things. We have cried many times through the years. We have laughed, sighed, groaned, grumbled, rolled our eyes (mostly Julie has) and done all the stuff that people who share life get to do. Every one of those … worth it!
I knew that I wanted to be a pastor since I was a teenager, and I learned that not many girls want to be pastor’s wife. There isn’t much money in it, and you might have to move around. You may even have to move a long way away from your family or even deal with church drama and struggles. I prayed that God would give me the right wife.
Through my early years I picked out a couple young ladies who might fit the bill of the perfect pastor’s wife, but they weren’t the right ones. It was early in 1991 I began to really desire to be married and share my life with someone, and I asked God more and more to answer this desire. Honestly, those were often lonely days when I lived a long way from my family.
Toward the end of 1992 I became the pastor of Bear Creek Baptist Church in Mt. Vernon, Georgia near the college I attended. My first Sunday at the church I was invited to the home of some church members for lunch. It was a special day, the day I began to pastor my first church. It was also the day that I met my future wife.
She was dating the grandson of the people who had invited me to their home for lunch after church. I didn’t look at her and think she was going to be my wife. In fact I didn’t have much thought at all with everything going on. Several weeks later that this girl broken u with their grandson. That grandma encouraged me, really pestered me, to call this sweet little girl. She continued telling me this for for weeks.
I remember the day I was ordained to the ministry at my home church in Tulsa, Oklahoma just after Christmas of 1992. That night I remember someone saying that they were praying for me and my future wife.
I returned to Georgia that next week and began to serve that little church. That grandmother kept insisting that I call this sweet little girl and ask her out. Finally, I called her. And the rest is history as the old saying goes.
That first week I saw her Monday night (really just trying to remember what she looked like; in no way was I stalking her). We had dinner Tuesday night and again Thursday at a place right near our college campus. Friday she had her wisdom teeth taken out, and I went to her home with some flowers and a couple rented movies (that’s a story for another day).
What began as a prayer and then a phone call to to get that grandmother to stop pestering me ended up in a lot more. Some six weeks later we were engaged (the story of those several weeks is also a story for later). We were married at First Assembly of God Church in Vidalia, Georgia on Saturday, September 4th of 1993. 32 years ago today.
We are blessed. Julie was and is still the answer to my prayers. Prayers that began in my teen years and in to my twenties. God over did this one in a good way. We have seen the proof that God is good!
Happy anniversary, Julie Howell Harrison. What a great life we have had and continue together. 32 years has been a long time, but there is so much more to come. We have lots of life ahead. I am proud to be Julie’s husband. I pray for Julie every day and praise God for our life together. There is more to come!
Proverbs 5:18 NASB
Let your fountain be blessed, And rejoice in the wife of your youth.
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