Whew! It’s been a busy, crazy, fun season of wedding preparations!

But I know that for God, it’s been over 24 years of preparing my daughter Elise and her husband David for each other.

I’ll never forget when I realized that I was pregnant for Elise. The Lord led me to Jeremiah 1:5, and although she was barely bigger than a breath, I laid my hands on my belly and prayed for my baby’s life, health, safety, provision and future spouse.

So I’ve been praying for David Southwick since January 1991.

When she was 5, my daughter Elise said, “I want to be a cheerleader and a lifeguard when I grow up.”

When she was 10 and diagnosed with cancer, I prayed that she would grow up.

When she was 15 and wanted to attend boarding school in Natchitoches (can’t image why!) I said that I wasn’t ready for her to leave home, and even though I still wasn’t ready when she was 17, she moved to Thibodaux to begin college.

Soon Elise met a large, wonderful group of friends and embraced a city that hugged her in return.

She graduated, accepted a job in that beloved city and one year later when she wanted to move home to be closer to the young man she had begun to date, I knew that she was in love.

On July 22, friends and family members gathered to witness the vows Elise and David wrote and recited as they pledged their lives to each other.

Elise began with, “It’s probably not always the best idea to stalk someone on Instagram before you even meet them, but obviously in this case it worked out. I was pretty sure then, and am positive now, that God created you just for me.”

David’s vows ended with, “Above all, I promise to keep God at the center of our marriage because I could never love someone the way I love you until I understood God’s love for me. I promise this will be forever.”

And may they live happily ever after.

Ronny Michel may be reached at rmichel@rtconline.com.