Four years ago she lay in a hospital bed, gasping for air. With both lungs dangerously weak and infected she had just woken up from surgery unable to breath. The searing pain and crashing vital signs told her doctors her lung had collapsed. Medical staff swirled around her in a desperate bid to save her life. A thick tube was inserted between her ribs to drain the excess air and allow her lung to inflate again with life-giving oxygen she so frantically needed but wasn’t able to get.
Her parents watched helplessly, prayerfully begging God to spare her this time, like so many times before they had made the same plea.
And through it all, they sang.
Despite panic and pain, and with tiny dregs of air escaping her throat, she sang:
“It’s Your breath in our lungs
So we pour out our praise
We pour out our praise
It’s Your breath in our lungs
So we pour out our praise to You only”
Last Saturday she stood in a chapel, next to the man of her dreams and sang that same song. Instead of a hospital gown she wore a wedding dress and instead of staring death in the face she could see a bright future filled with romance and adventure.
You would think that in the two opposite scenarios the only common thread would be that song, but then you don’t know about Christy.
Through both situations she sang with the same inexhaustible gratitude. The same God saw her through both days and her deep knowledge of His character drove her to worship with equal measures of praise. She can be fighting for her life or starting a new one, it makes no difference to her. She sees each day for the gift it is, her life a treasured adventure with His guiding hand leading her with tenderness through both the highs and lows.
Knowing Christy has been one of God’s sweetest gifts to me. What started as a mentorship while she began her photography career quickly turned into friendship and within a few months we felt like sisters. Her family has become ours and my family has become hers. When I was crying happy tears at the birth of my daughter, so was she. When her family spent the night on their knees praying through tears that God would pull her through, so did we. When she started falling in love with Johannes, so did we.
Johannes is the fulfillment of everything Christy didn’t even dare wish for as a little girl, and the perfect answer to her parent’s prayers from the moment she was born.
Getting to watch her marry Johannes was one of the most emotionally charged moments of my life. Not because of the fairy-tale wedding or the deep love I have for my honorary little sister, it was powerful because I knew that for her, that day was actually just another day. She praises God when He gives her the most treasured husband, or when her health leaves her literally breathless. Her gratitude to God and determination to cherish each breath was the same on her wedding day as any other day she’s lived. December 21st, 2019 was just another day she spent lavishly appreciating this gift of life.
And so with Johannes’ hand in hers, she bounds into her future, unfazed by what it may hold because whatever comes her way, she will pour out her praise all the same.
The post mulder wedding appeared first on CC Rossler Photography.