Ali Elizabeth

“Worth The Journey”

Last weekend I officially married my best friend.

After what felt like months of checking lists, making phone calls, answering texts, and wondering if everything would come together, last weekend it finally did. And somehow, in the midst of all the planning, God gave us something far greater than a beautiful wedding day. He gave us a day that was completely centered on Him.

People often say your wedding day flies by, and they’re right. One minute you’re getting ready with your favorite people, and the next you’re standing at the altar looking at the person you’ve prayed for, promising forever. It goes by in the blink of an eye, but the memories will stay with me forever.

The night before our wedding, during the rehearsal dinner, my father-in-law stood up to speak. In the middle of his speech, he said something that I don’t think I’ll ever forget.

“Your journey to each other was long, but well worth taking.” If I had to summarize our story in one sentence, that would be it.

Our journey to find each other wasn’t the shortest or the easiest, but looking back now, I wouldn’t change a thing. There were seasons where I questioned God’s timing. Times when I wondered if He had forgotten about the prayers I whispered to Him. Moments when waiting felt harder than trusting.

But isn’t that just like us? We want God to write our story as quickly as possible, while He’s more interested in writing it well.

If our story had happened on my timeline instead of His, I truly believe we would have missed out on so much. God wasn’t making us wait because He had forgotten us. He was preparing us. Growing us. Teaching us to rely on Him before we relied on each other.

Standing there on our wedding day, surrounded by our families, our friends, and so many people who have loved and prayed for us, I couldn’t help but feel overwhelmed with gratitude. Looking around that room, I saw answered prayers everywhere. I saw generations of faithful marriages, lifelong friendships, and people who have walked beside us through every season. What a blessing it is to have a community that doesn’t just show up for the celebration but has been there for the journey.

Our wedding was beautiful. The flowers were beautiful. The music was beautiful. The pictures will be beautiful. But none of those things are what made the day so special. Jesus did. The celebration was wonderful, but the covenant is even better.

As we start this new chapter together, I keep coming back to those words from the rehearsal dinner.“Your journey to each other was long, but well worth taking.”

I think that sentence applies to so much more than marriage. Maybe you’re waiting on healing. Maybe you’re praying for a child, a new job, restored relationships, or simply asking God, “When?” Waiting is hard. There’s no way around it. But I’ve learned that God’s delays are never wasted. Every step of the journey has purpose, even when we can’t see it yet.

Sometimes, the very road we wish we could skip becomes the one we’re most thankful we walked.

This week, my heart is simply full. Full of gratitude for a faithful God, for a husband I prayed for, for families that became one, and for a community that celebrated alongside us.

The journey was long. But my goodness it was worth every single step.