"My Hour Has Not Yet Come" : A Miracle On Our Wedding Day
On the third day there was a wedding at Cana in Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there.
Jesus also was invited to the wedding with his disciples.
When the wine ran out, the mother of Jesus said to him, “They have no wine.”
And Jesus said to her, “Woman, what does this have to do with me?
My hour has not yet come.”
His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.”
(John 02: 01 - 05)
I thank God for the beautiful life He has gifted me through His grace. I am writing this devotion today after experiencing God's miraculous and glorious help, providence and guidance on the 10th of July 2021, last Saturday. It was our wedding day! I got married to Charolin Tharshini after five years of engagement, and on that long-awaited day, we witnessed the beautiful and God's-presence-filled marriage that took place at the Methodist Church Puliyanthivu. We received God's grace and love, minute by minute on that wonderful day, as we committed ourselves to each other in the presence of God. Our Heavenly Father has blessed us with married life, and as we look to God in thanksgiving, Tharshini and I are thankful for God's love unto us and the grace that we find through Christ Jesus.
In the midst of a pandemic, and being in this crisis-mounting situation in Sri Lanka, we struggled every mile of the journey towards the wedding. I thank God for the relentless faith and all the extra work that my mother and Tharshini's parents had to take to make this beautiful wedding a reality. We learned from their walk of faith. Even the simplest wedding arrangements on regular days were a challenge at this point in time. Weddings were not permitted in the country and only the registration of marriage was allowed. Our wedding date had already been postponed twice and we were on the verge of becoming disheartened and saddened at the worsening situations that were expected in the coming weeks. Finally, when we decided on the 10th of July, Tharshini and I began to experience a different emotion! We anyhow wanted to finish this wait, and indeed our parents, relatives and friends wanted it more than us. We were given permission to have a blessing and to have the registration at church. As young people at church who have always been part of the weddings at church over the years, and especially being in the choir watching all the beautiful couples getting married at church, we had to somehow accept the reality that the health regulations will permit only 10 people to be at the church in this time of the pandemic, and this ten includes the bride and the groom. We couldn't express how we felt as we imagined the entire church being empty except the officiating ministers, best man and bridesmaid, and three members from each of our family. Maybe an organist and two voices to lead us in singing.
There was a faith lingering in the bottom of our hearts that surely our Lord will remember and cherish all that we had done to make many other weddings more beautiful and meaningful at this same church. I had been composing songs for many weddings of my friends and as they requested, as a blessing, I have been singing those songs at their weddings too. Imagine how I would have felt as I realised none of those friends, even though they were thrilled to sing for us, help us in many other ways, would not be able to make it to our wedding. All of our relatives and friends had to watch it in a live-streaming as even the ones who will be at home to send us off to church will be unable to see us getting married. In the midst of all these, yes, we had the wedding service rehearsal on the day before the wedding with our full bridal retinue of 10 themselves. As Tharshini and I rehearsed the wedding march, we felt our hearts breaking as we imagined the pews on both sides of the church's long aisle being vacant! We had to accept it. We were ready for the day. We gave everything into God's miraculous hands and were ready to face the day. We could have imagined or heard from a distance Christ Jesus whispering to our ignorant ears "My hour has not yet come" (John 02:04).
Everything was set, and surprisingly all of our family members and close relatives had gathered in our respective houses to wish and bless us, and at least to see Tharshini and me leaving to the church from our homes. I had already sent my best man with a bouquet to Tharshini accompanied with a note written to her saying "I will be at the church, waiting for you with my loved ones. Please come with all of your loved ones. Will you?" I was waiting with excitement for the bestman to return with the good news and the buttonhole as proof that she received my bouquet and note. I still do not know how much that lingering faith that was in the bottom of our hearts allowed us to write "with all of our loved ones." But, the Lord who proved to be faithful and true, and miraculous and glorious at the wedding at Cana remembered us. Even before my bestman returned with the good news, I heard, saw and realised the Lord saying so loudly and clearly that morning to the whole nation that "My hour has come!" It was exactly an hour before our wedding the Sri Lankan government announced that weddings were allowed, and 25% capacity of the venue with a maximum of 150 people was announced to be permissible, effective from 10th July 2021! How miraculous and wonderful is our Lord our God. How much He cares for us. It was just a miracle in front of our eyes! It was a miracle that even touched papers of the government regulations.
How amazing was God's move since we waited for His time! The only thing that we feared was the absence of loved ones at church, and today as Tharshini and I look back and cherish the memories of that day, it was UNBELIEVABLE for us to see all...., literally all, of our loved ones who were at our houses that morning, who stood with the pain that they could only send us off to church and not witness our wedding, were there. And as we walked down the aisle with our full bridal retinue, words can't express how much we felt God's presence moving with us as the blessed hands on both sides of the aisle showered us with flowers of great wishes and blessings. The pews were filled with love and good wishes for us. Our Lord our God, Christ Jesus walked with us that day reminding us that He is living amongst us and His miracles have not ceased. The Holy Spirit continues to do mighty miracles amongst us. The only thing we have to do as His children is to put our trust in our Lord and wait patiently for His hour to come!
As we continue to live our life with God's guidance, let this miracle that God did on our wedding day be another reminder to all of us that God is with us, He cares for us, He remembers us and does the impossible when we put our trust in Him. May the blessing and power of God the Father, the love and grace of Christ Jesus the Son, the fellowship and guidance of the Holy Spirit, be with us, as we continue to trust in Him and walk the walk of faith.
Tharshini and I are thankful for each one of you who have been upholding us in your prayers relentlessly and have been praying for God's touch on our wedding day.
May God bless you.
Yours in Christ,
