This was not just any wedding, this was a miracle wedding. It was a testimony to the kindness and faithfulness of God. First you should know that Melanie and I use to be house mates a few years back. We lived with seven other girls for a total of nine single women living in the same structure. Yowzah. Luckily the house had 7 bathrooms and stretched over 3 lots, which made for a mostly amiable environment. Yes, I did have a pet hamster at that time. What? It seemed like the right thing to do. At one point the house also had a duck and a chick. Cliche? Perhaps. College is crazy like that.

Well, if there is one thing I have always known about Melanie, it is that she is the apple of her father’s eye. Her family came to visit many times and the closeness of Melanie and her father was something you don’t see often enough in my generation. After we moved out of that mansion palace of a house, Mel and I kept in touch. It was a couple of years later that Melanie first told me about her Dad’s sickness. Both she and her mother, Becky, kept me informed about how David was doing. I can tell you that just from the updates it was a roller coaster ride of joy and sorrow. Once Mel met Will (at the gym – hollah!) I immediately was struck by the thought, “Her dad has to walk her down the aisle”. It was obvious from the start that Will was husband material. So you can imagine the devastation when, after Melanie and Will got engaged, David took a turn for the worse.

During the beginning stages of planning her wedding, Melanie and her mother had to face the possiblity that David might not be there. Months began to pass and David remained in the hospital. I can only imagine the tension of living day-to-day amidst such great joy but with the shadow of sorrow standing at your side. And yet, Melanie and Becky did not let go of hope. After almost three months in the hospital, the infection that had been ravaging David’s body began to subside. He went home.

The wedding crept closer and closer, and David’s health was ever improving. The day of the wedding I could not get over how well he looked. All day David was joyful, pensive, and had the touch of sadness I see in every father as they let go of their child. How magnificent it was when the doors opened and before a church filled with those who had journeyed through the past years with the Mims, David walked Melanie down the aisle. I laughed, I cried, and quietly shouted for joy as I made my way to the alter. I love the photo of Melanie and her dad at the alter where they are so small standing between the groomsmen. It makes me think that, even in the midst of so much trial, they were both being watched over by Him that knows the steerage of their course directing them to this day. The day where, before such a great crowd of witnessness, the goodness of God was attested and Melanie was given to her beloved by her Father.

Thank you for letting me be a part of this day, and a part of your lives Melanie, Will, and the entire Mims family. Congratulations!