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Annemarie McLean

@annemarie_mclean

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Things I crave these days: Jesus, carbs, solitude, and time with my granddaughter Sophie.

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🍁🍂 Faith, friends, and all my fall favorites! 🍁🍂 by @annemarie_mclean

We are happy to announce that Livvy will be working at the Florida Department of Law Enforcement headquarters in Tallahassee for the upcoming academic year while pursuing her Master’s Degree in Applied Politics and Public Policy from Florida State University. Her acceptance into the Florida Gubernatorial Fellows program has opened this wonderful door.

We thank God for leading and guiding her every step of the way. by @annemarie_mclean

That feeling that comes over you when you watch snapping turtles in the pond talk to egrets on the rocks.

For the first time ever. by @annemarie_mclean

The nostalgia of Montauk runs deep this time around for more reasons than one. by @annemarie_mclean

A 14-hr pit stop in NoLa means fresh beignets at Café du Monde, street jazz, 100% Louisiana humidity, and a snapshot in front of St. Louis Cathedral. by @annemarie_mclean

…somewhere in between florence and pienza, I found my way… by @annemarie_mclean

Under the Tuscan Sun.
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#tuscany #firenze #italia🇮🇹 #couplestravel by @annemarie_mclean

“Beauty does not reserve itself for special elite moments or instances; it does not wait for perfection but is present already secretly in everything.” — John O’Donohue by @annemarie_mclean

Memories from a magical day. #30thanniversary #menaggioitaly🇮🇹❤️ #italy #togetherforever by @annemarie_mclean

This fleeting yet sacred moment captured on May 18 on Lake Como between me and my husband is the culmination of a lot of things.

First, it was taken 30 years to the day we made our vows to each other in front of family, friends, and the Lord.

For better or for worse.
In sickness and in health.
For richer or poorer.
Till death do us part.

Saying those words is the easiest part, isn’t it?

We all can recite standard wedding language from memory:

“Will you take this man?” asks the officiant.

“I will,” says the bride.

But it doesn’t take long after the wedding day for us to realize exactly what we said “I will” to.

I will forgive.
I will endure.
I will sacrifice.
I will choose you.

When I am put out, I still choose you.
When I am offended, I still choose you.
When I am numb, I still choose you.
When I am in the spotlight, I still choose you.
In any and every season, I choose you.

Over and over and over again.

I come into agreement with God’s design for marriage: It’s you over every other person on the planet.

Allowing anything to separate me from you becomes the non-negotiable.

Ben and I had to live that sentence out in this past season like we have never lived it out before.

And I get to testify that while faithfulness is a frail thing in the hands of humans, it’s a forever thing in the hands of God.

Faithful is His actual name. And I love Him so much for it.

So when I falter, his faithfulness holds me. And then I can hold you. It’s the ONLY way.

So back to why this picture is a culmination of a lot of things.

Because it was an act of obedience in a season of shaking.

Because it was a kiss of God’s grace and goodness in a time of exhaustion and overwhelm.

Because it was the victory cry after
a battle raged around us and in us, as it rages against every marriage.

Finally, it was a declaration and a demonstration that nothing — and I earnestly mean NOTHING — can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:38-39).

We are ready for next 30.

It’s true: “a three-core strand is not easily broken.”

ALL GLORY TO GOD. by @annemarie_mclean

If there were ever a moment I felt more like Frodo Baggins returning to The Shire after releasing the burden of The One Ring, I cannot recall.

These past umpteen months nearly took me out — destroying my peace, exposing my frailty, and testing my faith.

The season is marking me and forming me, wounding me and healing me, and showing me that God has the final say — in spite of the unbelief of others, my own shortcomings, or the ploys of the evil one.

When Jacob wrestled with God, he never walked the same again. And when I come out of this season, I don’t think I will either.

What I do know is I have seen the faithfulness of God in ways I’ve never known.

What was meant to take me out, didn’t.

What was assigned to destroy the ones I love, isn’t.

And what was put in motion to derail God’s predetermined purpose for my life, can’t.

His promises stand.

HIs Word endures forever.

And forever, I will worship the Lord alone.

For the rest of my life, I will remember this moment in The Shire — a foretaste of the forever peace found only through Your Son Jesus Christ.

To him be all the glory, honor, dominion, power and authority. Forever. by @annemarie_mclean

Mornings on the lake. by @annemarie_mclean