Uniquely Yours : {Mrs.Whaley}

I'm not much of a writer but, here it goes.

Hey Everyone! My name is Naomi, I am 23 years old,
(24 in March!!) I have only been married for just over
4 Months, (September 20th 2014) but I have been with my Husband since November 25th 2005...9 years!!

I absolutely love being married to my High School sweetheart. I love that we grew up together and learned everything about each other, and really had no hidden secrets. But like most love stories it's not always easy and it wasn't always easy for us, but I believe God had his hand on my life and has directed me in the right path.

We started dating in grade 9 at 14 years of age, and I was very nervous, I had never really had a boy friend and my parents preferred that I waited till I was 16 to date, so we took things slow and got to know each other threw mostly hanging out at school amongst our group of friends.

A little insight on me and my personality. I am a very outgoing bubbly person, I grew up in the church, and am usually always happy, I love helping other people and playing sports. One thing about me though, that is a big part of who I am is, I can not stand it if someone is mad or upset with me. I hate the feeling, it makes me sick to my stomach, especially when it's someone in authority. I hated to disappoint anyone, I didn't want to fail.

So when I started to date my Husband, I began to worry if he were ever to breakup with me, how would I handle that? While early in the relationship, I didn't think about it all too much, because we were young and immature and love wasn't quite in the relationship yet.

So in our younger years of dating, and I am sure in most young relationships, anytime you have a fight there is always that thought in your head "oh, is this what we are going to break up over?!" A fight was always possibly linked to a breakup. So I would have thoughts pop into my head like, "you never marry your first boyfriend", "you're too young", etc...So I would think maybe breaking up is just easier.

Finding "the one" was very important to me at a young age, I didn't want to date anyone just to date them. If I didn't see a future it wasn't going to happen, so you can imagine at the ripe young age of 14 I had no idea what "the one" meant or what he should look like, and how I would know who he is. So I decided I would pray, I would pray every time

I thought of it that God would guide me in his path and let me know if Joel (my Husband) was "the one".

At 14 years it was hard for me to tell when God was speaking to me, so I didn't just pray about it when I was 14, I prayed about it when I was 16, when I was in grade 12, and after I graduated College, till we got married! I always felt this little voice inside say "I know you might not always get it or see it, but this is different, you guys are different!"

So I listened, I put my faith in God and let him lead me down this path!

Of course we have had our ups

and downs, and it hasn't always been easy and I had times of doubt, but it's in those moments when you take a minute and just pray, and ask God for that guidance, it doesn't matter your age, God can and will speak to you.

So as our relationship grew and as I began to pray and hope I was doing the right thing, God began to point out moments to me that just seemed to say, "see that's what I mean, this is how your life is suppose to be, it's perfect." ...I trusted in God and He guides our marriage today.

I really thank God for having me meet Joel at a young age, because everyone at some point in their life always wonders, what if this didn't happen or what if I didn't choose this, and I have thought of what would have happened had things not worked out between Joel and I. I can't help but think that I would not have been able to deal with the heart-ache of breaks ups when I was in my teen years and I would have been very vulnerable to getting in with the wrong crowd.

God knew this and protected me by introducing me to Joel while I was young. I never had that heart ache and anger and I thank God for that today!