This past weekend we attended the wedding of very dear friends in Kansas. Their love story was beautiful. The journey they have been on together is probably one of the deepest, rawest and sweetest that I've ever had the privilege to watch unfold. Knowing their history together and the significance of what the day meant as they finally united their lives under the banner of love and marriage, I was looking forward to their wedding day more than I've looked forward to a wedding in a very long time. 

One thing I wasn't looking forward to, though, was the heat. As I'm sure many guests were, I was thinking that a wedding taking place in a Kansas pasture in the first week of August was going to be best described (physically) by one word -- miserable!

For the past couple of months Kansas has been experiencing 100+ degree temperatures that have parched crops and elicited almost daily heat advisories. And that was just in June and July -- August was still to come. 

Just a few days before the wedding, thermometers were showing 111 degrees Fahrenheit. My own sweet and mild-mannered husband laid down an ultimatum -- either he got to wear khaki shorts to the wedding or he wasn't doing. I think he was simply making a point, but I can't be sure... After all, I chose dresses for Ali and I that were formal enough for a wedding while still containing the least amount of layers and fabric possible. I couldn't imagine wearing a suit.

As the wedding day approached I heard different wedding guests expressing concern about being in the sun and heat for that many hours, several of whom would be attending with small children or babies. Many thought the bride and groom's choice of location in conjunction with the date was less than ideal, but it was what they wanted and everyone wanted them to have the wedding they'd always dreamed of -- pasture in August or not. We would endure the heat if it meant having the privilege of watching them commit their lives to one another.

Saturday morning dawned bright and sunny, just like the days and weeks before. Walking outside confirmed that it was going to be a heater. 

Over in the pasture, preparations were being made. The sun beat down, just as hot as it had been, scorching everything in its reach. And then, miraculously, as the hour of the wedding approached, clouds began to roll in. 

The hour of the wedding came. When we stepped out of the car once arriving at the pasture, tears pricked my eyes -- it was absolutely beautiful! It's true that I'm definitely the kind of girl that loves a good love story and finds myself tearing up on occasion at weddings, touched by the beauty of it all, but this was different. We couldn't see the wedding site as it was some distance away, the bride was still hidden away inside her dressing room, and no music could be heard. The thing of great beauty that brought tears to my eyes and overwhelmed my heart was the kindness of the LORD -- a gift from Him that all the guests could not only see but also feel.

The weather was absolutely perfect.

When we had left my in-laws house, the sun had been shining and the short walk from the house to the car had us cranking the air conditioner to full blast. But after making the 15 minute drive to the pasture, when we stepped out of the car, a cool breeze was blowing, light gray clouds had centrally gathered and the temperature had dropped a good 20-30 degrees. With that kind of temperature drop, one would expect that it had rained, but it hadn't. Everything -- the sound equipment, the decorations, the seats, the ground -- was dry. As we found our seats, a handful of sprinkles fell, but it wasn't even enough to make our hair damp. 

As the wedding started and the bride walked down the aisle to a song written just for her, the sun broke from behind the clouds for just a moment, flooding the gathering in glorious light, before slipping behind a cloud once again. By the time the reception was wrapping up, several hours later, I was wishing I had brought a blanket for Alija and a sweater for myself. It was reportedly in the 70s. For the first time in months, I stood outside and felt chilly. I had forgotten what that was like.

The interesting thing is that the bride and groom were not surprised. Grateful, yes; surprised, no. See, the groom had asked his Father for great weather for their wedding -- no rain and temperatures in the 70s or low 80s, and was confident that his Father had heard him and had promised that He would make it happen. He'd asked for that kind of weather...in Kansas...in August.

 He'd asked for the impossible. And God had answered.

Both Chris and I were struck by the simple faith that was on display. Between the humidity and the temperatures, Kansans simply know that the month of August is going to be uncomfortably hot. Many people wouldn't even think to ask for something so outrageous as a 70 degree day without any rain when thermometers had been reading over 100 degrees for weeks. Others wouldn't think to ask the LORD for such a small detail -- a detail that was centered around comfort rather than necessity, a few people rather than a people group. After all, in the span of eternity, when you have the perspective of the nations, what is one wedding? When there are over 6 billion people on this earth, what does the mere comfort of a couple hundred matter? How is it that the King of Kings would even take notice of one small event taking place on a little patch of grass? 

Regardless of the weather, our friends would still have gotten married that day -- rain or shine, that fact wouldn't have changed. And, regardless of the weather, they would have praised the LORD for His goodness to them and invited Him into their marriage and the new life they were building together. There was no reason that he had to intervene, it was no life or death matter. 

But the groom knows who he is and who his Father is.

 See, he knows that his Father loves him with a fierce love that causes the Father to care about what he cares about. He knows that if the weather at his wedding mattered to him, it mattered to the Father, too. He also knows that the Father loves to give him the desires of his heart. God doesn't give good gifts out of duty or obligation but because He enjoys giving them. And the groom knows that his Father can do the impossible. He was confident that God could reach down out of heaven and change the natural way of things to accomplish something that seemed impossible.

He knows those truths, and so he'd asked.

And his Father answered. He reached into the physical world, had rolled out a canopy of clouds to give shade from the scorching sun, had blown a cool breeze across the plains of Kansas, and had held back the rain. All because the groom had asked Him to and he loves to delight His own. It was not out of necessity but out of pleasure that He gave them the perfect weather for their wedding day. Nor was it out of convenience or coincidence, but by design.

If the groom wouldn't have asked, could the Father still have known that it was important to him and done it anyway? Absolutely. Would he have? Maybe, because kindness is His nature. But over and over in scripture it says "ask and it will be given to you." Asking is such an important part of the process -- it displays confidence in the love and character of God -- confidence that I believe moves His heart to want to answer.

Please don't hear my wrongly. God is not a genie in a bottle that must do as we wish. (Quite the opposite really. If it weren't for His respect for freewill, we could arguably be referred to as puppets on a string.) But He is a good Father who enjoys giving us good things when we ask. In His holiness and wisdom, sometimes He doesn't give us what we ask for because He sees the big picture and wants better for us than we want for ourselves. But when the opportunity arises and our dreams don't detract from the best that He has planned for us, and we ask Him for what it is that we desire, I believe that He will move heaven and earth...or even just some clouds..to meet those desires. Why? Because He enjoys it. He enjoys filling us with joy and happiness. He enjoys watching our hearts sing. He enjoys seeing us fill with awe when things happen exactly like we hoped they would. And I believe He enjoys the confidence we have in who He is and how He feels about us that leads us to approach Him with our requests.

Do bad things happen? Yes. Do disappointments come? Undoubtedly. Do things always work out exactly like we hope? Obviously not. But does His Word say that He gives those who love Him the desires of their hearts? It sure does. How that happens is so beautifully situational. Sometimes it's obvious like it was at my friends' wedding. Sometimes it takes enduring a storm and only once you're on the other side do you get to see the rainbow. Either way, His Word promises that He turns even "bad" things into good for those who love Him. And He enjoys doing it.

 As I stood in that Kansas pasture with a cool breeze ruffling the skirt of my dress and I looked over at my friend, who looked stunning in her bridal gown with her dark hair hanging in perfect loose curls that neither rain nor humidity had damaged, with make-up that had not melted or run, who was talking and laughing with wedding guests and stealing an occasional sweet kiss from her groom, I felt excitement build. In that moment I knew that the world is truly at our fingertips, because this is truth -- no matter the situation, no matter how unlikely the request, nothing is too hard for our Father. Nothing is impossible for Him. Especially when we ask.