• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • Home
  • The words
  • The writer
  • The work

Beauty on the Backroads

Stories of grace for life's unexpected turns

Archives for December 4, 2013

When it's not the end: The story I never thought I'd tell

December 4, 2013

Today, I’m a guest writer at my friend Alison’s blog, concluding her months-long series Nothing So Broken. When she asked me back at the end of summer to participate, I wanted to say “yes,” even knowing that saying “yes” meant telling the story I never thought I’d tell.

It’s a love story, and like all good love stories, there’s plenty of conflict. But there’s also hope and grace and forgiveness.

It begins where most fairy tales end: with a wedding.

We stood at the altar, him and me, making promises, pledging our troth, nodding in agreement as our pastor and friend counseled us to lean not on our own understanding.

I was 29. It had been a decade of watching most of my friends get married and begin to have babies, wondering when it would be my turn. Ten
years earlier I had given my life to Christ, and I had expected him to find me a prince worthy of a happily ever after. I had waited what felt like a very
long time, but when I met Phil, I knew from the start something was happening.

Read the rest of the post here.

Filed Under: faith & spirituality, Marriage Tagged With: fairy tales, guest blogs, happily ever after, marriage, nothing so broken, redemption, telling stories

Primary Sidebar

Photo by Rachel Lynn Photography

Welcome

Hi. I’m Lisa, and I’m glad you’re here. If we were meeting in real life, I’d offer you something to eat or drink while we sat on the porch letting the conversation wander as it does. That’s a little bit what this space is like. We talk about books and family and travel and food and running, whatever I might encounter in world. I’m looking for the beauty in the midst of it all, even the tough stuff. (You’ll find a lot of that here, too.) Thanks for stopping by. Stay as long as you like.

When I wrote something

December 2013
M T W T F S S
 1
2345678
9101112131415
16171819202122
23242526272829
3031  
« Nov   Jan »

Recent posts

  • Still Life
  • A final round-up for 2022: What our December was like
  • Endings and beginnings … plus soup: A November wrap-up
  • A magical month of ordinary days: October round-up
  • Stuck in a shallow creek
  • Short and sweet September: a monthly round-up
  • Wrapping the end of summer: Our monthly round-up

Join the conversation

  • A magical month of ordinary days: October round-up on Stuck in a shallow creek
  • Stuck in a shallow creek on This is 40
  • July was all about vacation (and getting back to ordinary days after)–a monthly roundup on One very long week

Footer

What I write about

Looking for something?

Disclosure

Lisa Bartelt is a participant in the Bluehost Affiliate Program.

Occasionally, I review books in exchange for a free copy. Opinions are my own and are not guaranteed positive simply due to the receipt of a free copy.

Copyright © 2025 · Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in