Today I get to celebrate my beautiful wife, Kayleena.
The past two years have changed so much in her life. I have watched her move from fear, pressure, second-guessing, and trying to keep everyone else happy into becoming more confident, bold, independent, and at peace with who God created her to be.
She has learned to use her voice, trust her own decisions, set boundaries without losing her heart, and keep moving forward even when people she loves did not want to understand her choices. She has walked through counseling, Freedom, Celebrate Recovery, hard conversations, grief, unanswered questions, and some very painful seasons without giving up on God.
And through all of that, I have watched more joy come back into her life.
She laughs more. She tries new things. She is more willing to be bold, goofy, spontaneous, and completely herself. She is growing in her faith, becoming stronger in prayer, and learning that she can love people without carrying everything they choose to do.
I have also had the privilege of watching her become my wife. We prayed, prepared, went through premarital counseling, got married, celebrated with people who truly love us, and started building a home and life together. Through all of it, she has continued becoming a stronger, more loving, more confident woman of God.
She is not the same woman she was two years ago, and that is a beautiful thing.
She is still loving. Still soft-hearted. Still emotional. Still goofy. Still beautiful. But now there is also a boldness in her that I love seeing. She is learning to live without so much fear of disappointing everyone around her.
And I could not be more thankful that I get to walk beside her while God continues this work.
Happy Birthday, baby.
I love the woman you are, and I love watching the woman God is helping you become.
