Our Wedding Vows
(Saturday, October 26, 1996)

Peter's Wedding Vows

As Song of Solomon 3:11 says My heart rejoices as I, Peter Taylor Ringering, take you, Lavonne Adele Silcox, to be my lawfully wedded wife on the day of our wedding. In doing this, I make the following five vows to you before God and all these witnesses present.

First, I vow to cleave unto you for better or worse. I will cleave unto you even if your mood is better or worse, or if our lives in general are better or worse.

Second, I vow to hold on to you for richer or poorer. I vow to work hard to provide for you. If God gives us a lot of money, you will always be more important than the money we have. But, If God decides to sustain us day by day, then I will claim Proverbs 15:17 which says “Better a meal of vegetables where there is love.”

Third, I vow to cleave unto you in sickness and in health. If you get a terminal disease, I will pray for you night and day. If God does decide to let you die, then I will cleave unto you until you die. If, you get a disease that causes you to be mentally or physically handicapped, I will love, cherish, and take care of you, even if you are incapable of cleaving unto me or if it causes a large financial burden on me.

Fourth, I vow to love and cherish you only. You will be the queen of my life and I will treat you as the queen. Ephesians 5:25 says that “Husbands are to love their wives just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her.” Therefore, I will love you and give my life for you. You will be the most beautiful lady in the world to me even when you are old and gray.

My last vow is that I will cleave unto you forever. I promise that divorce will never enter into my mind even if you fail to keep your vows. When the Pharisees asked Jesus if it was lawful to divorce, He replied, “What God has joined together, let no man separate.” Therefore I vow to never separate this marriage between us. Even if you decide to leave me, I will keep myself from all other women and anxiously wait for you to return.

No matter what happens in our marriage after today, I will love, honor, and cherish you forever. I now put my trust in God for Him to give me the grace to keep these vows for all eternity.

LaVonna's Wedding Vows

I, Lavonne Adele Silcox, do take you, Peter Taylor Ringering, to be my lawfully wedded husband, here in God’s presence, and in front of all these witnesses:

I give you my pledge to stay by your side as your wife; in sickness and in health, even if you become an invalid, mentally handicapped, or even crazy! Especially in joy and in the sorrow that goes with trials and storms as James 1:2,3 says. In better times and worse times, I promise to love you with all my heart, soul, strength, and spirit, and not to withhold or withdraw my love for you. I pledge to love and forgive you 70 X 7. As the Lord has forgiven me, so I will forgive you.

I proudly accept you as the leader and head of our household, and I will serve and submit to you in loving obedience as God’s Word says in Eph. 5:21-24 & Col 3:18. As God loves me and gave His Son to die for me so that I could live, and did this not when I was doing right or being good, but when I was evil, and even sinful, and had no righteousness whatsoever; so I will lay down my life, my wants, wishes and expectations to come under and serve you first. However I will not do this to flaunt my righteousness before you. Were it not for God’s grace, love, mercy, and strength, I could not do any right thing.

I solemnly pledge to you I will not grasp opportunity to nag as a means to change you, but I will recognize “that it is God who works in you both to will and to do His good pleasure.” (Php 2:13) I will take my grievances to God in prayer first, then by God’s leading I will lovingly let you know why I have a problem with a grievance and graciously ask if you’d be willing to pray with me about it or help me solve it.

I will remember: ” For we war not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.” Thus I vow to focus on and to encourage you; not to let walls build up between us, but to be a wife of prayer. I vow by God’s word and His grace at work in me “not to hold grudges or resentment against you for this will deeply hurt you and also give a mighty foothold to the devil.”(Eph 4:26,27)

And I will pray for you that you will be filled with God’s mighty glorious strength so that you can keep going no matter what happens always full of joy in the Lord.”(Col 1:11) And I will pray for myself remembering that “No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, He will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.”(I. Co 10:13)

I vow I will be honest and open to you at all times by the Holy Spirit’s work within me I will comfort you in times of distress; I will encourage you to achieve your highest goals; laugh and cry with you; grow with you in mind and spirit; cherish, esteem, and treasure you; forever as we both shall live–together in eternity!