Do you believe in love at first sight? Well, I do. I believe we know who we are supposed to marry from the first time we meet them. Your eyes meet and something just clicks and you know. You feel it in your heart. You feel it in your whole body. You get that weird smile and suddenly time seems to stand still for just that one moment. But how do you tell if it is true love like the happy ever afterlife? Let me just tell you a story.  

My husband and I both come from broken homes. In fact, our grandparents practically raised us. We lived in two different states and if it was not for college and other random moments in our lives we would have never met. When we first met I would not give him the time or day. You see I had never really dated anyone before so going out with someone just kind of scared me a little. Let me add I was 24 years old when we met.  

People were trying to set me up left and right saying how are you going to meet someone if you never give people a chance? Or if you do not go out how will you know what you want in a relationship? All of which are very good points and my responses would always be the same when the time is right I will find that perfect person for me.  

So, the next time my husband and I met something just clicked. Neither one of us had much money to our names at the time. I was working full time and going to school full time. I was just making enough money to pay bills basically and he was only making enough to live off of himself. Our very first date was in my little apartment watching a movie, losing track of time, and falling asleep. From our first date to the present time, we have spent every moment we can together.  

The first key in knowing if you have found the love of your life is you want to spend time with them and you do not want to argue with them. You want to have fun and be adventurous. You want to just laugh and have fun because life is too short not to. If you cannot have fun then what is the point of the relationship?  

The next key is to be sure you know the person you are with. Throw out the old school thinking and move in with each other. You never really know what a person is like until you have lived with them because unfortunately people can change colors and make their lives appear to be something it is not. My husband and I only knew each other for 4 months when he moved in with me and half of the 4 months he was out of town.  

Another key in knowing if you are in love or not is are you accepting of who the person is? Do not go into a marriage thinking you will change the person. Of course, time changes us all but you cannot change the true colors of people. They are who they are and trust me when I say time will change you both. When you are in school you are a student learning when you finish school you are supposed to be an expert on what you went to school on and become part of the working force, you get married your roles change now you have someone else to consider in your decisions, then after marriage comes children and your whole world changes then. It is natural our roles change as individuals changing our perspective of the world but do not go into a relationship thinking I am going to change this person. If that is your attitude, you are not truly in love.  

The single most important key in knowing if you are in love or not is everything just seems so natural. It does not feel forced and saying I love you is simple. Too many people just want a relationship and they do not want to wait for the right person but if you force the love then more than likely your marriage will end in divorce. Love is precious and should be the most natural thing in the world. Every day I wake up, it is like I am falling in love even more with my husband.  

Another key is to follow your heart. You know when you are doing something wrong and you feel it with your entire body? Or you get some news that is not so great and you feel your legs collapsing right before you? Well, it is the same with love. When you find that perfect person God will let you know by the feeling in your body. Listen to your heart and it will not guide you in the wrong direction. After all, it is said that love comes from the heart.  

 Finally, the second most single important key to knowing if you are truly in love is the wedding. If it does not matter to both of you if you get married or not or where you get married or how expensive the wedding will cost, then you are probably truly in love. Weddings are way overdone and for me and my husband, we wanted simple. We both would have been happy to get married at the courthouse. Remember it is not about others but about you two. Do not allow others to rush you or make your mind up for you. If you truly love each other it will not matter how much the wedding costs or where it is held, all that will matter is that you are united as one in the eyes of the Lord.  

So, how do you know you are in love before marriage? You want to spend every moment you can together, you are accepting of who each other really are, you are not trying to force the love it just comes naturally to say the words I love you, you feel as though you have known the person your entire life and maybe even know them better than they know them, and finally you follow your heart. 

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