Praise

I know that this will sound trite and probably selfish, but it is the truth. I announced my calling to preach God's Word 13 years ago today (January 20). At the time I was 20 (soon to turn 21) and single. But I remained single, praying the God would simultaneously lead me to the right woman and lead the right woman to me. For 13 years, I remained single. It turns out that, unless you preach the prosperity gospel, it's getting hard for a preacher to find a wife.

So I prayed. And I prayed. And I prayed. I went through cycles. Sometimes I would pray for myself. Sometimes I would feel terrible about the notion of praying for myself for a mate. I felt it was the most selfish thing I could do; to pray to God for someone else's time to be dedicated to my life. For a time I stopped praying. Then I would start praying again. It was a very human roller coaster for me.

And I reached a point where I basically gave up. I truly felt that God just did not have anyone for me, that it was my lot in life to live as Paul lived. So I stopped looking. And then, one afternoon I stopped at my buddy's tire shop to get a slack tire checked out. While there, she walked in. I knew her family, but only knew her in passing. For whatever reason, I found myself in the shop trying to talk to her and making the biggest mess of things ever. I don't even know how I got in the shop, 'cause I was out at my car. When I finished blabbering on, she was giving me the crazy eyes and my buddy just shook his head and said, "man, that was bad." I left the shop knowing that I had screwed up.

A week later, I noticed a friend request on Facebook. It was her. She looked me up. I got in touch with her and we started talking. Then dating. We're talking about our future together. And it is the most awesome thing to happen to me outside of my salvation. God has blessed me so much to know her and to love her. I just want to praise Him. I gave up, but He had a plan. Even though I had stopped trying, He hadn't stopped His plan.

God is awesome!

 

Thanks, Ann. I'm praying about it, of course. I want us to follow the Lord as best we can.

Rolf, thank you. I do ask that you keep us in your prayers. We both admit that being a preacher's girlfriend is tough. But we both trust God.

No, Gib, she doesn't...and I'd appreciate it if you didn't tell anyone, aight? :smilewinkgrin:

 

Thanks, KYR. I definitely noticed that, as well. I believe I had been trying too hard to look in the wrong places and that, even though I believe God's will is perfect, I was arrogant enough to think I could do this on my own without relying on Him.

I'm glad He proved me wrong. God is good.

 

Thanks, Bos. And yeah, making a mess of things was pretty much S.O.P. for me.