I grew up with parents who pastored a church and at the same time helped young men and women leave their life of drug and alcohol addictions to find hope in Christ. Not many 12 year old girls would pray for a husband who had been through a life of addiction and found God but I was raised seeing the power behind someone whose life was changed and I wanted to be apart of that.
So, my story starts with a promise, a promise to my parents and to God that I wouldn't date until my second year of College. I felt that if I waited and honored this promise that God would honor my hearts desires and bring my husband to me. It was not easy to keep especially in high school when you were marked you "cool" if you had a boyfriend and "uncool" if you played third wheel! The worst part was watching the guy I liked go for one of my own friends. You can imagine the journal entries and sappy love songs that came along with stories like that.
High school came and went and I was off to college and thats where Mason came into the picture. This blonde hair, blue eyed, 6'1, college basketball player, who majored in Church Leadership caught my eye but honestly not my attention. I still had a year of waiting to go and didn't want to get caught up in any other promises other then the one I made with God.
The only thing I was open for was a friendship not only from Mason but from any guy on campus. As other men tried to pursue me God spoke to me clearly that the man he had for me would pursue me differently, calmly, and just as I needed in this season. You see through out the years of waiting I had come across guys who I had wanted to promise myself to, "Maybe when I'm 18 we can rethink this relationship" I would tend to say, which sadly left hope for many. I saw those closed doors as a punishment instead of a plan. A plan that was leading me to the write door. I became scared of love and scared that I would never find the right door to walk through.
Thats how I knew it was Mason. I knew Mason was the one God had for me the fourth month of knowing him. He didn't push or persuade me to talk, to vent, or to hang out. He knew there was a wall of fear in my life and was patient enough to slowly break it down. He had all the qualities I had asked for in a man including the lifestyle of someone who was transformed from a life of drugs and alcohol but found Christ. His quietness intrigued me and that was it!
Later on in our friendship Mason opened up to me about the promise he had also made the year before he met me. He promised God that for the next two years of his life he wouldn't date just so he could draw closer to God.
In the middle of both our promises to God we found each other and ironically enough both of these promises ended at the same time. With much excitement and respect for my parents, the following November he asked my dad if he could date me and then 2 Novembers after that, they sat down again and he asked my dad if he could marry me.
Today we are now on the road to Marriage all because we listened to God when he said "WAIT along with listening to him when He said "GO". Timing is really everything. Doors open and close for a reason. Sometimes they close for good and sometimes they are creaked open, allowing you to only peek through to see what could possibly be next. You can ask anyone and the hardest part is discerning Gods timing through situations like this. Though I do not have all the answers I have stumbled upon this thought,
"Every bump in the road has the ability to make you stronger. Every door has the ability to stay open or close. We are all living beings who through mistakes have become wiser. We are sons and daughter who've been given the chance to stay planted or grow."
College Days 2011 Engaged 2014
No comments:
Post a Comment