The Year of . . . Surprises!

This time last year, I perched on the eve of my 31st birthday . . . without a man in sight. (Sigh.)

Little did I know that, 12 days later, God would put into motion a glorious plot He'd been weaving for years.

I went to a friend's wedding. Alone. Again. Except this time I wasn't completely alone . . . the bride had asked me to bring two teen girls whom I'd never met before. Ashley and Jasmine rode with me to the wedding and begged me to join their "Thursday Night Group," through which they knew the bride. I told them I'd come once but couldn't attend regularly.

As I watched my friend Katie marry her Tim, I saw that an old friend, Steve, was one of the groomsmen. I barely noticed Steve, but I did have the fleeting thought that I wouldn't mind getting married in that beautiful old church someday . . . if the weather was too cold for an outdoor wedding . . . if my hoped-for wedding day ever arrived. (God must've been chuckling to Himself.)




To make a long story short (earlier blogs share more of our story) . . .  a few significant things happened over the next several months.







And just 9 months and 5 days after Katie's wedding, I walked down the aisle of that beautiful old church . . . as The Bride!



"That old friend," Steve (who'd been in seven of his good friends' weddings), waited for me at the altar . . . finally The Groom!



And as I walked down the aisle, Steve turned to the officiant and said, "Can I go get her now?" He could hardly wait!

Our wedding day (Feb 4) unfolded as the most joy-filled day of my life (up till then).

And our first 2.5 months of marriage have been truly glorious!

Now I sit perched on the eve of my 32nd birthday, and I can't quite decide which word most accurately describes my feelings: Humbled. Amazed. Grateful.

I'm humbled that God didn't give up on me, even when I gave up on Him. (I'd doubted both His goodness and His love, because He didn't give me what I thought He'd promised.)

I'm amazed at how truly good God has been . . . both in the desert of hope deferred and in the oasis of longing fulfilled! I'd reached a point when I thought I'd have to settle . . . that it was too late for my love story to be truly beautiful . . . that I must not be worth the kind of man I desired. Boy, did God ever surprise and delight me!

A friend once told me, "God will not give you second best." I've found that to be true. Is Steve perfect? Ha! Am I perfect? Double ha! But we're perfect for each other. (Our weirdness matches!)

I'm grateful (now) for all God taught me during my long wait for the right man. The truth? I learned more through those 10 years of waiting than I could have learned from 10 lifetimes of sermons. Truth, hope, unconditional love--those became real as I experienced them in my own journey.

And now I KNOW, deep down, that God is good. Not because He always gives us what we think He promised--He doesn't. Not because life is fair--it ain't! Not because there isn't sadness and evil in the world--just look around.

But God is good. How do I know? Because He was there. Through each heartache, confusion and depression of my single years. Even when I couldn't hear Him, see Him or feel Him. He was there.

And He didn't give up. He pursued me, longer and harder than the most gallant hero in the best fairy tale.

God doesn't make sense to me. But He remains faithful, determined and persistent.

He won my heart. He seeks it still. And He seeks yours. How will you respond?