Image from Facebook page: To Love, Honor, and Vacuum
Everywhere I turn these days, I am seeing or hearing the word "story." It has been the theme lately for many of our blog posts, for the ministry that is being birthed in my husband and me, and even the anniversary card that I found for my husband mentions "our story." I am seeing it in relation to God's story, which He has written us into.
A few days ago while I was browsing my Facebook news feed, I came across the above photo. I immediately posted a comment stating that this was literally one of the things that made me fall in love with my husband. The owner of the page replied that he would love to hear that story sometime, and I knew that if I didn't share it right away, I would forget and it would never happen. This is what I wrote:
Four years ago we went on a cruise. He booked alone, then invited my sister and her hubby, who have been best friends with him for 25+ years. One thing led to another and my parents and I also booked the cruise with them. Philip and I were acquainted, but didn't know one another well. We had both had come through broken marriages, and had each come to a place where we were ok with the idea of being alone for life, unless God had other plans. We boarded the ship with no expectation or desire other than to become better acquainted. Just before we left on the cruise, Philip's father became ill, and he was scheduled for medical tests and appointments while we were away. He told me about the tests and asked if I minded if we prayed for his dad together right there on the deck of the ship. So we did. The next day, my mother expressed concern because she was having some medical issues, and here we were in the middle of the ocean. I prayed for her, then when I met up with Philip, I told him, and he said, "Let's pray right now, if that's ok." So we did. After that I had a conversation with the Lord. I told Him that I thought I was falling for this man's heart, but that I didn't know what God's plan was, so if it was indeed God, that Philip would pursue me. I did not want anything but His plan for both of us. Philip was having a similar conversation with God that same day... When he approached me, I knew. When we agreed that God was doing something, his first thing was to ask if we could pray together and place our relationship, every aspect of it, into the hands of the Lord, to direct our path and to set the pace and determine our course. Eight months later, we began our marriage journey, and it has been the most peaceful, joy filled three years of our lives! Don't get me wrong, there has been drama, but only from without, never from within our relationship. God is soooooooo good! Our third anniversary is days away (January 28), and our love just grows sweeter with each passing day...
Our anniversary has just passed, and I love to share our story. It is a story of brokenness, of great grace, and of healing and restoration. Our desire is that our story will inspire hope in others, and encourage them. If God can do such an amazing healing and restoration in us, He can do it for others as well.
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