I didn’t grow up in a church. My family occasionally attended church on the military base on Sunday mornings. I never heard my family speak of Jesus or try and teach me anything about our God and how great He is. I would attend friends’ youth groups on Wednesday nights at several different churches. My journey began in the beginning of 2011. I was single, looking to meet a good guy, a mother of a then 1 ½ year old beautiful boy named Mateo, was living with friends, and had a steady job.
I was browsing the online dating sites for men; it was almost like going into a restaurant: you read the descriptions, hope their pictures are recent and real, and then choose who you think would be the best match for you. You send out a message and hope that you get a response. I met David; according to his profile, we had a lot in common. We sent emails back and forth for a few days, and then we decided to meet. My son had gone to my parents in Florida that weekend.
Our first date was on Friday April 22, 2011. We went to the River dog’s baseball game, had a few beers, lots of great conversation, and then went to eat at Pita Pit - which by the way, that was one of my favorite places to grab food when I was downtown, and this was the place he suggested - I thought, wow this guy is great!! After eating we went to a local dance club, had another drink and danced the night away. I had the best first date that I had ever had. I thought, “This guy is perfect.” We continued to hang out through the weekend. Saturday, we grilled out and spent the day by the pool.
Then came the question: he asked me to go to Church for Easter Service the next day. I said sure; I didn’t have my son, and wasn’t currently attending church anywhere. He said the Pastor said everyone should try to bring a friend, and he did just that. I really enjoyed the service and thought I would continue to attend church there. I even started volunteering in the nursery once a month. Well after about 2 weeks I got a phone call from David saying this just wasn’t working out; I even remember him saying that he can’t control his fleshly desires. At the time, I had no idea what went wrong and what that statement even meant. I know it had only been 2 weeks, but I was crushed; this was the best first date I had ever had.
I continued my journey at that church. I soon decided I wanted a Bible, so I went to Barnes and Noble and stood on that aisle looking at the variety of Bibles for about an hour and a ½. I started to get overwhelmed and just picked one and left. Even though David had ended things, I was still going to the church, and he was the only person I felt comfortable with reaching out to with questions about the Bible. He guided me on where would be a good place to start reading, and then when I didn’t understand the passage, or the study notes, I would reach out to him for explanations. After a few weeks with that Bible, I was introduced to the New Living Translation. I explained to David that my version was a little hard to understand and he went Bible shopping with me. Together we picked out what is now my favorite Bible, the NLT Life Applications Study Bible.
I soon met another guy on the online dating site. He and I hit it off really well. We had a lot of fun with each other; he took to my son Mateo really fast, and it was a relationship in fast forward. He soon started coming to church with me, introduced me to his family, and after a few short months we were talking about moving in together. To me this wasn’t foreign; I didn’t see a problem with living together before you were married. After a few months had past, I gave my roommate notice that I would be moving out the following month. Of course both my roommate and my family tried to talk me out of it, but there was no changing my mind.
That following Sunday I attended church by myself; for some reason the guy I was seeing was unable to come with me. At the end of the service, just like Pastor Larry did every Sunday, he had an Altar call. I remember standing there and praying and repeating everything he said to say if you wanted to accept Jesus into your life. I felt the presence of the Holy Spirit for the first time. Pastor then suggests those that just accepted Jesus to come to the front so the Pastoral staff can pray with you, and when I went to walk to the front my legs went weak and I had to sit down on the pew. I couldn’t go up there, but I knew something happened. I was filled with so much happiness; I was crying my heart out, and had never felt anything like this before. After that day, my life was changed forever. I dated the same guy for about 2 more weeks, and then had to end it; I knew it wasn’t right in my heart, and that relationship was not what Jesus wanted for me.
Since being saved, I no longer wanted to drink, cuss, have premarital sex, and definitely wasn’t going to move in with anyone without being married. The friend I was living with and the other friends I had been around the last 10 years noticed my changes. They asked me questions at first, and then they began to pick at little changes - reading the Bible each night instead of going out or watching TV, posting Scripture on my Facebook page instead of encouraging their partying and gossip, etc. One person even said to me, “Oh well why don’t you just beat me with a Bible.” I felt so unwelcome around them. I thought,“Aren’t my closest friends supposed to just be happy for me?” In reality, I changed overnight, and they had no idea what happened or why all of the sudden changes were taking place. I called my dad upset and knew I just had to get out of that living situation, so I moved in with a girlfriend from work. It was the perfect living arrangement for Mateo and I.
David and I were still friends, and we decided to start going to a life group on Wednesday nights. My birthday approached, and I had been talking to a guy for maybe two weeks. It wasn’t serious enough for him to plan something for my birthday, so I made plans for Saturday September 3rd with a past boyfriend to go to dinner, and then to a movie with David. Before the movie started, David started talking about relationships, trying to get a feel for how I felt about them and if I wanted one.
Wednesday, September 6th, at 4:30 in the morning, I received an email from David sharing how he truly felt about me. When we started dating in September, we discussed premarital sex and agreed we would wait until we were married. This was very hard for both of us, as this wasn’t something either of us had ever done. We had a few slip ups, but we knew we couldn’t allow it to happen anymore, so we stayed strong.
David proposed to me in my friends’ driveway under the beautiful full moon on Dec 10th 2011. Then, we were married March 18th 2012. Since the summer of 2011 so many things have drastically changed in my life. I do believe that God has blessed our family so much. We continue to grow everyday in both our Faith and our relationship together. I didn’t know I could ever be this happy. I live my life everyday to serve God, and I can’t wait to see where He will use me next.
No comments:
Post a Comment