Monday, April 2, 2007

My Wife (Chapter 1: The Prophecy)

For those who are interested, I thought I would share with you the journey (literally) that brought my wife and I together.

In December, 2001, I was finishing up my fifth year of full time ministry at my church. I was pretty certain in the mid nineties that I would have been married by this point in my life, but according to God's plan, I wasn't. This truth, however, didn't bring me too much solace. I wanted companionship, and around Christmas of that year, I began courting a young woman from my church. I was pretty certain that she was "the one", though I can't deny now that there was a check in my heart.

I spoke with my brother, and we prayed together that in the month of January, 2002, God would make the direction clear to me. I was more and more certain that I was on the right path as the month quickly rolled by. The check in my heart got smaller and smaller. Then it happened. God showed up.

To me it was like any other day. Little did I know, however, that this Friday, late in January, would alter the course of my life forever. It was a pastor's fellowship breakfast and meeting. I knew all the men and women there well, but no one, except my own pastor, was aware of the serious relationship I was in. Not even my own pastor knew of the January deadline I had given to the Lord for direction. The meeting was like most other pastor's meetings. Bagels, coffee, a donut, some juice, worship, an encouraging word, and then prayer. I'll skip right to the prayer part.

Everyone was receiving prayer, and my turn arrived. The chair sat in the middle of the men and women of God. I'll never forget telling the Lord right as I sat down, "Lord, I give you permission to speak to me about my relationship." I could just hear him say, "Thank you." The pastor's began praying for me, and honestly, I don't remember much of those prayers. I could tell my prayer time was ending. My back was being slapped, amen's were being said, and the check in my heart was now long gone. No prayer was uttered that even remotely dealt with my relationship, and I assumed that since God didn't say anything...he must want me to continue the courtship, right?

I began to stand up, and suddenly, a seasoned minister stopped me. "Have you been praying about your wife?" I thought to myself, uhh, I'm a single 25 year old man, of course I'm praying for my wife! I answered, "Yes." He closed his eyes and began to prophesy over me, "The Lord says to you today that she is not here yet." Now let me pause for a moment and insert here that though I believe in prophecy, I don't believe that all "prophecy" is accurate, and should never be followed blindly. Confirmation is vital through bearing witness with the Word, the Scripture, and leadership counsel. That all being said, something deep inside me bore witness with the word, and truthfully, I didn't want to hear any more. Though I had given the Lord permission to speak to me concerning the relationship, I really didn't want to hear what he had to say. I felt sick inside. God was shaking me to my senses.

The seasoned minister continued the word, "Don't settle for second best. I [God] have been preparing her for you. I [God] am sending her to you from a far off land. Be patient and wait for my plan." It is important to note that this seasoned minister had no idea about my situation. Other things were said to me, though at that moment I was pretty heartsick knowing that the courtship I was in wasn't God's plan. I would wrestle with this over the next several months.

However, little did any of us know that God was orchestrating His wonderful plan. At the time of the word in January, a beautiful young translator from Guatemala was preparing, along with her home church of 7000 people, to host a ministry team from upstate New York. She struggled with the ministry team leaders last name, and when she called his home in upstate NY, she asked his wife, "How do you pronounce your last name?" She had no idea it would soon be her last name, and my brother's trip to Guatemala that spring would change all our lives.

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