Friday, October 2, 2009

A Different Road

Twelve years ago, a wonderful thing happened. Ironically, it should have been devastating, but I felt an incredible sense of relief shortly after it happened. This is a part of my life that few people know, not that I'm hiding anything, it's just not something I talk about. Still...when an anniversary of an event happens, I can't help but reflect a little and thank God for letting it happen.

What's this big event? My fiance broke up with me. Initially, I was worried that I'd never find the right person, that I'd be single forever, that my life wouldn't turn out the way I pictured it. But I was never all that sad about this man leaving my life.

It's amazing the things I found out about him after we broke up...things he had skillfully hidden from me. I slowly realized that I had been manipulated, controlled, used, as well as abused mentally and emotionally.

As the initial shock wore off that day and the uncertainty about the future started to sink in, I called a friend for one of those heart-to-heart talks. I cried, I sighed in relief, I worried, and I asked my friend to pray. Knowing that sleep would probably not come to me that night, my friend opened the Bible and read these words to me over the phone:


Psalm 121
A song of ascents.
1 I lift up my eyes to the hills—
where does my help come from?
2 My help comes from the LORD,
the Maker of heaven and earth.
3 He will not let your foot slip—
he who watches over you will not slumber;
4 indeed, he who watches over Israel
will neither slumber nor sleep.
5 The LORD watches over you—
the LORD is your shade at your right hand;
6 the sun will not harm you by day,
nor the moon by night.
7 The LORD will keep you from all harm—
he will watch over your life;
8 the LORD will watch over your coming and going
both now and forevermore.
My friend gave me permission to sleep, knowing that God would keep the night watch for me.
You know, I ended up marrying my friend...

4 comments:

Holly said...

I love God's ways :)

Nancy said...

awwww, thank you for sharing that!!! God works in such wonderous ways. :)

i was once engaged too...altho i was the one who broke it off - 2 months before the wedding. my mother freaked and wouldn't speak to me for 2 months and altho my parents never really approved of the guy, my mom was too absorbed in wanting to save face. ugh. i knew all long he wasn't the one but felt sorry for him (his mom was dying of cancer) and now he's happily married and so am i. also, he accepted Christ b/c of me...not that i led him to Christ but he went to church with me to prove there wasn't a God. ha! he later realized how wrong he was and prayed alone, one evening, after attending a volleyball ministry at church. he couldn't wait till morning to let me know.

i am ever so thankful the Lord led me to my perfect husband and best friend! and ya know, i wouldn't have met him if i wasn't with the other guy first. we had mutual friends etc. it's complicated but oh my, how GOOD God is! :)

Joy Pierce said...

Just one more thing we have in common, My Friend! Good to talk to you today!!!

Mom to 5...Daughter of the King said...

God truly does work in mysterious ways!!