I was heavily involved in the church as a child. I sang in the choir, I was on the dance ministry and I was a junior usher. I loved the Lord, but of course living a life of purity was super difficult. I had a boyfriend when I initially met Chris and we talked for a few months but eventually he told me to let him know once I was single. One day, while at a joy night I had an encounter with the Holy Spirit that I will never forget. I repented and told the Lord to send me someone who was FOR ME! Someone who loved Him just as much as I did and who I could live life with. Now let me explain something to y’all, I was 15 years old, asking the Lord to essentially send me my husband!
On the Monday after Mother’s Day in 2015, I was looking for Chris and for some reason, I couldn’t find him. He was ALWAYS roaming the halls, so I thought that it was odd that I didn't see him all day. For several days after that I didint see him anywhere. At some point, I figured that it was just meant for me to focus on my school work. Eventually we saw each other. We talked and I told him that I was single. We started dating and, well, y’all know the rest lol!
The thing that I wanted to bring out of this story was that the Holy Spirit will always lead and direct you! Holy Spirit did not tell ME (at the time) that Chris was going to be my husband but I prayed for someone for ME and He told CHRIS that I was going to be HIS wife. In my mind, I was just going to school to talk to this boy who I knew liked me. I didn’t know that the Lord had already told him that I was supposed to be his wife. In hind sight, that was why he was avoiding me when I initially was trying to find him. He told me that he was avoiding me because he knew that once we got together, that was it.
That’s like so many of us during our spiritual walk, right? We know the Lord told us to do something, but we are like "ok Lord, wait one sec and let me do this real quick and I’ll be right there..." And the Lord is so patient. He doesn’t FORCE us to do anything. He will just keep sending us reminders of what He told us to do.
Many times, the Lord takes us down a path that we don’t understand. Since Dec 11th, 2019 I have had so many questions and have relived various scenarios of that day in my head. It wasn’t until recently that I actually realized that this is the EXACT life that the Lord had for me. I was meant to be in the EXACT position that I am in right now. This season has been really tough, but he has NEVER left me. If I would have known that this was the plan for my life when I was 15 years old, I definitely wouldn’t have come to school looking for Chris that day. But realizing that Chris was being obedient to what the Lord had told Him makes me look at all of this differently. Had he not ne open to persuing me, I would never have been a 30 year old pregnant widow and would have never needed to begin a charity for young widows (willows) who are in need of the resources that we are providing. I once thought that us getting married was about love. And to demonstrate that love could evolve from teenagers, to young adulthood to adulthood. And while that is very true, our story is also about perseverance, and resilience. Our entire journey has been about ministry. And what the Lord has been cultivating in me since I was a teenager which was only able to come to pass because Chris was obedient to the word that the Lord gave him.
Our origin story may be a little different than a lot of people’s, but we had the same ride as everyone else. Some good days, some bad days. Arguments and disagreements. But we put the work in, because we felt it was worth it. And through it all, we kept the Lord at the center so that He could take us through each challenge that we faced so that I could be here, right now typing a blog that you will read 💙