Pass the Salt: Courage Builder #6: Evidence of God in My Life

In my very first entry in this series, I told about breaking up with my boyfriend the summer after my 10th grade year (when I wrecked my brother's truck). He and I had been friends for awhile and had only been dating a few months. He was actually two years older than me, so he had graduated that year and was going to college. The reason that I broke up with him was because I felt like I was putting my relationship with him above my relationship with God. As a teenager, it was a struggle to keep my priorities in the right order. You see the problem was that I was so crazy about this guy that I spent all my time with him and when I wasn't with him, I was either talking to him on the phone or thinking about him. :) He became the most important thing to me, instead of God. It was the same for him and I knew that wasn't good for either of us. So, I really felt like God was just telling me that we needed to break up and that I needed some time to reprioritize things. My boyfriend was also going away to college and I didn't want him to come home to our small town every weekend. I wanted him to "spread his wings and fly" (isn't that a song?). ha!

That whole summer I moped around. I experienced my first heartbreak and the crazy thing was it was me that broke up with him. At the time I had a stronger relationship with God than he did, so he didn't really understand when I tried to explain it all to him.

So, school started my junior year and I still missed him terribly. Several weeks into the school year, I was sitting at youth group at church on a Sunday night. During the ending prayer, I really started silently pouring out my heart to God. I told him that I wanted to be obedient to Him and that I had broken up with Robert because I felt like that was what He told me to do. So, He was either going to have to heal my heart and help me get over this or He was going to have to give him back to me. When my youth pastor said Amen, we all raised our heads and opened our eyes. I noticed someone standing in the back of the room..........Robert had slipped in right at the end of the service. It was pretty darn cool!! I can't think of a clearer way for God to give me the answer to that prayer. I still remember what he looked like today. He looked so mature and "collegy." He had on a new ball cap and shirt that had his college logo on it. (Sounds cheesy, but he looked really cute!)

After church that night, we talked for awhile and started dating again not long after that. We did break up a few more times before it stuck permanently. :) Starting to date when we were so young made those breakups necessary for me. I always wanted to make sure that I wasn't just settling for what was comfortable and missing out on something else. I'd fish the waters for a little bit and then always realize that I had an amazing guy that already loved me and I'd come crawling back. The last time I broke up with him when we were both in college, he told me that if I ever broke up with again, he wasn't taking me back (he's patient, but he eventually gets to a breaking point). I took him for his word and didn't break up again.

I know now that Robert is the person that God created to be my mate in life. We compliment each other well. Where I am weak, he is strong and vice versa. We have been married almost ten years and I still not only love him, but enjoy his company as much as I did as a teenager. We are not perfect people, but we are perfect for each other. I think when a couple can get to a point where they can accept each other completely (even the imperfections and weaknesses)........that's true love. The tough things that we have experienced along the way have only made us stronger and made us not take our relationship for granted.

God, thank you for caring about me enough to move Robert across the country from California to Arkansas, to be my life partner. You went to a lot of trouble to bring us together. Please give us the strength and courage to fulfill the plans that you have for us!

Here's a few blasts from the past........just for fun!