In my second semester at community college, I had determined that I would probably be alone for the rest of my life and to focus more on my studies. I was far too shy to strike up a conversation with someone unless they talked to me first anyway. But God has not promised to drop all of the answers to life’s problems or questions into our laps. No, He has given us the ability to make our own decisions while at the same time looking to Him for guidance. Sometimes He answers us in ways we don’t expect. Often, for me at least, He comes through at what I consider to be the last minute. And then there are times when He answers through events that are just too much to be a coincidence. I realize that some people have seen angels or verbally heard the voice of God. Reading through the Old Testament and even a great deal of the New Testament can lead us to think that everyone has that kind of experience. But remember there were thousands of people not even mentioned by name in the Bible who followed God and most likely they did not receive verbal or visual messages from God. Just because we think our experience isn’t “something to write home about” it doesn’t mean God has not worked mightily in our lives. It is ok to be one of the numberless multitude. “Jesus said to him, ‘Thomas, because you have seen Me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed’” (John 20:29).
On the first day of school, my second class was very crowded. I sat next to the window between two ladies. The next time I had that class people had moved and probably some had dropped the class as it seemed a little less full. I sat in the same place because I’m a creature of habit. This time men sat on either side of me. The one on my left seemed to be quite a chatterbox. He was funny, smart, and seemed to like a lot of the same things I did. I found out, after several classes, that he was also in my first class of the day. In that first class we somehow always managed to get paired together for group projects. No matter what the criteria the professor used it always managed to put us together. After considerable time went by, we were sitting together in class and he turned to talk to another girl and my heart gave a leap. That’s when I knew… I knew I was in trouble. I knew I had become attached to him. The problem was… he followed what I considered a strange Christian denomination. I tried to not like him… but it was too late. I knew I had prayed about finding someone to date, but surely this couldn’t be the right man.
I decided to give everything into God’s hands. After all if I’m going to pray for God to help me find someone to date and then say… well ok just not that one, then would I really have been honest in my prayer? Would I really be choosing to trust God’s judgement? I decided to study out his beliefs with what the Bible says. If the Bible really upholds those beliefs then it is my job as a Christian to follow the truth even if that means losing family and friends, jobs, or anything else. “‘Do not think that I came to bring peace on earth. I did not come to bring peace but a sword. For I have come to ‘set a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law’; and ‘a man’s enemies will be those of his own household.’ He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me. He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for My sake will find it’” (Matthew 10:34-39).
We studied, and I studied on my own. I argued about “his” Sabbath verses “my” Sabbath. In the end, I could not argue against the scripture. It was shockingly plain on the point of Sabbath. I was convicted but stressed. This would turn my entire life upside down but in good conscience I could not do otherwise. I had to trust God. After all I had prayed to Him and now I knew that because I left my prayer open ended at “Christian” God had essentially slapped me in the face with His truth. If a question from a friend didn’t get me to study and a book in the mail didn’t get me to read then He would put in my path something I couldn’t ignore even if I tried! God was giving me exactly what I asked for and that is how He is. I ASKED for a Christian man and God delivered. Who am I to argue with God? This of course caused a ripple of distress in my life and other relationships. Family and friends weren’t happy. I wondered for a long time if anyone would cut off their relationship with me. Many people even today like to say that I only believe what I believe because that is what my husband believes. On the surface, statements like this are mildly annoying but the deeper connotation is highly offensive. They are telling me that I do not have the capacity to make my own decisions or to study and choose what to believe. Even if something terrible should happen, heaven forbid, and my husband is gone, I cannot envision changing religions. I believe what I believe because the Bible proves it to be true.
To be continued…