Since our story isn’t quite ordinary, I thought I would share
it. I was working toward my Associate’s Degree in Sign Language
Interpreting when my parents decided to take me and my sister on a pilgrimage
to Austria, Germany and Switzerland in June of 2011. At that stage of my
life, I was wishing for someone special in my life. I’d met people, but
nothing ever seemed to click. It was hard to feel peaceful when I longed
for someone to share my life with, but right before the pilgrimage, I came to
the conclusion that I wasn’t ready for that special someone. I expected
so many things out of my future spouse, yet I never stopped to think that he
might expect many things from me. I was (and of course always am) so far
from perfect, and so far from what I thought my perfect man deserved. I
knew I needed this spiritual boost and decided to offer this pilgrimage up so
that I might find peace in my state of “singleness” and to start working on
becoming the person God expected me to be.
The day we arrived in Vienna, I took a look around me at the people on the pilgrimage. I had prepared myself so well for not expecting to “meet someone” on this trip that I wasn’t too disappointed when I noticed the lack of single young men in our group. There were some young ladies from Australia, a young married couple from Australia, a few other young adults from the US, and with the rest of the group being older, I quickly concluded there was nothing in that area for me on this trip.
We had Mass before going to the hotel and on the bus ride home, I looked behind me and met with the eyes of the married Aussie young man, who was not sitting with his wife. I tried not to think about how nice it would be to attend a pilgrimage with my husband. I was here for a different reason and there was no use in allowing myself to become distracted.
We all waited in the lobby of the hotel for our room numbers and I continued to study our group. My eyes came across the married couple once again and noticed the name tags again as I had in the airport; same last name. I looked down at their hands; no rings. I studied them a little closer and it soon dawned on me that the “married couple” may well be brother and sister. The more I studied their manner, the more I was convinced of it. My sister and I were given our name tags and headed up to our room. As soon as the elevator door closed, I excitedly said, “they’re not married! They’re brother and sister and he’s Aussie!” She looked at me confused and answered, “Who??”
It was confirmed when we met everyone downstairs for dinner and were introduced to everyone. The young man came over to the group with his sister and shook everyone’s hand, introducing himself as Zenith. When my hand touched his, my eyes meeting his, I knew it wasn’t going to be easy to concentrate on my original resolve.
God proved that things happen when you least expect it when that night a group of us went for a walk. Before I knew it, Zenith and I had hit it off and spent most of the evening walking side by side in conversation. In fact, from that moment to the end of the pilgrimage, there wasn’t a lot of time that we spent apart. We went from casually “bumping into each other” to not caring what anyone thought and sitting with each other on the bus. It was no use hiding it; it was obvious there was something between us (besides the trash can :P).
By the end of the trip, we both knew without saying that we had to
see each other again. A world between us was nothing to God, and if it
was His will, He would provide. And provide He absolutely did. New
Years Eve, I flew out to Sydney and spent two wonderful weeks visiting him,
staying with an American friend, who had also married an Aussie, and their
beautiful family. It wasn’t hard to fall in love with him. His
faith was strong and we shared so many of the same morals and values. He
respected and shared my beliefs of remaining as chaste as possible before
marriage. I had already made the decision to wait until marriage for my
first kiss, and not only did he respect my decision, he helped me accomplish it
by working with me to keep each other pure.
Nothing ever felt so easy, despite all the difficulties a long
distance relationship (especially international) posed. I never felt
rushed or that it dragged on. I never felt as if I had to force feelings
or push for him to do anything. He moved to the US on May of 2012 despite many
difficulties with visas and such (nothing is impossible with God!) and on July
31st, he surprised me with a horseback ride through the mountains of
NH up by the Castle in the Clouds. He led me out to a lovely waterfall
with the sun sparkling through the trees and there asked me to be his
wife. I knew this was the man God had put in my life to help me to get to
Heaven. I knew he would someday make a wonderful father who could form
saints out of his children. I knew together, we would guide each other on
the path God had laid out for us and work toward our goal of reaching Heaven.
We were married April 2013 and I couldn't have ever imagined being as blessed as I am. What felt like such a long wait for “the one” was completely worth it. I know now that I needed all that time to prepare for this man, and had it been any sooner, I may not have recognized him. God puts certain people in our lives at exactly the right moment, which is why we cannot rush Him. God’s time is perfect time, and I am thankful that He guided me so well. I pray He always does and that I will always remember to abandon myself to His will, not matter how impatient I may be.
~Lindsay
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