I started praying for my husband when I was in high school. I prayed for a Godly man, who had a heart for the Lord and would be a spiritual leader (Even though at that time it was probably most important for him to be cute, athletic, tall, dark and handsome). I prayed the Lord would put me with the man that He chose and made for me. Though, secretly, I wanted to pick “the one” and have the Lord be “OK” with the decision I had made. He doesn’t work that way. If we’re going to let him have it, we have to let Him have ALL of it and we have to be content with relinquishing the control that we selfishly need to keep us comfortable.
The Lord brought Matt to Auburn my junior year. We didn’t know each other. We may have crossed paths, but hadn’t met. Thinking back on this week of that year that we met, I was still praying that same prayer. I did it every night, so I’m sure I would have been doing it that week too. And, I was probably a little bitter that there were no "answers" in sight. Little did I know the prayer wasn’t ignored or forgotten, it had already been answered. In my mind, at that time, marriage had no prospects and was a lifetime away. By my senior year of college, I began to think that the Lord wasn’t concerned with the prayer I had been praying for my husband. So, I surrendered my control and was content with what appeared to be my “call to singleness.” (Dramatic? Probably a little.) Only God knew He was getting ready to give me what I had asked for in a greater way than I had even known to ask.
As I sit here now, thinking about that time in my life when I felt forgotten, I can see what the Lord was doing. God wasn’t ignoring my prayer; He was preparing Matt, He was preparing me and He was using that time to draw me closer to Himself, knowing all the while the answer to my prayer was literally around the corner…and had been. It makes me excited now to think of the things that I have been praying for that He has already “secretly” answered.
This is such a special week for me. I love to think of the MIGHTY work God was doing on our behalf nine years ago, it brings tears to my eyes and humbles my heart. I prayed over Jeremiah 29:11 for so long and with my whole heart, “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.” When we can’t believe anything else, we can believe His Word. What a blessing when we wait on the Lord. After all, anything that’s worth anything is worth the wait.
