Currently, I am reading a book.
I am bias, as I know the author personally, but I assure you, it's well written and lovely.
As I am reading, I feel as though I have been allowed to peek into her secret diary.
And I am grateful for such transparency.
When I was first asked to write this post, I was not sure just how to write it: what to say.
Last night as I began the book I read something and just knew that this was it!
It was simple in some ways, but life changing for four people, on two separate occasions.
In When Infertility Books Are Not Enough: Embracing Hope During Infertility, my sweet friend Betsy Herman writes on page 15 two lines regarding her husband, Mike:
"...Mike said something that brought healing to my heart. He said he went home
from our first date with a sense that he had found a hidden treasure."
My husband is my "Big Strong Man".
I named him this as a reminder to both he and I that he is wonderful, important, and needed.
When we first started talking, each of us already having had taken an interest in the other, he shared two beautiful sentiments with me.
Back up.
When I was 17 I began praying for my future husband and, with the encouragement of my Youth Pastor, I made a list and prayed over it.
As time went on, I realized that there were two, and only two, qualities I needed to focus on:
My future husband would love God like I do- more, would be great!
My future husband would be a virgin, same as I.
There was this beautiful course I attended around that time called "True Love Waits". The course is pretty self-explanatory, but it so impacted my heart for my husband, our children, and the glory of God.
Today I saw a young man wearing a ring with "True Love Waits" inscribed on it- further confirmation that the love of God is still at work in our hearts! It reminded me of my heart's cry before God and how I heard Him say to me: This is how you will know. Do not compromise, Shannon, I have not forgotten you.
Back to the first of two sentiments:
Without my asking, and without him knowing that I was saving my virginity until marriage, he shared with me one night that he was a virgin. His conviction wasn't quite the same as mine, he simply "never had".
Imagine my delight!
Until that moment, I had spent years of attending Christian college, and Christian ministry and in that time I never found someone who had waited.
Many well-meaning people, God loving people, told me I should probably "lower my standards", as they could see, it was highly likely a lost cause.
So again, IMAGINE MY DELIGHT!!
The second quality was obvious from conversation: He loved God!
I can remember the night we had the virginity conversation, reeling it over and over in my mind like a movie: This is it! He's the one!
I remembered God speaking to me and I felt right then and there that God had answered my heart's desire.
Within one year of our first conversation, we were married.
The second sentiment was one of Godly fulfillment, much like the first.
My Big Strong Man shared with me in the time leading up to our wedding day that he felt his entire adult life that he was a jigsaw puzzle, placed on display in some park.
Many people walked past the puzzle, some may have tried to place some pieces together, but it was I who took the time to pick-up the forgotten piece which had fallen beneath the table.
I cared that much more for him, so he concluded.
I was that girl! The One! His One!
Betsy is Mike's treasure, his prize.
I am B.S.M.'s "One".
Four people, two separate occasions, one amazing God.
Recently, my Big Strong Man found this ornament at a gift shop. Naturally, it became ours.
yours, Shannon (a.k.a.
)
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