"What you said gave me hope," Tara said. She was in the
audience the night before when Reggie and I had shared about handling baggage
before and during a relationship. Her comment took me back.
I always knew that I was going to be married. What I did not
know was how long it would take to find real love, (or should I say for it to
find me), or the pain that I was going to encounter along the way. What I also
did not know was that love and marriage are not necessarily the same thing.
When Reggie came into my life, I thought I had already experienced
twice what I called a "great love" - both passionate and romantic. I did not
think I would (could or should) be entitled to yet another "great love." I
believed that I would love again, but not a "great love," a "comfortable love."
God showed me differently. What I had to give up was not my
hope of great love, but my definition of love and the ways in which I went
about finding it.
That is what I did. Right before Reggie came into my life, I
decided to change my ways when it came to relationships. I decided to do it
God's way. That meant that before entering another relationship, I spent time
alone with God. It was the best decision I ever made. I had been alone before.
I had even spent time with God before, but this time was special. This time, I
understood the wonderful gift it was to be alone with God. I understood that
singleness was a gift, and since I knew that I would one day be married, it was
a gift that would one day go away. So, I decided to make the most of it.
I made this decision, not because I am super spiritual, but
because I was tired of the pain of unfruitful relationships. If I was going to
do it again, I needed it to be different. So, I needed to be different. My time alone with Him allowed God to
heal me and change me. Ironically, Reggie had also come to the same decision
after his last relationship. God used his season alone to heal and change him
too.
Now, we have a great love. It all began with a decision to do relationships God's way. Now, I have more hope than I ever dreamed
possible. One night this past February, our hope became Tara's hope. It is our
prayer that if you have lost hope, our hope can become your hope because that
is part of what our ministry, A Cord of
Blue, is about.
Until Next Time,
Dawn
P.S. Please feel free to pass A Stitch in Time along to family and friends, but please forward it in its entirety.
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