I went to William Jewell College, a place lovingly known for distributing MR and MRS degrees. Jewell's tiny, so people's love lives are well-known to everyone, and pretty much everyone assumes that, if you date someone while at Jewell (whether or not s/he goes to Jewell, too), you'll marry them pretty quickly after graduation. I have many friends who prove this assumption correct (four of them are in our wedding party...), and also many more friends who prove this assumption wrong. But, more or less, Jewell's the place where you are expected to meet your spouse-to-be.
Despite this tradition/assumption/folklore, I didn't expect to meet The One while at Jewell. I never really saw myself as a get-married-young type, and I didn't have much patience for dating. Plus, the ratio of guys-to-girls at Jewell when I started was 1-3, and pretty much all of the good ones were taken. I dated a bit in college, but nothing lasted very long and that was fine by me!
At least, that's what I told myself. But deep down...I hate to admit it, but it's true...deep down, I wanted a relationship. I didn't want casual dating, I wanted a commitment to someone who would make me a better person. I, quite frankly, obsessed over a few guys while in college, convinced that they were The One God had for me, and wondering why the relationship wasn't happening. I was very happy with my family and my friends--I have the best family ever, and the most fantastic, true friends a girl could need--but I kept searching for and trying to force a committed relationship.
It didn't happen for a very long time. But, praise God, His timing is perfect. And He has a sense of humor.
See, once I became a senior, I panicked a bit. I thought, if I'm going to meet The One in college, I only have a year left!! But God did some amazing things in my heart, and by the time second semester rolled around, He had taught me about how to fully rely on Him. The need I felt for a committed relationship was gone, because the only committed relationship I will ever need, the only one that will truly satisfy me, is my relationship with Christ.
So here comes second semester. I hadn't dated for about two years, and I was at a point where I loved being single. I was getting excited for the next few years of doing God's will as a single person, and I had even begun to accept the idea that I might never get married, if that's what God wanted.
And then you know what God did? He gave me Robert. I tell you, I think there was a week between my heartfelt prayer thanking God for my singleness and accepting it, and me noticing Robert. He's pretty notice-worthy.
One week after our first date, we were a couple. Two weeks after that, Robert told me he loved me, and I knew I was going to marry him.
So, if you had asked me 15 months ago if I would be getting married soon, I would answer with a truthful--and quite happy--NO. But 14 months ago (to the day, actually), God presented me with a much, much better option.
So, my life has been thrown for a loop. Isn't God funny? His timing and His will, though, are perfect. Christ is still all I need, but I praise God for His goodness in allowing me to share my life with Robert.
