In life, we never know where we’ll end up, and we never know when we’ll get there, either. For Jennifer and I, this union is the culmination of many sleepless nights, fallen tears, and lonely days, but always with the blazing hope of something better and unseen just beyond the horizon.
Unbeknownst to me, someone else was praying in tandem with my prayer. While I was praying for a mate to keep me spiritually grounded and safe, and to help face the rigors of life back to back against a darkening world, Jennifer was also praying an interlocking prayer. Her prayer was that she find a man that would understand her, appreciate her, and who would benefit from her presence in his life. She prayed that she find a man for whom she would complete his circle, that she could help in a spiritual sense to remain grounded in Jehovah.
One day, after many moons of those interlocking prayers, a mutual friend living in Tucson had a eureka moment. She decided she should introduce us through Zoom. I mean, in the midst of a worldwide pandemic, how else are you supposed to meet people? She told me about Jennifer and described her as ‘perfect for me.’ I saw a stock photo from LinkedIn and couldn’t deny that Jennifer was pretty. Needless to say I was skeptical. I had heard this before. I rolled my eyes and accepted an invitation to Zoom Games Night.
Games were fun in a group setting, and we had a good time, but without much 1 to 1 interaction, which is pretty much expected in a group game night on Zoom. I had a good time and enjoyed Jennifer’s answers and play as both creative and cunning.
The next day, after Saturday service, I took a deep breath, and called the number I had had for a few weeks. Jennifer answered. I was casual for about a minute before letting her know why I was calling. It was as if she were expecting and perhaps hoping for my call. We talked for a few hours, but it didn’t really take us even that long to know things were clicking.
In fact, it might be fair to say that we had a pretty good idea from that initial conversation that our prayers were being answered. See, sometimes it’s easy to think that Jehovah isn’t listening, or that Jehovah doesn’t care, but in reality he’s collecting our tears in his skin bottle and smiling at the thought of what he has in store.
How many opportunities did Jennifer and I have to settle for less than what we wanted or needed? And yet something drove us to keep on running, keep on fighting, keep on searching. There was a point that I prayed that if there was some master plan for me, but that I only needed to wait, that I would be ok with all the loneliness in the world. That perseverance has ended with me living the ultimate dream of finding the person with whom I’m supposed to live forever. And all that loneliness? It was worth every minute of it. 😊