It was Sunday the 16th of February 2003, two days after Valentine’s Day. Another Valentine’s Day which had come and gone with no significant other for me! That was about to change!
The pastor asked us to pair up, share a prayer point each and pray for one another. For some strange reason and in quick time, everyone around me was partnered up leaving me to wander around the aisle looking for some other hapless soul.
It turned out that everyone in the auditorium had a partner except for me so the pastor asked me to be a third wheel to whichever pair would let me. I looked around noticed this tall, dark and handsome guy (I mean that literally) grinning like the cat who got all the cream. I’d never seen this guy in church before so I thought he might be visiting. He and his partner beckoned me over and we prayed for each other having shared our requests.
After the service, I got talking with the guy. It turned out he’d been attending the church for a while. We exchanged e-mail address and promised to stay in touch. I also asked him to give a friend a ride when he told me where he lived.
For the next two weeks we communicated by email, getting to know each other. As I read his emails, he struck me as the type of man I’d been praying about for a husband. He seemed caring, generous, kind and chivalrous. He cared deeply about his family and seemed loyal to his friends. I could tell he was a conscientious worker as well.
Our first telephone conversation lasted about four hours, going on into the early hours of the morning. Needless to say, neither of us was very productive at work that day. A month to the day we met, again after a church service, he handed me a tatty little exercise book. It was his maths book from primary school. In it, he’d written a note which read;
This is my past. Now will you help me write my future?