God's Love Story, Not Theirs ~ Day 26

This is a narrative, I wrote yesterday, for Day 26 of Thankfulness. Sometimes there are just not adequate, first-person words to describe why you are thankful for something. Or, there are too many dimensions to the story, that it's just impossible to relay it the way you want to. This story is real. It is gritty. It is grace-filled. One thing that it is not, is finished. If there is one thing in our marriage that I am so very thankful for, it is God's patience with both of us! I hope this story blesses you and gives you hope, when you feel there is none to be had! Happy Day 26 of thankfulness! Love Rachelle God's Love Story; Not Theirs Day 26: Marriage Once upon a time there was a little girl, 12 years old, scrawny, awkward, and not popular at all. Always going against the tide. Always different. Never really fitting into the mold. Her theme song could have been, and is today, and will always be: "Outcast" by: Kerrie Roberts http://youtu.be/FfJ2-N5EGRY She sat in a DOD middle school, sex education classroom, and endured the snickering and annoyed sighs of the other kids, as she raised her hand and answered the question, "What is the best way to not get pregnant?" with "Abstinence". She didn't care. She never has. She never will. In the same classroom sat a 12 year old boy, only 19 days older than her. He was scrawny, the new kid, awkward, too, but a little more popular. He was cute, now that she thinks about it. End of the year comes. She smiles and asks him to sign her yearbook. They weren't friends. Just two kids, trying to discover who they were. He signs her yearbook; the same way he signs his name, today. He doesn't ask her to sign his...doesn't even extend it. Maybe just shy. Maybe just wanting someone to take initiative. Maybe just wanting a real friend. She turns and walks away. What's the point? Her parents have had enough of public schools. They've had enough of the emotional and verbal bullying their daughter endures. They've had enough of God not being allowed in schools. They have decided to do something that's not very common at that time in history. And so, the girl leaves public school, to be homeschooled. The boy's name in her yearbook, is just that: a name....a cute face....a person she'll likely never see again.... Except for this thing called God's agenda...his providence....his careful weaving of a tapestry called His Plan... The girl goes on. The boy goes on. Two years pass and neither one thinks of the other, or even cares. One likes horses, horses, horses....and boys. One likes cars, cars, cars....and girls. One day the boy gets in trouble; his "punishment" is care for an Army Chaplin's horse. A love for horses comes out of nowhere...or does it?? The Chaplin plants spiritual seeds that will lay dormant for years...and years...and years. But they are God's seeds, to be watered in His timing. Remember, it's God's story; not theirs....God's story; not theirs. The girl's mom runs a boarding stable. The boy gets a horse. One day the phone rings. Is it the boy's dad, talking to the girl's mom....or is it God calling, setting up his divine plan? The boy and the Bay horse come on a cold day in March...the 17th of March....1997. The girl and the boy meet again. They recognize each other. But it's different now. There's more hormones, there's common interest, there's no one else, really. There's just them. That day turns into everyday. They ride, they pass notes, they sit in the barn window, they don't talk much, they just sit most of the time. They just enjoy being together and talking isn't really required. One day they kiss; and they just know they will be together forever. They want to be together forever. The army makes the relationship long distance....a couple hundred miles apart....for 2 years. Then 2300 miles apart for one year. God is weaving; God is weaving. Weaving two lives together, day by day. The boy becomes a man, a horse-shoeing man, still wanting the girl. He travels west. He makes a living with anvil, hammer, and nails. The man makes a ring from a horseshoe nail. The girl wears it while she waits tables. Lots of guys like her, but it turns out, she only has eyes for the horse-shoeing man. She saves her money; he spends his. She balances her checkbook; his account is never balanced. He likes chicken enchiladas; she likes beef tacos. She rides English; he rides western. She is clean and organized. His truck is a disaster area. They talk more now. They realize they are very different. But alike in many ways, too. Chris LeDoux blares on the grey truck speakers. Dual tires tear up the night and Bear Paw Road. They ride, they shop, they play Shanghai, they just sit, he prep cooks, she waits the tables. Sometimes a kiss is shared by the chip table, when the restaurant is empty. Sin starts to creep in but not the kind you're thinking. They go to church. They make it right. She forgives. He reconciles. God is weaving. It's His Story, remember; not their's. Twin towers fall. North Idaho boys choose to enlist and if not they ride around in old Chevys, jacked up, with a flag flying. The Girl's horse-shoeing man, leaves. He goes back to what he knows. The girl can't wait to get back to what she has always known. ....Army....Army....Army. But it will be another year before he's home. Another year until they get to be together. Forever. Another year before they get to marry. Another year before the night they've protected (not perfectly, but sufficiently, for five years) and dreamed about, can finally come true...the night they get to be one. The day comes when the man finally gets home. The girl is ready. Her white dress is altered to fit her slim figure. His dress greens sport one stripe. It's summer. But it feels like fall. The orange roses are perfect. The jade green dresses are sewn and are hanging in girls' closets. The girl's grandfather is ready with their vows. The girl becomes a woman that day. A wife. A lover, in every sense of the word. The man becomes a husband, a provider, a hero. A month and a half later, they find out they will soon be parents. The five and a half years that they dated was long enough. They wanted a family. It's what they always dreamed of. A boy child arrives. Satan starts to get a hook into the home life of these three people. A girl child arrives. War ravages and takes casualties...real ones but mostly emotional ones. More sin. The woman starts to get bitter, critical, and shuts down. She's isolated. The man realizes that there are issues but he doesn't know how to fix them, talk about them; communicate. He's isolated. And it's just not that pressing. Nothing grace and forgiveness and love can't fix, they naively think. More children, more sin. Hers and his. But it's God's story, remember. Not theirs. There's devastation, heartache, bewilderment and strife. Thick darkness. Sin. Satan has put one final, last ditch effort into play, to ruin one more family for his sick kingdom. Their family. Naivety on both sides, made them think they were fine. Obedience wasn't as pressing as it should have been. The friends...the lovers...the ones who had known each other since they were 12, faced a word that neither one ever thought they would face....divorce. And they faced an enemy that neither one thought had as much power as he does....Satan. But keep in mind, it's God's love story. Not theirs. GOD'S LOVE STORY, NOT THEIRS. Where the now humble hearts, lose their pride...where the hurt ones learn to forgive....where the sinners repent and turn around....there is God. He is always there. He was always there. He will always be there. He is God of restoration. He is God of Hope. He is God of healing. He is God who hates divorce. He is God who makes two people into one. He is God who wants nothing, not even man, to separate what He has joined together. He is God who strengthens this weak woman and this tired man, to keep going. He is God of grace and forgiveness of sin. He is God who builds and weaves a tapestry that looks like a mess underneath...with what looks like shredded threads, colors blended together in such a disarray that no one could ever see beauty in it....until it is turned over, to reveal a story....a story that will not be finished until one of them goes home to be with this God. He is God who is in two categories of story weaving: some parts He allows; some parts He arranges. But all parts of his story are weaved in such a way, so that in the end, He gets the most glory from them. This is I AM. This is GOD'S STORY; NOT THEIRS. Matthew 19:6. Therefore, what God has joined together, let not man separate. http://youtu.be/775N1v94NkM