"Mom, would the Lord make you marry someone that you don’t want to marry?" This question came out of my lips just over a year ago referring to the man that I am now married to and desperately in love with. The Lord sure does work in mysterious ways . My name is Rebekah Loveless and I am nineteen years old. The Lord has given me the most wonderful husband in the whole world and I would like to share my story on how He brought us together. We first met at a Spanish class at Emmanuel Baptist church just over two years ago, and neither of us were members of the church that we were going to for the class. I enjoyed his company and noticed that he had a good sense of humor, but the thought never crossed my mind that we would be married less than two years later. We took the class until the end of the year and then went our separate ways, not giving much thought of one another. Then in August of 2002 my family started attending Emmanuel Baptist church. Everything was great except that I noticed a single man who was much older than me taking quite an interest in me. My family also noticed and enjoyed teasing me about it. Ronny was godly and sweet. He just wasn’t attractive to me and he was thirty-six years old. Then one day when my mom and I were about to pray together specifically for my future (this was something we had started doing every day) I asked her the opening question. Her answer was that no, God would not force you to marry someone that you did not want to marry, but he would possibly change my heart to want to marry him.

A month or so went by and Ronny asked my parents if he could meet with them because he had something that he needed to talk to them about. They were pretty sure what it was going to be about and so they called me into their bedroom and asked me if I would be interested in developing a friendship with Ronny with the intention of the possibility of an upcoming betrothal. I wasn’t scared of the idea of marrying Ronny anymore. I just wasn’t attracted to him. So I told them yes. Ronny did want to talk to my parents about me because he was in love with me and wanted permission to win my heart. So on December 13, 2002, Ronny started spending a lot of time with me along with my family.

I had written a list earlier that summer of about thirty character traits, qualities and beliefs that I either felt were necessary or strictly desired in my future husband. My siblings teased me that I was too strict and would never find any one that would meet up to my standards. Each time that he and I would talk, though, items were being checked off of my list. I also became more and more comfortable with him and truly thought of him as a friend. I had never been a close friend with a guy before, so it was a little awkward at first. By January fourth, every item was checked off of my list except one physical trait that wasn’t important to me anymore, and I was falling in love with him. I told my parents that I was 99.9% sure that Ronny was the man that God had designed for me, but I wanted to fast and pray about it first. I decided to take it one meal at a time and after the first meal I knew that he was the one. I was so excited and couldn’t wait to tell him at church the next day.

Once we got to church I stayed out in the van while my parents brought the younger children in. They asked Ronny to come back out to the van with them. That’s when I told him, " Ronny, I love you and am ready for our friendship to be called a betrothal." He just about fell backwards on the pavement. Then, on January the fifteenth, he asked me to marry him. It was in our pastor’s study and he gave me a beautiful diamond ring. Our engagement lasted for four months because we didn’t believe it would be right to have a long engagement and give place for temptation. The Lord was so real in my life then because he worked through Ronny to show me His love and he blessed our engagement so obviously. Every detail He worked out from the wedding cake to the bridesmaids’ dresses to the colors for our wedding. He showed me how much He cares for me by working in the insignificant details of my life. He truly is a mighty God. I still can’t believe that I am married and that God has blessed me with a man whom is more perfect for me than I could have ever imagined. Our wedding and Honeymoon were absolutely beautiful and wonderful. At one point during our engagement, the Lord showed me that my eyes were on the materialistic things and reminded me that our love for our Lord and each other is what the wedding day was all about. He opened my eyes to see why there are so many divorces in this world. So much emphasis is put on that day and not the marriage ahead. May I encourage you ladies who are not married yet to delight yourselves in the Lord and patiently wait as the Lord makes you and him all you need to be for each other. And, my dear married sisters, remember how much the Lord has truly blessed you with each other and always love your husbands only second to the Lord. He is a precious gift.

Rebekah Loveless, 20, lives in Kilen, Alabama, with her husband Ronny. She is a homemaker and enjoys caring for her husband, reading, writing and scrapbooking.