A New Season of Life

My heart was pounding as I waited for her response…

Wait, I’m getting ahead of myself. You probably will want to know the whole story. The summer of 2003 I decided to go on the Orient Express Project (a summer missions trip to East Asia). Historically, this project has had a 2 to 1 girl to guy ratio. Of course my goal in going on this trip was to serve and experience God. I saw the percentages as just a bonus. Ironically, this was the only year the ratio was flipped – 9 guys and 5 girls.

During the first day of our orientation, I caught sight of this cute Chinese girl… I tried not to stare. As we were divided into our teams, I noticed that her and I were placed on the same university campus AND the same church. Looking back now, that was God’s providence. Over the next six weeks I discovered her to be a joyful and God-centered individual. I remember thinking to myself, “This girl has a lot of qualities I would want my future wife to have.”

Nothing happened then – she lived in Toronto, and I was in Vancouver. And honestly, I was considering another girl back in Vancouver, which didn’t work out. Anyways, over the next three years, this girl from Toronto and I kept in touch on and off. Whenever I heard from her, I could see that she was pursuing God with all of her heart.

As I traveled in Asia earlier this year, the Lord provided a clear direction for my life. As I finished my travels, I knew the next season of life involved pursuing marriage. But in my “plans”, I had given myself the rest of this year to settle down. 2007 would be the year that I would start actively pursuing a girl.

God obviously thought my plans were too slow, so He sped them up. Anyways, to shorten the story, the girl and I talked about where our relationship was going and prayed about it together and individually. As I persistently and seriously asked the Lord about this decision, He gave me a clear answer. Knowing that I wanted to ask the girl (who was patiently waiting for me) to move forward into courtship with me, I talked to her father first, who gave us his permission and blessing.

The next evening I called her over Skype. I emailed her a video of a song I had sung for her. As she started watching it, my heart started pounding as I waited for a response. Then Skype cut us off. I paused a moment to let my heartbeat subside, then called her again. Then I read out the letter I had written to her (I was far too nervous to be able to say out my thoughts from memory). The letter ended in a question, “Will you join me in the adventure of courtship?”

“Yes” was her answer!

With a sigh of relief, a big smile appeared on my face and my heart dropped back down from my throat (where it was temporarily) to my chest (where it belonged). We talked about the many unknowns of our futures and this next season of life, but rested in God’s unfailing provision and faithfulness.

I had read an interesting article on relationships a few months ago. “You should marry the godliest, most fruitful, most spiritually beautiful woman you can convince to have you.” Olive is this woman. Our courtship will determine whether we are to be married.

(click here for Olive's version of the story)

“For great is your love, reaching to the heavens; your faithfulness reaches to the skies.”
~Psalm 57:10~