On September 24, I was introduced to Amanda through mutual friends. We instantly bonded. Six days later Amanda and I went on our first date. In between the day we met and our first date, I received the official notice that I was indeed going to be departing in late December of 2006 for pre-deployment training at Ft. Riley, Kansas, followed by a twelve-month tour in support of Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan.
“Do I still follow this love?” I asked God repeatedly. With each and every date and moment spent with Amanda I felt more assurance that this woman was not only special, but a woman with a heart for Christ and a woman of encouragement. I specifically remember one evening several weeks into our relationship asking her “not to forget me when I am away.” She promised me she wouldn’t.
Then the two of us shared a moment that I had never shared with a woman before. We prayed together. Then suddenly, one of us began to slowly and very softly sing a familiar hymn. The other quietly joined in. The two of us sat there holding, praying, and singing praises with each other. How do two people find true love and then cope with the separation of that love in such a short period of time? The impossible is accomplished and expressed through intimate prayer, and unending songs of praise to a God whose plan is far greater then we could ever hope or imagine. Thanks be to God that his thoughts are not our thoughts and his ways are not our ways. Never in a million years would I have imagined God would bring my future wife to me before sending me overseas in his service. Little did I know that day that it would be through song and prayer that God would draw me closer to Amanda, but more importantly, closer to him.
Lord, help me not be so intent on my own plans that I fail to see the better path you have for me.
“‘For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,’ declares the Lord.” (Isaiah 55:8)