A Lifetime of Memories

John & I celebrated 40 years of marriage yesterday!  It really went by quickly and can't even imagine having had that many years of marriage with any other man.  Why & How did you get this far when so many marriage barely manage 3 years and can even break apart after 35 years?

I believe the answer lies in the fact that I sought my God's will from the very first moment of the relationship. 

Looking back:   January 1971 I changed jobs from Claims Examiner at a firm downtown T.O. to a brokerage firm handling claims specifically for the company John worked.  I found him to be the "best bet" to get any answers or action and dealt specifically with him for 4 months.  During that period, an interest started forming for both of us thus prompting both of us to discover what we actually looked like!  And, above all else, who we really were as seen by co-workers. 

May 1971 We made a 1st date for lunch on Bay St. since we both worked along there.  He wasn't all that confident that I would really follow through with the date and low & behold I couldn't - but, not by my own choice!!  We were going to meet on the Monday and on Friday after lunch I slammed a heavy wooden file drawer on my thumb!!!  PAIN - throbbing pain until around 2am I called some friends who came over and got me to the hospital where they proceeded to put a needle into my nail and withdrew the blood that had been collecting there!  From there I ended up going over to the Toronto Island to another friends and stayed with them over Monday!   No Date!!  Not cool of me!   I finally realized that I'd missed our date on the Tuesday morning when I got back to work.  So, we rebooked immediately and within 6 months we were married!

Now to my comment "I sought my God's will..."  At the beginning of that year I had begun to seek God's face again after approx. 10 years of rebellion of going my own way turning away from all that I knew to be true.  That being my confession of faith in Jesus Christ and becoming a Christ-follower when I was approx. 12 yrs. old.  When I was 18 I joined the Army and met my first husband while we visited the Air Force base for a weekend.  Thus, bringing me to Canada eventually in 1965.  After only a couple years our marriage broke up, leaving me here in Toronto without any family. 

That event started a couple more years of doing things that I knew weren't exactly best for me.  I'm sure we can all say that about our choices when in our teens or 20s at some point.  But...I also knew in my heart that my God and Saviour was calling/wooing me back into a love-walk with Him.  So I started following my heart and began looking for a church to attend in the area I was living and praying for His Will for the 1st time in a few years. 

When John came into my life, I had no intent to actually find a husband!  Surprise was the emotion I experienced when he asked me to marry him that Monday - a week after our 1st date and on our 2nd date - realizing that the answer was a resounding "Yes!"   We were both surprised!  When John countered with "you love me!"  "Yes, I do!".  How could that be?  Thus, started a 4 - 6 mo. getting to know each other period.   Which we now can look back upon with amazement after 40 years together we love each other!

God did the leading and the restoring of the years lost in rebellion.  He is a God of restoration and provision - fulfilling our deepest desires even when we didn't know what they are/were. 

More to come...Still in Love with my God and my husband!