My Mom and sister-in-law
had been trying to get me to go up there for a while to meet Ken and I never
liked match making and I thought they did not know what was best for me, and I could not get a good picture of this guy in my head and had really been
avoiding going to this church for that reason, but when God has a plan he will accomplish this mission. I now wish I had not waited so long to go but that is history.
When he walked in I got the elbow from mom and she said " That is Kenneth". Oh don't you just hate it when your mother is right!
I was surprised!He was wearing a suit that morning and led singing and Well I just thought he was the most hansome guy I had ever saw. I was hooked what can I say! But about a year before that I met him I had really been praying that God would send me the right man.I knew he would be the one if God was in the arrangements..that is the only way a marriage can work..I believe.
Pray and seek the right one..as I said I had been praying about this.
I had an impression one night as I prayed to go to my two year planner to the next year and draw two wedding bells on Oct 18 of the following year 1992. I didnt know why.Yes it sounds crazy but I did it. Then I said o.k there is nothing to hard for God to do Karen make yourself a list of what you are looking for in a husband. I made me a list and tucked it in a drawer with the calandar. You have got to have faith God will answer your prayers so I thought when God answers I will go see how many things that match on my list. A silly thing to do maybe but I did this. Back to Mother's day now.
After church, I was in the car waiting for mom,John Graham was asking me if I had gone to school with his wife Rita..there was a tree behind him that Ken was leaning up against and he looked over at me and said something to John and took of his glasses and I saw the prettiest blue eyes I had ever saw..needless to say that just about finished me off right there. I started attending Mt. Olive not long after, my schedule opened up and I was able to go more. I had been working two jobs.
Dad invited Ken to come over and talk about the bible..I think he was trying
to match make too.
Well, he did start coming over, and I of course was able to get in on some of
these talks and we got to know each other better. He was very knowledgable
about a lot of scriptures and we had a lot in common. Now he is 13 years older than me which was o.k. with me, growing up around adults I couldn't relate to guys my own age it seemed and it has never been a problem with us.
We fell in love very quickly and one night after attending my brothers wedding
together in August we told each other of our feelings then by September we were planning our wedding.
We had met on mother's day..spent a lot of time together then revealed our
true feelings in August and the following March 27 was our wedding day. Now
let me tell you about the calendar with the two wedding bells on it in my
drawer. I went to pick out my wedding dress to put it in the lay a way at
Bridal Emporium. I had always loved the Southern belle type look and I knew
what I wanted in my dream dress. I found my dream dress! Then I picked out my
veil and accesories..now I had to put them in the layaway..you had to put a
deposit of half down. did I have enough? Exactly down to the penny in my purse was the very amount I needed to put my dream dress and all the trimmings in the lay a way that day!
They rang up the sale.I signed the slip, they took a copy of that slip and put
it in a little envelope on the front of which were two golden wedding bells You are dying to know what day this was right? You guessed it friends.Oct 18 ..a year after the impression had came to me to do what I did. I didnt realize this until I got to looking at the envelope and those wedding bells jumped out at me.
I got a little trembly and something just said" now go look at that calandar in your drawer" and when I found the day with the wedding bells sure enough, Oct 18 the day I put my dress in and got the little envelope with the matching bells.
Gods way of saying " In case you have any doubts(which I didnt)he is the one!" I also remember before that I knew for sure how he felt about me that I had been really praying God would show me if he felt the same and one day at work I saw the biggest brightest rainbow in the sky I have ever saw. It was like a message from God reminding me of his promises.It gave me reassurance that everything was going to work out for us.
Then came christmas eve..wow! Again God is such a friend that he the creator
of the universe still goes out of his way to show you things that lets you
know he cares about the smallest little desire of your heart.
I had always dreamed of when I found Mr. right that when Christmas came I
thought that he would come over and all of a sudden it would start snowing. You know how rare that happens in Tennesee. God cares!
Ken gave me my engagement ring that day..I was already on cloud 9 ..all the
family was gathered at moms.Ken and Dad were in another room talking together
and all of a sudden my brother said, well! would you all look at this! Out of the window I looked and yes friends..it was snowing!
Not just flurries ..quarter size flakes coming down! Well I went and got that man by the hand and said come here! Outside! We went out and my brother took a picture of us together with Ken's arms around me in the snow.
See how wonderful God has been to me? I can't help but share this with all of
you. I can't stress enough of how God cares about our every hearts wish and
desire . The scripture says " delight thyself also in the lord and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart" he has me.
Then I finally remembered the list I had made and I thought well I will just
see what I had wrote down and how many that I could check off that matched
Ken. Guess what? I checked them all off one by one. GOD IN MY CASE HAD SENT ME WHAT I NEEDED BUT IT WAS ALSO ALL I HAD EVER WANTED.