If we are distressed, it is for your comfort and salvation; if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which produces in you patient endurance of the same sufferings we suffer. (2 Corinthians 1:6)
Throughout my life I have been greatly blessed. I’ve been surrounded by more earthly possessions than one man deserves to have. With that said, my greatest possessions haven’t come on a silver platter. They’ve arrived only after great sacrifice, severe trial, and years of waiting…and waiting…and waiting.
Take the depressing tale of my wait for a wife. At an early age, I had formed a strong idea of the type of woman I wanted to marry. Year after year I waited for someone with those qualities to come my way. But none did. Even if they had, I was locked in a decade long struggle with acne (detailed in the “My Achilles Heel” application) that kept me locked away in my bedroom.
My patience was running short, and my frustration with the Lord was nearing its apex. A friend of mine, sensing my frustration, advised me to write a list to Him detailing to the finest detail what I was looking for in a wife. After composing that list, he challenged me to believe in my heart that the Lord would provide her in His time. So I did. The list was easy - I had that list engrained in my head for too many years: Christian, attractive, intelligent, good sense of humor, etc. I even included all the finest details: “I want a brunette with brown eyes to boot!” The challenge, however, was believing that He would provide her and that He would lead me out of the padlocks of the four walls of my bedroom. I can’t really describe how it happened, but it did. One night, I turned over all of the pain, all of the frustration, and all of the fruitless waiting to Him. I finally became at peace with it all.
Nearly two years later, on February 4th, 1998, Dee walked into my life and immediately I knew that I was looking at an answered prayer. He had to fly her in from halfway across the country to answer that prayer, but He did. I remember joking with the Lord and saying, “Good job, you covered all the bases except the brown eyes part!” A month or so later, the Lord got the last laugh. I shared the above story with Dee and she quickly corrected me with, “What are you talking about my eyes are brown!” I had to do a triple-take, but sure enough the brown hues far outweighed the green. He had covered all the bases, just like He always had in my life and always will. I just had to wait until the perfect time to meet her…His.