The plot thickens

So I wanted answers from Ryan. I was uncomfortable with several things. 1. The man needed to tell me what his intentions were. I was not going to “date” someone just to have a boyfriend. 2. I told my parents everything, and they had given me their blessing, but I wanted Ryan to go to them himself and put himself under their authority as far as I was concerned. 3. This hanging out thing was making me vaguely nervous. Before the spring break, we had spent about two weeks, taking nearly all our spare time together. Something told me this wasn’t healthy, but I couldn’t quite put my finger on it.

When I saw Ryan after the spring break, I cut right to the chase. I opened my mouth to say, “We need to talk!” And instead I heard those very words coming from him. “Great!”

We sat down and he dove in,

“I’ve spent a lot of time in prayer about this, and I don’t want to scare you away, so tell me if I’m going too fast here. From now on, I would like to court you for the purpose of marriage. God showed me while you were gone that you were going to be my wife, and I want to make it clear what we are doing and where we are going with it.”

OOOOOOKAAAAAY! If I needed clarification, it doesn’t get much clearer than that! You know when I tell this to young ladies, their eyes get wide, and they shake their head in wonder that I didn’t run for the hills. But I couldn’t run from this one, because point by point, Ryan began to tell me every single concern that was on my heart, and address those concerns, even things I never told anyone, like how uncomfortable I was of the “dating scene”. He went on.

“First, I need to talk to your parents and get their permission to court you.”

Check #2 topic to discuss.

“If they say yes, we are going to have rules.”

Rules???

“We’ve got plenty of time to build a relationship and get to know one another. We don’t need to spend every waking moment together. I’d like to have two days a week together. The rest of the time, you take praying and seeking the Lord about me.”

Ok, you have to admit with me, that one was weird. I had never heard anything like that before, and I wasn’t too sure about it at first. But there was this nudging of the Spirit telling me that every one of the things I had prayed about was answered just now, and like it or not, it was the work of the Lord.

I told him yes, we’ll do it, and we went to call my parents. Then I asked him how he “knew”. He said, “I’ll tell you later.” I didn’t get to hear the next part till after we were engaged!

If you’ve stuck around this long, Reader, you are to be congratulated! This is the best part, I promise! Well, *I* like it anyway.

This is how Ryan “knew”. He fasted and prayed about me, because it was obvious to him that the Lord was doing something. Ten days into his fast, he was (I can’t imagine why) hungry. He was getting ready to read his morning Bible passage, and he prayed, “Lord, I would like to eat today. If you want me to end my fast, I pray that you would let me know! I’m hungry! And would you let me know if Sarah is going to be my wife?”

Then he opened his Bible to the passage he had been reading daily in, which was Ecclesiastes 9:7-9;

(7) Go thy way, eat thy bread with joy, and drink thy wine with a merry heart; for God now accepteth thy works.
(8) Let thy garments be always white; and let thy head lack no ointment.
(9) Live joyfully with the wife whom thou lovest all the days of the life of thy vanity, which he hath given thee under the sun, all the days of thy vanity: for that is thy portion in this life, and in thy labor which thou takest under the sun.

Guess it doesn't get more clear than that either.

The time I had to pray really solidified it for me. God made it 100% clear to me that this was God's plan for my life. I'll be honest, there were a few moments of doubt. That time in prayer gave God the opportunity to dig down into my heart and show me that there was still a root of fear. When I finally gave that fear to God and surrendered to Him completely, my heart was still enough to hear His still, small voice, which was saying, "Go for it!" After that, there was never a moment of doubt.

Well there's more and I'm out of time again! Next time I'll talk about meeting on Tuesdays and Thursdays, people thinking we were crazy, and an engagement that surprised Ryan! (Thanks Dad! :D)