Only God Knew

12-17pm

Mike said something again this morning that he has said hundreds of times before.

Mike was 35 when we married. He was so lonely before that. He was running a non profit making Christian hostel in Cape Town and was literally holed up in this place, doing the best that he could (which was very good!), but he was miserable. Very miserable! He felt pretty forgotten and unimportant!  We started dating when he was 34 and I was not quite 21! We married 11 months later, just a few months shy of my 22nd birthday. It was a romance and relationship designed in heaven. Mike says he started praying for a wife when he was 13. We love to say that the Lord looked at Mike and who he was and who he needed and then looked to see who was ‘in production.’ The Lord saw me and said, “Aha! I have just the right person!”  Several months later, I was born and the growing up process began. Mike & I, of course, were both oblivious to this. Mike had the harder deal. He had to wait a VERY long time for his future wife to grow up. But eventually she did and the Lord had us meet and fall in love and the rest, as they say, is history.

So, what Mike said this morning was, “If someone had said to me, when I was holed up at the “Y”, that one day I would be happily married with 2 children, a house and 2 cars, I would not have believed them!” He always sticks on the addendum, “I was so lonely and then came Helga!”

Only God knew!

(I think that is one of the secrets to a happy marriage:- Appreciation – ongoing, never ending, often expressed, appreciation. )

For me, the waiting wasn’t so long. I had been heartbroken when God slammed shut the door on a previous relationship. I had a hugely low self-esteem, no confidence, was very insecure and didn’t think anyone would want to marry me.

And then came Mike!

This is the reason why you keep going in life. You just don’t know what is around the next corner.  Only God knows. And when I say or read those three little words, “Only God knows,” I am drawn back to the Bible, where God speaks about what He knows…

Jeremiah 29:11

For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

God knows the plans He has for you and they are for good…prosperity, hope and a future.

There is no reason not to trust God. Whatever you are going through, He has good plans for you. If life looks bleak right now, He has good plans for you. If you are feeling depressed or lonely, He has good plans for you. If you are grieving, He has good plans for you. We may not be able to see them yet, but we know that He has good plans for you.

Follow hard after God.

Keep the smile going

God bless you!

In His Grip,

Helga xx 🙂

Gratitude – The cross-stitch I did of Mike’s Mom as a young woman is framed! Thanks Stacey!