Hurricanes and Husbands

This week marks our third annual hurricane preparation panic session since moving to South Carolina three years ago. We carefully are monitoring the path of yet another storm heading this direction. The days of uncertainty make it difficult to determine a definitive plan. Although we have to be still and wait, we also need to prepare. Don’t ask me why, but for some reason this reminds me of the time in my life, before I met Dan, and was waiting for a husband. Perhaps I should explain - I’m not comparing waiting for a husband to waiting for a hurricane. It’s the preparation that reminded me of this sweet time in my past. 

Many years ago, when I was a single gal living in Phoenix, I decided I was done dating Mr. Wrongs and was ready for Mr. Right. I’ll never forget an older woman at a church function speak about when she met her husband. When she said she prayed and her husband appeared, I was all ears! She claimed she prayed and believed God was going to bring to her the right man at the right time. She went on to explain she decided if her future husband was on his way, she needed to get ready. She determined she needed to make room for him in her closet, so she cleared out half of her closet for him, and cleared out half her dresser drawers. She also made space for his things in her bathroom. Her girlfriends thought she was a little crazy, but she believed and acted in faith. She was preparing. 

The exciting part of her talk was when she said a few months later a man’s car broke down right in front of her house and, you guessed it, the man who asked to use her telephone turned out to be her future husband! I lived in a tiny 500 square foot apartment at the time, so clearing out half of anything was out of the question, but I did pray. I started praying for my future husband long before I knew who he was. I didn’t even have any potential prospects, but I knew he was on his way. I followed the guidance of this happily married woman and I started preparing. I knew this would come to pass.

Preparation applies to everything in life, not just hurricanes and husbands. I think instead of preparing for success, we often prepare for setbacks. Overeating is preparing you for a heart attack, oversleeping is preparing you for poverty, and overconfidence is preparing you for failure. Perseverance requires preparation. We need to grow our faith in God, so when we go through a crisis, we don’t fall to pieces. Proverbs 24:10 says, “If you falter in a time of trouble, how small is your strength!” Bobby Knight said, “Most people have the will to win, few have the will to prepare to win.” John Spence said, “Every single thing that has ever happened in your life is preparing you for a moment that is yet to come.” Preparation with prayer is the best place to begin! Prayer is the only place to begin.

Thankfully Hurricane Florence is making landfall north of us, keeping us out of harm’s way from the harshest parts. We continue to pray for those in her path and we pray for those who evacuated. We pray for their road to recovery in the after math of Mother Nature’s fury. We pray for peace in the knowing there’s oh so much in life that’s outside of our control. We also pray for discernment to fully rely on God in the uncertainty of preparing.

My preparation prayers for a husband were eventually answered and in the most profound way. You will likely think I’m making up this story, but I assure you everything I’m about to tell you is the absolute truth. Shortly after I started to pray for a husband I bought myself a gold cross. I put it on a necklace and prayed to God. I vowed to never take the cross off and prayed for the cross to guard my heart until God brought my husband to me. I told God that I clearly was not good at picking out a guy and this time it’s His turn. I prayed I would not take off this cross until God brought me the right guy. And this is what I did. I wore this cross every day and every night.

I eventually joined a gym that was on my way home from work and started to go there every day. I remember seeing Dan at the gym but we didn’t talk for a while. I definitely would see him and thought he was pretty cute. I will never forget the day we actually talked for the first time. Well, the day we sort of almost talked. He was sitting on a bench and I was walking past him to go to the locker room. My heart started to pound when I realized I was going to walk right next to him. I told myself, “Be cool, Sandy. Be cool. You’re walking past the cute guy. Be cool. Be cool. He’s going to say Hi to you so play it cool.” Well, Dan did say, “Hi, how are you?.” My heart was racing so fast, and my mind was trying to tell my mouth to play it cool so quickly, the only noise to come out of me was an, “Ahhhh.” I was completely mortified and just kept right on walking to the locker room as quickly as possible. My next thought was, “Way to go girl- so much for ever talking to the cute guy again. He thinks you’re crazy now!” 

I walked into the locker room and proceeded to unlock my locker, when suddenly I felt something slip down the front of me. I looked down and noticed my cross necklace fell off of my neck and was lying on top of my shoe. I picked it up and examined it. The clasp was not broken. The chain was not broken. It simply came undone and fell down at this exact moment! I picked up my necklace and as I was putting it around my neck I smiled because I knew the guy, who thinks I’m completely nuts, is going to become my husband – and he did.

Results for the week: -0.0 lbs lost; Total Lost: 41.0

D.O.W. = 440; Starting weight: 182.0; Current weight: 141.0

(Days on the Wagon = Days of food sobriety - no sugar pig-outs!)