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4/  For those who doubt that it is worth the waiting…

If you have read my testimony of how I gave my life over to the Lord’s will, (testimony #5), you will be aware that I struggled in my youth with the fact that I failed in a relationship with a girl, and she was killed shortly after we broke up.
— At the age of 19 I felt I had had enough experiences with romantic relationships to be aware I had a rather self-centered and hurtful attitude toward these associations. I felt a strong need to find correction in this area of my life. This is how I came to a personal decision of self-imposed abstinence from the dating scene. Instead, I determined to seek God and His will in my life. I entered into a period of my life in which I spent a lot of time in nature, (hiking, backpacking, camping, fishing, hunting, and traveling) and I sought every opportunity to serve the Lord in the churches that I attended.
— Believe me, if anyone who reads this and is seeking those opportunities of service, you will find a warm and glad reception within any Bible-believing church out there. I know you will be blessed as you do so, as I truly was. I was happy and busy working out the Lord’s will in my life. Through good times, struggles, and bad times, the Lord gave me joy and strength, as He taught me so much about how to place my trust in Him.
— God’s Word (the Bible) came alive to me and I am trying to journal all my experiences here so as to never forget His loving guidance and power. This leads me to share how a time came when I began to understand that I was not the type to remain unattached (celibate). This really started to impact me when I realized that my parents were getting aged and I started thinking of where I would spend Christmases and holidays when they were gone.
— So once again I ask, “Where does a Child of God go when they find a need in their life?” — As always I turned to the Lord in prayer.
— God through His Word and His Holy Spirit assured me that it was never His purpose to impose a life of celibacy upon me. (I was indeed living a self-imposed life of penitence.) And at the age of 29, I entered back into the dating scene.
— Okay, I better explain the circumstances this put me in, back in the late ’70s…
By this time I was 29 and quite bald (as is my family heritage) and certainly awkward about the singles scene. Compound that with the fact that most of the eligible population were already paired off, and I lived in the tiny community of Clearwater, BC, my chances were somewhere between slim and nil.
— However my faith was sure, and I determined in my heart to hold fast to God’s Word found in these following scriptures:

2nd Corinthians 6:14 (Msg.) Don’t become partners with those who reject God. How can you make a partnership out of right and wrong? That’s not partnership; that’s war. Is light best friends with dark? — That eliminated dating non-Christians.
And Isaiah 40:28-31 Have you not known? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable. (29) He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might he increases strength. (30) Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted; (31) but they who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint. (ESV)

— My brother once chided me by asking me, “Where do you expect to meet any girls, IN CHURCH?” To which I shrugged and said, “If it’s the Lord’s will YES!”
— And I did find a couple of ladies to date in those years of looking, but things didn’t work out and we became simply friends.
— It took seven more years of waiting on the Lord to see if it was His will for me to find a wife. Then when I was 36 and worshipping the Lord in my home church, the ‘Clearwater New-Life Assembly’, a beautiful young dark-haired lady walked in and sat at the back. At the close of the service our little congregation always visited and socialized, and we never let a visitor feel left out. So I made sure to go over and say Hi to this impressive beauty. Her name was Mariella, and she couldn’t speak English very well as yet, for she was from Argentina and just learning the language. So I shook her hand and smiled and that was that. But I must admit I was captivated.
— Her friend Klausky had invited her to our church and eventually with another friend Ursula, they became a match-making force in the romance that blossomed between Mariella and me. I could just go on and on about the humour and adventure of our dating experiences. But that is not my point in writing this.
— What I wish to say is that I found a ‘pearl of great price’ in my lady Mariella, because I kept the faith, and trusted my future into God’s leading. Be sure His Word does not fail… “they who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles;” is a sure promise.
— If you are in that place where waiting is required, stand firm, trust in Him, and you will see rewards beyond your ability to fathom or contain.
— Mariella and I are into our 31st year of marriage with three fine young men as our sons, and we are more in love now than we were in the beginning. Such is the goodness of our God towards us. God wants the best for you too. Be patient and trust and you will rise on eagles’ wings.

— Fly high above life’s worries and God bless! …KK