Beginning at the Beginning

Above all else, guard your heart,
   for everything you do flows from it.

-          Proverbs 4:23 

My mom likes to say that we had to move to Georgia in order for me to meet the man that I would marry. A true Texan at heart, she also says that now that I’ve met Christian, they have to go back to Texas for my sister Emilie to meet her man. I met Christian and his family when I first moved to Georgia in 2006. I was fourteen years old. I was a mess when I moved. I had to move away from all of my friends and family; everything that I knew in the middle of the eighth grade. God really used that time in my life to really mold and shape me into the girl he wanted me to be.

It is fun now that Christian and I are engaged. We are reminded of lots of fun memories from those first years of knowing each other. I recently shared with him a journal entry that I wrote after I met him for the first time. It is written in chicken scratch, eight grade girl handwriting, but it is sweet. I definitely noticed Christian at that time and caught a glimpse of the wonderful man that I know today. At the end of the journal entry I actually wrote that I felt like God was prompting me to pray for Christian. I smile because there is no way I knew then that he was the guy that I would end up marrying. But God knew.

I share that sweet stuff because I want to remind young women, first of all, to guard their hearts. God knows the man that you will marry someday. He has great plans for you. Also, as you begin to notice guys; young men that you admire, start to consider what you like about them…and what you don’t like. Recognize the qualities that you want to look for in a husband. Girls, start to make a list. And please don’t begin the list with tall, dark and handsome (although, God does know the desires of your heart!). Start to pray for that amazing guy that God might have in store for you. Christian and I will both tell you that we prayed for each other, even before we had met. We prayed that God would provide a spouse that loved the Lord and lived for him. It is crazy to think when I wrote that journal entry, I was writing about my future husband. God’s plans are so much higher and greater than our own!