When I was sixteen years old, I clearly and vividly remember announcing in study hall that I would get married on June 16th.  Why?  Because June was my favorite month and sixteen was my lucky number; it made perfect sense.  I remember the jeans I had on and who was sitting in front of me.  Little did I know, it would take TWENTY YEARS for this to come to pass.  My life goal was never to be a princess and have a huge wedding but I always knew I wanted to have my own family.  My father impressed upon me the importance of an education so when I was in college I was there to learn.  No one gave me the memo to shop as a freshman and make sure to clench the deal by senior year; I was too busy working two jobs and trying to maintain my academic scholarship to SMU to give too much attention to boys.  I was truly not upset when I turned 30 and was not married.  I never felt some invisible time table crashing down upon me.  But as I grew older I decided to make June 16 “my” day because I began to fear it might not happen for me.  Instead of lamenting it, I tried to make it a positive and it became a sort of birthday/personal day rolled into one.  I would take off work or go out with a girlfriend.  My favorite memory is of going to see Gerard Depardieu in “Cyrano de Bergerac” alone in the middle of the afternoon.  I had never been to a movie by myself before and I remember I snuck in a blue Nehi creme soda and a box of Junior Mints.  When I was 35 I would meet my future husband after the fourth of July and he asked me to marry him at the top of Reunion Tower (God’s microphone as it is sometimes called) during a special dinner a little over a year later.  We are Episcopalian and one cannot simply get married whenever.  For instance, Christ was crucified on a Friday.  And there is the penitential season of Lent to consider in anticipation of the celebration of Jesus’ resurrection at Easter.  So it goes without saying Saturday weddings are at a premium.  He proposed to me right before my 36th birthday in October.  I proudly and excitedly dialed up the church secretary the very next day hoping something would be available in the summer.  I figured there were gushing 20 somethings who had been planning their weddings for over two years and a lot of dates would already be gone.  Knowing the information I have just given I am quite sure you can understand what I was up against.  The secretary informed me they had just ONE date and ONE time left after Easter all the way through the end of summer.  With an air of resignation, I asked when it was as it would seem my wedding date had been chosen for me.  “All we have open is June 16th” she said as I heard a sort of distant roaring in my ears.  As God is my witness, it NEVER ONCE occurred to me that June 16th was ever an option.  After all, how often did it even fall on a Saturday — once every seven years?  I don’t know; I was a journalist major.  I HAD NO — ABSOLUTELY NO — IDEA JUNE 16TH FELL ON A SATURDAY IN 2007; MUCH LESS THAT IT WOULD BE THE ONE DAY AVAILABLE!!!!!  “JUNE 16?!  JUNE 16?!”  I shrieked into the phone.  “Yes … I’m sorry that’s all we have” said the somewhat freaked out church secretary.  “I’LL TAKE IT!!!” I shouted and she said she would reserve the date for us.  “Oh wait; there is another wedding that day,” she muttered as my heart dropped to the floor.  “So the only time available would be in the evening.”  To this day I STILL cannot quite believe it.  That, my friends, is what I call God’s faithfulness.  And so, the sixteen year old girl who so wished for a handsome husband who would always love her wound up with the fairytale wedding she never thought she would have.  The church was packed, white candles were lit on the ends of pews, incense rose high in the air past the stained glass, the choir sang Mozart’s “Laudulate Dominum” and Biebl’s “Ave Maria” and I wore a beautiful cathedral length gown and veil starting at the crown of my head extending past my train.  I have no idea why I’d proclaimed it at 16 and 20 years is a long wait.  But I know our time is not God’s time and he granted me desires of my heart I did not even know I had.  Jeremiah 29:11-13 says,

“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.  Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you.  You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.”

I am so grateful I did; thanks be to God.