4.15.2011

Wanted to Share




I had a little happy cry night before last as I was going to bed. So often, we only cry when things are going bad, but right now, I’m just so grateful to be at the place I am in life. So many great things are happening and I’m blessed to have an amazing man to share them with. God is good and sometimes, I feel so happy I could burst.

 Also, I wanted to share mine and Stephen's story in one post, because (I kid you not, I get about 20 emails a week from readers saying, "Are y'all that couple that met on Kelly's Korner?!" Ha!)

The tear fest came as I was working on a blog post for next week for my single ladies : )As a semi recent single lady myself, I remember how much I needed encouragement sometimes. It felt like every girl in the South except for me was married by the time they were graduating from college. I found my encouragement through Kelly and her blog, which we all know and love. Her inspiring words of being a former single lady gave me hope that God had someone in store for me, too. Coincidentally enough, I found him through her blog : )

Anyway, so I was working on that blog post (which actually became this blog post) and I started to think back to where I was at this time last year. I was just coming off of a series of truly bad dates, work was getting tougher and more stressful than ever and I was dealing with a little health scare. I was getting wedding invitation after wedding invitation in the mail and (I know this is terrible) I wanted to flush every one of them down the toilet.

It was around that time when I started doing my prayer journal and made a committed effort to become happy with myself. I reconnected with old friends, upped my standards for what I was looking for in a husband and vowed to quit looking in bars and clubs for a soul mate. Just to be clear, I have NEVER been a fan of bars and loud clubs…I don’t like smoke and random intoxicated people aren’t really my thing. It seemed like that was the only place where single guys my age hung out though.

It was difficult at first and I knew it might be quite a while before I went on a real date again. But I knew it was for the best.

All summer I continued to dedicate myself to work, fitness, friends, family and, most importantly, my faith. I started to feel like the old Leslie again, the one who, once upon a time, didn’t pin her every happiness on a significant other.

I found out in July of last year that Kelly was hosting Show Us Your Single Boys. Now, it is SOOOO unlike me to ever put myself out there like that on the web. But something else kind of took over, (hello GOD!) and led me to post a comment on Sarah’s blog, where she had posted about her brother, Stephen.

I commented, immediately felt embarrassed and went on about my day. 24 hours I got an email from a guy named Stephen who worked for a nutrition company and had just finished building his new house. He liked dogs and lakes and Entourage.

I liked dogs and lakes and Entourage…and him.

We talked on the phone a couple of times and went on our first date on July 30, 2010. The rest, as they say, is history.

I remember feeling that night like I had never felt before with a guy. Stephen was different; he was genuine and kind and funny. He opened my car door and pulled my chair out and commented on my toe nail polish (how observant!) We talked openly about our faith and our dreams and our mutual love of Johnny Cash : )

And he was hot. Bonus!

I said all of that to say….if you are out there and currently searching high and low for Mr. Right, quit. Yep, I said quit.

Instead, throw every ounce of your energy into yourself. Reconnect with old friends, start a new hobby, go on a long roadtrip, and most importantly, pray. Pray for God to give you guidance and to keep you strong and to keep you from lowering your standards. HE will not fail you.

It may happen next week, it may happen next year (as it has with me) or it may be a while longer, but eventually, a Stephen will appear. Or an Andrew, or a Luke or a Jonathan. And he will be perfect for YOU.

Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.

Proverbs 3:5-6


Be blessed, lovelies-

41 comments:

  1. your words are so encouraging :)
    i am married, i met my husband totally on random. i was like you getting wedding invites constantly. I was the only single gal left. I finally decided to start my life and get out on my own. and I kid you not, a month and a half later i met Tony. God has a plan for everyone and we just have to let him be the guide. He will not fail you ladies...you just need to be patient. I do know it is hard. I didn't meet Tony till I was 24 and I didnt have serious relationships before either. You just need to find yourself like Leslie says and he will come. Honest! :)

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  2. What a wonderful story. Congrats to you two.

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  3. Thanks for sharing your story girl!
    You are so right, the Mr Right just come when it's time!

    www.ilovecafemoka.blogspot.com

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  4. This was beautifully written! I'm such a big believer in letting God take over too :) He truly has a plan for everyone and everything!

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  5. I've been reading your blog since Kelly announced your engagement, and honestly, my thought was, "She is so cute! How on earth could she have trouble finding a man?" But of course, cute has nothing to do with it, and it's about finding the RIGHT man.

    I married at 25, after years of placing way too much self-worth on the idea of getting married. My obsession with getting married definitely made our dating relationship and first couple years of marriage much harder. Better to be happy on your own before getting hitched!

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  6. What a great post. I love your story...I actually found your blog via Kelly's {gotta love blog stalking}. In the book I'm reading right now, a character says this about a game of Chinese checkers:

    "Just set up the board as best you can. We'll play with whatever we got"

    What a great way to describe life! Would you have ever guessed you'd find your fugure hubby through a blog?? God is so amazing and so is His plan...even if we don't know it at the time :)

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  7. So sweet, you almost had me teared up! I agree completely- stop looking and just turn it over to God. When I met my husband I was not looking, I had pretty much given up; I dated bad boys, mean boys, drunk boys, and loser boys all through college and it was just a horrible experience- my husband was a pleasant and unexpected suprise! Every time I start to worry about what the future holds (babies, work, life in general) I just remember how much God has blessed me with that was more than I expected, more than I desired- He has given me so much more. And now I'm really tearing up :). Have a great weekend girl!

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  8. What a great story and I totally agree. Just work on yourself and be ok with yourself and when the time is right HE will come and you will be ready. Never settle for Mr whatever just to have him. Wait for Mr. Right. So glad you found happiness.

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  9. That's such a great post! Learning who you are is most important to a good relationship...so good that you have shared this. And, reminding people that they may find someone where it's unexpected...I met my hubby while he was evacuated from NOLA for Hurricane Katrina. Neither one of us expected to find each other at that point in our lives! Thanks for the awesome post, I pray this helps a few of the single ladies out there!

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  10. thank you so much for sharing this! it is all so true! although I do have a great boy in my life right now, I know that this is definitely something that would have helped me before, and will help some of my friends. can't wait to share it with them!

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  11. So sweet. My fiance and I met on e-Harmony, and I never thought I would find ANYONE worth my time online but it worked out! So happy for you!!!

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  12. This is so encouraging, and also made me tear up while I'm sitting at my desk at work. This is just what I needed to hear :) Btw, my name's Brittany, I've been reading your blog for awhile now, and I love it! I graduated last year and a lot of my closest friends are in serious relationships or getting married. I'm happy with my single life but sometimes it's hard when you go on series of unfortunate first dates, haha. I'm not much ach of a club/bar-goer either so I wonder sometimes if the right guy will ever cross my path. This gives me hope though and I know God has a plan for me :) Best of luck to you and your Mr.Right!

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  13. I cried reading this! Such a sweet post and so encouraging to the single ladies out there. It is amazing what God can do when you just put it all in his hands!

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  14. This is such a beautiful and thoughtful post I appreciate you writing it and me for reading it! I love hearing that you met your future husband on Kelly's blog I remember reading her post that Friday so long ago.

    So happy for the two of you!

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  15. wow! that is such an amazing story! I love your blog and will definitely be following :)

    ashareyes.blogspot.com

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  16. Great post Leslie! I met my husband while dating one of his friends at ASU... after I had just gotten out of a bad relationship. When we first started dating, he shared a poem w/ me, that said basically the same thing as your post. Stop waiting, be happy with yourself, and be happy with your relationship with God, and then you'll find the right man. And, at that point, I did. We were engaged after 4 months, married 1 year after we were engaged, and we celebrated our 5 year anniversary in December, and are expecting our 2nd child in 6 weeks! It happens.... when you least expect it!

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  17. Thank you for this post and sharing... It's hard being a single gal out there and I know exactly how you felt about all your girl friends getting married!

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  18. This was beautiful and I got chills reading it!

    I have always wanted to hear the stories of the couples who met through Kelly's Korner! Congratulations, and good luck! ;)

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  19. I had NO IDEA about this! WOW! This story is so AWSOME girl! Now that print I made you SPEAKS so loudly. HUGS my friend!

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  20. Amen to that! God is so good to us!!

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  21. Oh hunny, I completely love your story! A total God thing, and you are such a strong and beautiful woman (inside and out) to look up to. Thank you for being such a blessing, sweet friend! :)

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  22. this is exactly what i needed this friday. Thank you!!! =)

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  23. You're definitely becoming my Kelly. Thank you! :)

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  24. So motivating - thank you for sharing. Loved reading it.

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  25. Loved hearing your story!! I follow Kelly's blog and think it is spectacular how you & Stephen met. Funny how life works, huh? I have so many friends who are happily married & in strong relationships with the most 'uncommon' setups. Congrats to you & your happiness. :) all the best & happy weekend!!! xo

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  26. Thank you SOOOO SOO much for this post!! It was exactly what I needed to read at this point in my life! Graduating college with waay fewer single friends than I started with is hard to deal with. I need the reminder to keep my eyes on the higher prize! xoxo

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  27. This makes me so happy :) I like S a whole bunch, and I'm so happy for the two of you!

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  28. I just cannot tell you how much I needed to read this post today. Seriously, I'm printing this thing off and reading it daily! :)

    So excited I found your blog--I'm your newest follower! :)

    ~Tiffany
    http://tiffanyd22.blogspot.com

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  29. What a beautiful, heartfelt post! I truly believe that we find out soulmate when we least expect it!

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  30. What a great story, Leslie! And wise words :)

    Congrats again! You deserve it!

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  31. Amen! My story is actually really similar to yours. I was in a really dark place at the end of the fall semester of my senior year of college. I went home after finals and just cried and cried. I realized on Christmas morning that I needed to pull myself together, so the next morning I put on some James Taylor and reevaluated my life. I decided to focus on me, on my journey to ministry and my girlfriends who were so supportive of me. Less than two weeks later I met Bruce. I blogged about the story here - http://www.thestrengthoffaith.com/2010/04/he-had-me-at-i-used-to-listen-to-james.html - if anyone wants some inspiration!

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  32. Thanks so much for the encouraging post, Leslie! Hope you have a super weekend! :)

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  33. After failed relationships and 'searching' for men with earnest intentions, I did not ever include God in those decisions. Well, leave it to my mom to set me up! I NEVER would have thought that my mom and his mom would have our pairing thought out. Of course, we really know God was the author of the story. Amazing how He really knows exactly what we need, huh?

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  34. So ready for the weather to really heat up so I can be on the lake every weekend. Funny thing, Justin Seymore told me he knew you this weekend. He had seen my blog and told me that a girl he grew up with has a blog too (and it was you!) Anywho he plays drums in one of my girl friends bands. Hope you have a great week!

    xx,

    Erin


    www.ashesoflaughter.com

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  35. What a sweet story - I never knew that's how the two of you met! I truly believe that everything happens for a reason and God works in mysterious ways... cheers to the two of you finding each other! XO

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  36. I love this post Leslie! A few months ago I ended a relationship which I thought would end in marriage... and the main reason was that I was losing myself in the relationship. I can honestly say that I am so happy with my life now (happier than I ever was with him) and my relationship with God, the most important relationship, has gotten a lot stronger! It's hard to give up the 'search' but it's been so worth it!
    And I actually found your blog through Kelly's and have enjoyed "getting to know you" from your posts. :)

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  37. I know this is an old post but I came across your blog today through a tweet about your engagement pictures. I love your blog obviously if I have read back this far :)

    I wanted to say THANK YOU! I needed to hear these words. I have been so discouraged lately. I feel like everyone else isn't single. Most of my friends are engaged, married or having babies. In that order of course. I have been on dating websites but they are just aweful. I never get a true good guy. But I am going to quit. Thank you so much! It is time to focus on me and being the best I can be. You are so encouraging and I can't wait to keep reading your blog.

    Congratulations on finding your Mr. Right :) Ya'll are truly a beautiful couple.

    btw the end of your post literally brought tears to my eyes. haha that is hard to do.

    Sara

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  38. Girl, yes.

    I love your story, but what you said about searching for Mr. Right is so true. I had broken up with a real winner (sarcasm) and had a lot of time with God when He told me not to worry, stop looking, and that I'd be perfectly fine if I was single forever. I believed it and I loved it.

    Honey, don't you know my husband and I started dating about a month later? All because He orchestrated it and changed my heart to believe that I would be just as happy with my life if I never married. He's amazing and I am so happy for your love!

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  39. Thank you so much for this blog post Leslie. I can't tell you how much I could relate to what you were saying as a single lady. I also believe God has someone for me so I am waiting on Him. Thanks for the encouragement to hold out for nothing but God's best. Blessings to you!

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