“He will
send his angel ahead of you, and he will see to it that you find a wife there
for my son.” Gen. 24:7
One day there was a beautiful girl who lived a pretty
mundane existence. She dreamed of the
day a wonderful man would enter her life and sweep her off her feet. She was
old enough for marriage, she was still a virgin, but there were no worthy men
in her town. The highlight of her day
was drawing water at the well.
She was a good girl.
But where were all the good men?
On one ordinary day (or so she thought), she set out to
fulfill her ordinary duties, just like she did every other ordinary day. She put her heavy water jug on her shoulder
and made the uneventful, arduous trek to the nearby well. A stranger was at the well, and he was
staring at her.
The man approached her and asked her for some water. She noticed the man was traveling with ten
loaded-down camels. The man looked
exhausted, like he’d come a great distance.
She was a little shocked at the offer that came out of her
mouth, “Yes, my Lord, have a drink. I'll draw water for your
camels, too, until they’ve had enough to drink."
Her
name was Rebekah.
She
had no idea she’d just said the very words the stranger prayed to hear.
You
know how the story ends. The man,
Abraham’s servant, brings her back and introduces her to his master’s son,
Isaac. Rebekah and Isaac would
marry. She would be the mother of Jacob,
who later became Israel.
Rebekah
shows us the lengths God will go to, to make sure you end up with the right
guy. It’s easy to pass over some of the
details in the story, but let’s review to see just how many things had to line
up for Rebekah to get her guy:
·
Abraham’s servant was willing to go to a “distant land”, via camel-back,
to find a girl from the family of Abraham.
Tall order, considering he had no GPS, address, phone #--just the name
of a family and a town.
·
The servant would need to convince the girl to leave her family, move so
far away she would likely never see
them again, and marry a man she’d never met.
·
The servant was not allowed to bring Isaac, the future groom, with him
to help with the selection process (no pressure or anything!).
·
Rebekah had to be at the well at
the very time Abraham’s servant was there, and she had to offer to water his
camels.
·
Rebekah had to be willing to leave all she’d ever known to marry a man
she’d never met. And she only had one night to decide!
So
many things had to line up in order to make this marriage happen. But, with God all things are possible.
I’m
still amazed at the events God orchestrated in order for me to meet my husband,
Matt:
·
In 1983, Matt’s dad’s brand new car dealership failed, causing his dad
to look for a new job. (At the time, this looked like a disaster. But if it never happened, they wouldn’t have
3 awesome grandchildren today—Chase, Skye & Ryder!)
·
Soon after, his dad found a great job in Texas; unfortunately, it would
require that Matt change schools his senior year. This led to a very unhappy Matt! (Matt was
given the option to stay and live with his grandparents his senior year, but in
the end he knew it would break his mom’s heart. So, he made the right choice
and moved—and he met me!)
·
His mom and dad, after making the move to Texas, needed to find a
church. After much prayer and many, many
visits to various churches, they discovered the church my dad pastored, Bethel
Temple. One Sunday, my dad introduced me
to a very tall, skinny, and super cute 17-year-old guy named Matt Stewart.
And
the rest is history.
Ladies,
God will go to great lengths to make sure you meet your man. If you’re already married, you know that’s
true. If you’re not married yet, and
that’s the desire of your heart, then take some lessons from Rebekah:
·
Be faithful right where you are. Keep
doing those ordinary, mundane tasks.
While you’re going about your business, God can bring the guy right to
you! God is in the business of divine set-ups! (Gen. 24:7)
·
Choose a pure lifestyle while you’re waiting. (Gen. 24:16)
·
If this new relationship requires great change, trust the advice of your
family. (Gen. 24:50, 51)
·
Trust God when the door opens. Be willing to leave your old life behind
to embrace the new. (Gen. 24:58)
I
can’t wait to hear your “How I Met My Guy” story one day! And that day is
coming!
