Introductions

Hello, Blogspot!


I love the variety of people I've invited to view this blog.  There are friends from work, old friends, new friends, people I know really well, and people I don't.  And as I was thinking about mostly the people who don't, I realized that you may not know much about me, either.  So here is the story of me and Dave.


I came to Hope Chapel Long Beach not really knowing what to expect.  I had, of course, gone to church a lot when I was a kid, but not really since I'd been an adult.  I walked into a very warm and welcoming atmosphere, settled into my seat, and noticed a very good looking man right in my line of site.  He was tall, muscular, and he had hair that fell into ringlets down his head.  I couldn't tell at the time, but I was later to look into the most beautiful blue eyes I had ever seen.  I couldn't help it.  I thought, "wow!" and then tried to focus on the message.  He was just very charismatic and attractive!  But honestly, I was in a not good place in my heart, and God was working on that.  I decided I would not go out of my way to meet him, and left it at that.


Monday night comes, and I am working up the courage to go to the singles Bible study.  I walked into Bible study, and there he was, stringing a guitar.  I sat down on the love seat (haha, just realized what that sounded like) and he was to my right on the couch.  Study hadn't started yet, and so not being a guitar player at that time, and with no one talking, I decided to open up and talk.  I said "What are you doing?"  And without looking at me, and with a very rough tone in his voice he said "Stringing a guitar." 


Being used to the sort of guy that was very interested in me, this was a strange phenomenon.  Here was this guy, and he was so rude! And he was being rude to mwah!  As I got to know him, the words that would best describe him to me would be rude, rough, and uncouth.  I had never met anyone so arrogant in my life.  Plus, he made me so uncomfortable, like there was something wrong with me.  Turns out, he was not so up on me, either!  What a shocker. ;-)


We ended up doing a lot of things together, mainly because we had to.  We were in a very small singles group, and therefore, we did everything together.  He drove me crazy every time I saw him.   I mean, this guy was like the most exasperating and frustrating guy I had ever met!  He challenged everything I said, no matter how benign it was.  I literally got to the point where I would cross the room to avoid him.  Not quite the sweet love story you were expecting, was it?  And the most frightening part about it was the moment I realized I actually had feelings for him. 


It had been a lovely day, just sitting there by the pool with my friend April.  I think I was complaining to her about how much he irritated me when suddenly there was a voice in my head.  I mean, I literally heard it say "He would not bother me so much if I didn't have feelings for him."  I tell you, it was as if someone had punched me in the stomach. Or opened a veil.  Me?  Like him?  Oh no.  Oh crap.  NO!!!!!!!   I poured out my heart to God that night, pleading with Him to make it go away!  We were still having a lot of fights, he and I, and it scared me to think I could actually have feelings for him.


Then came the day my roomate, Wendy, suggested that we start praying for Dave.  We prayed faithfully for him every night, and that God would change my heart and I would have sisterly love for him.  We prayed I would care about his welfare and his life.  I tried really hard during that time to deny how I felt about him but oddly (she said, facetiously,)  my feelings just got stronger!  And the prayer did work.   We actually started being able to hang out without being so contentious with each other. S-l-o-w-l-y we started becoming real friends.  Our gang of singles hung out every Sunday, and not too long after that we started hanging out together, just the two of us.  He would bring over breakfast items and we'd cook them together and then hang out after church together as well. 


One day while we were hanging out and watching back-to-back episodes of Hart to Hart, he kissed me.  I felt crazy happy and then repulsed because you know, he was my friend!  You don't kiss your friends! But, in that moment,  he became much more than my friend.  He became my BEST friend.  We did everything together.  He used to come over and we'd pray on the church steps by my apartment.  We walked around Balboa peninsula.  We had lovely conversations about our future.  I couldn't believe we actually were dating, and I was extremely happy. 


Then, on November 13th we were outside on those same steps.  He looked at me and said "Will you be my wife?"  With absolutely no hesitation I said "yes."  :-)  For me, it was perfect.  So spontaneous, so heartfelt.  We sat there and cuddled into the we hours of the morning, marveling at what God had been able to do to bring us together.


Remembering those times makes me feel so good, because after 20  years we've gone a full circle and feel that same way about each other.  The way we felt that day he proposed.  Because you see, life has not been easy.  There were many times when we could have decided to call it quits because of our stubborn and prideful personalities, and because of the devastating trials we endured.  But we didn't.  We allowed God to teach us about real love.  The kind of love where you don't love each other in your own strength, but you love in God's strength.  We learned to be patient, and kind.  We learned not to take into account a wrong suffered.   We learned to trust each other with every fiber of our beings.  We came to a gentle place, full of that newlywed kind of mushiness.  Oh, we can still throw it down like we're challenging for the heavyweight title, believe me.  But there is a long suffering there that wasn't there before.  A willingness to give more and more grace.  A tenderness learned at the altar of humility, doing what's right because Jesus said to. 


Dave + Jeanne = TLA.  ;-)