When You Love Someone...

(I will warn you, this is a longer post, one that I hope you will enjoy reading, but it is a bit lengthy, so bear with me.)

It's amazing how God works most of the time. It seems as though the moment you give up on something you had hoped and dreamed for, He opens the door, or brings something even better to you. I can only imagine what our Lord would be doing up in the heavens, perhaps chuckling to Himself saying, "Oh my child, you have no idea the bounty of blessings I have in store for you..."

I had reached this point of bitterness and hopelessness this time last year. I had given up on being in love happening for a long time, if ever, with a bad ending to a previous relationship just months before.

It was a few months previous to graduating college that I met Andrew.

I don't even remember the exact moment we met. He had just moved into town from an hour south of Chicago at the end of October, because of a job opportunity that he had taken with the health department down here. He had family that went to the same church as my family and me, so I'm assuming he came with them. He was quiet those first few times, and maybe that's why I don't remember much of meeting him. All I can remember was before the worship service on one of those first few Sundays, he came to sit next to me and commented, "Yay, I get to sit next to the music major that can actually sing!" (He claims he said some discouraging things to me about finding a job after college, but I never remembered him ever saying that.)

I didn't think much about him really, to be honest. I was focused on graduating college in December that I barely had time to think about anything else. When January came, I thought to myself, "I should start getting more involved in my church," also at the encouragement of my mentor, Michelle. Our college & career group had decided to meet together once a week at Denny's on Thursday evenings to discuss the previous Sunday's sermon. Unfortunately for me, I worked on Thursday nights so I wasn't able to attend the first few meetings. After some convincing, we switched it to Friday nights so I would be able to come. My first time going was actually the meeting where I lead the discussion. The previous Sunday's sermon was on purity, and it was a topic I thoroughly enjoyed discussing. I had asked Andrew casually after church that Sunday what format of discussion they had been doing, and if I would be able to lead the discussion that Friday night. He nodded and added, "Hey, let's Skype Tuesday night, I'll be out of town, but I'll be free that evening to discuss what we've been doing so far." Skyping about leading discussion eventually led to another hour or two talking about life, beliefs, and more about who we were. Even at that point, I had no idea he had started to take an interest in me. He wasn't on my radar at all, so I didn't really pay attention.

Thus, it was a complete surprise to me when he asked me out in the Denny's parking lot the week before Valentine's day. I sat in my car for a minute after we parted ways, taking in everything. "Did that really just happen?" I kept saying to myself over and over again...

He had everything planned to a T for our date the next Friday evening. But when we reached our destination, it was not what he had planned and we ended up yelling at each other over the loud music and left with grumbling tummies. I was relieved when I realized that we were being spontaneous, making things up as we went. It made things less formal and more relaxing for me, and it was easier for me to open up. We ended the night at Mama Carmen's with cups of coffee in hand. As I was relating to him some emotional things I had been through, he reached and grabbed my hand, stroking it with his thumb, with the most tender look in his eyes. It was at that point that I realized that there was more to come with him, that a great adventure was beginning.

And my greatest adventure did begin that night: in a quiet coffee shop, with meaningful conversation.

He proposed to me 10 months later on December 22nd, in front of the Adler Planetarium in Chicago, right by Lake Michigan with the view of the Chicago skyline in the background. It was simple and perfect.

We have had a lot of people comment on the shortness of our engagement (which really is 5 months almost exactly). It's funny, because I've known several others to pull off a wedding in 2 months (bless you to those that can!) We both have been advised that the shorter the engagement, the better, for several reasons: 1. When you know, you know, so why wait? and 2. for the sake of physical/mental purity. We want to honor God with our relationship as much as we can, and purity has always been important to us in our relationship. We want to be able to look back on our dating/engagement days and not only NOT regret things we did, but more importantly be able to glorify and thank God for the work He accomplished in us by enabling us to wait and to grow together in a deeper and more meaningful way in our days leading up to marriage.

I knew I was in love with Andrew only a month after dating him, and not too far after that I realized that he was the one I had been waiting for my whole life, the one I had prayed for, the one I weeped into my pillow at night despairing over.

His patience with me is incredible. I could never deserve him in a million lifetimes. His laughter is infectious, his heart pure gold. His love for the Lord is growing every day (I'm blessed to be able to witness this growth and growing love for God), and his leadership in our relationship is so admirable. He buys me flowers for no reason. He is the best hugger. (I could go on, but we would be here even longer...) He is without a doubt the one I want to spend the rest of my life with. Luckily for me, I get to do just that. :)

Andrew Michael Sova, I love you with all my heart. I thank God for you every day, and I cannot wait to marry you in a few months!