Just over seven years ago, I met Daniel. You know when you meet someone and being friends just makes sense? That was Daniel. He reminded me of my brothers and one of my friends from childhood, so I told him that, he was like, “okay, yeah sure!” and then we played a game called Drop 7 on my best friend Olivia’s iPod for a couple hours. We grew to become really good friends my freshman and sophomore year of high school. He helped me through a lot, we talked in all caps in every texting conversation we had, and we were there for one another through my boy troubles and his girl troubles. I told him many, many times that one day, he would find a girl who loved Jesus and would also love his taste in music and affinity for uncommon pets (honestly, that’s a bold thing to say, because he LOVES snakes). We talked about theology and life and committed to our future children calling each of us “Uncle Danio” and “Aunt Amy.”
That same summer, I met my high-school/college boyfriend who was friends with him. They had some previous relational things go down, so said boyfriend wasn’t super excited about me being friends with Daniel. I understood that, and because of that there were seasons where Daniel and I didn’t speak for a year or more at a time.
Though there was conflict, strain, and a lot of struggle, the Lord told me to hang on to Daniel. I tried to understand why and explain it, but it didn’t make sense to me at the time. I just knew that our friendship was important and that I really, really couldn’t let the friendship go. Though there were periods where our friendship was just check-ins every couple of years, Daniel was consistently full of grace and was an unendingly good friend.
My best friend, Olivia, was also dating a guy throughout high school and college. The three of us got along well, but I remember telling Olivia throughout those years that she deserved someone who loved her well, made her feel seen and valued, and pointed her to Christ.
One winter, the Lord really shook some things up. My engagement got broken off and Olivia and her boyfriend of six years broke up a while after. It was a rough, hard season for both of us. A while after my breakup, that same Drop 7 game came up on my phone and I reached out to Daniel for the first time in a year and a half. We picked up right where we had left off – talking in all caps about Jesus and my boy troubles.
During this time, I really struggled understanding why the Lord let me get engaged to someone – why He had let me spend six years of my life committed to spending my life with someone just to have it fall apart in what I felt was the worst timing.
And then Daniel, Olivia, and I started hanging out, and I started getting it. The Jesus-loving weirdos I had been assuring them they’d finally find were right there. But if it hadn’t been for the timing of it all, for my breakup to allow for the picking back up of my friendship with Daniel, and the timing of Olivia’s breakup, their relationship wouldn’t have happened. And I would go through it all many times over to see them together – they really make sense, y’all.
God definitely knew what needed to happen to prepare them for their life together, to prepare me to be their forever third-wheel, and to prepare me to see that God’s plans don’t always feel good in the moment, but they’re SO good. And now, because of His sovereignty through it all, I’m living the adventure of a lifetime, traveling and sharing Jesus, and my best friends in the world are engaged and getting married when I get home.
HOW GOOD AND SOVEREIGN IS OUR GOD?
