In our last week of red light district ministry in Phuket three weeks ago, Lauren and I were prayer walking down Bangla Road together. As we walked past a packed western-styled bar, U2’s song “One Love” was blasting through their speaker system. I found this initially ironic, due to the setting: prostitutes, lady-boys, alcohol, and foreign men seemingly here for one purpose and one purpose alone.
While I know God was there amid all of this chaos, I could not help but ask myself, “Whatever happened to such a sacred thing as having ‘one love’?”
Lauren and I continued our prayer walk, but we were soon stopped by a friendly Nepalese tailor, by the name of Sue. We exchanged the usual pleasantries and she quickly asked if we were Christians. Lauren was beaming and I think I was as well, as we whole-heartedly responded in the affirmative. She then invited us into her shop and asked if we could pray for her.
On entering her shop, we met her brother and niece before being directed to baby blue couches and a fan to cool us off from the outside heat. We prayed for her and talked about our families and lives as well as our statuses of being single. Sue was surprised by this and even complemented us on our looks. We laughed and I explained that we wanted and chose to love thousands of people this year instead of just one. But, also, we both look forward to having “one love,” if you will.
“One love,” one day—in God’s timing, that is. Both Lauren and I look forward to being married one day and it has been insightful and encouraging to have a similarly-minded friend this year. I know that I have struggled with fear and worry about marriage in the past, but God has and continues to redeem this in my life. This is especially true when it comes to my friends who are strong Christian couples.
Little by little, through the great examples of God-focused marriages, I have come to realize that a healthy relationship is not only possible, but something I hope and (at times) long for. And more than this—but God knows about this hope of mine and as the loving Father that He is, He is preparing my future husband and I for each other and His kingdom.
I have been immensely encouraged in recent years to truly seek after God in all that I do. To—in a way—have God as my “one love” as I seek God’s will for my life, both now as I preach in Kenya and wherever He leads me on my return to the States in a few months.
