Devotionals for the Heart: A Proposal, An Engagement Ring and Eternity

Holy Engagement
A devotional by Amanda Wen

“The Spirit is God’s guarantee that he will give us the inheritance he promised and that he has purchased us to be his own people. He did this so we would praise and glorify him.” 

–Ephesians 1:14 (NLT)

Tomorrow, my husband and I will celebrate our 14th wedding anniversary. It’s hard to believe we’ve been married that long; it seems like only yesterday I was floating down the aisle toward his smiling face, secure in his love and confident that God had prepared both of us for exactly this moment.

That moment, though, wouldn’t have happened without another, equally precious moment: the night he proposed to me. New Year’s Eve, 2004, he dropped to one knee and asked me to be his wife, a question that garnered an immediate and enthusiastic “Yes!” from me. As a symbol of his promise to marry me, and my commitment to marry him, he gave me a gorgeous diamond ring (my engagement ring)!

That ring’s presence on my finger didn’t mean we were married. We still lived separately. Still reserved certain activities for after the wedding. I still had my maiden name. But that sparkle on my left hand meant I was spoken for. I was committed. It meant that I had promised my husband-to-be that I would be his forever. We were already committed, but not yet married. It was sweet to be engaged…but the sweetness wasn’t complete until we made our vows and became one flesh in the eyes of the law and of God.

It is this already-but-not-yet tension in which we believers find ourselves. From the moment we trust Jesus’ sacrifice for our salvation, we receive the Holy Spirit. Jesus’ presence dwelling within us, working to guide us, to teach us, to be the voice that whispers, “This is the way. Walk in it.” His presence actively molds our character to be more like His. 

Having God’s presence inside me is sweet indeed… but it isn’t complete because I am not yet perfected into the image of Christ. I do not yet stand face to face with Him. The Groom has not yet returned to Earth for his Bride, the Church. We are not yet enjoying the wedding feast with Him in a new eternity free from sin and death.

However, The Holy Spirit’s presence within us is a deposit. It is a guarantee from God Himself that one day we will be with Him in perfect union. One day, He will come back for us, gather us to Himself, and take us to the perfect home He has created for us. One day, the Bride of Christ will walk down that aisle toward Jesus’ smiling face.

In a sense, the Holy Spirit is our engagement ring.

So when we doubt, when we wonder if God’s promises are true, when we wonder if God even cares about us at all, we merely need to look within, to the sparkle of the Spirit’s presence, to know that the answer is “Yes!” He does care about us. He loves us. He sees us. He knows us. 

And He chose us to be His Bride! Saying "Yes" to God commences a marriage that starts on Earth and carries on throughout the ceaseless ages of eternity after Jesus Christ returns to take you home to Heaven. It's the perfect union filled with promise, hope and endless love.

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Author Bio:

Amanda Wen is an award-winning writer of contemporary inspirational romance and split-time women’s fiction. 

A first place winner in the 2017 Indiana Golden Opportunity Contest, she also placed first in the 2017 Phoenix Rattler Contest, the 2017 Great Expectations Contest, and the 2016 ACFW First Impressions Contest, among others. In addition, she was a finalist in the 2018 ACFW Genesis Contest.

Amanda is a member of the American Christian Fiction Writers (ACFW) and regularly contributes author interviews for their Fiction Finder feature. She’s also been spotted onstage with the worship team at recent ACFW conferences. Amanda is represented by Tamela Hancock Murray of the Steve Laube Agency.

In addition to her writing, Amanda maintains an active and rewarding career as a freelance cellist, frequently performing with symphony orchestras, string quartets, and her church’s worship team. She lives in the Midwest with her amazing husband and their three adorable and hilarious Wenlets.

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Connect with Amanda:
Facebook: www.facebook.com/authoramandawen
Twitter: www.twitter.com/authoramandawen
Instagram: www.instagram.com/authoramandawen
Website: www.amandawen.com

True Love Stories: Complement - "something that completes or makes perfect"

The story of The Taylors is so beautiful that when reading it, you just may cry! Tears of joy may cascade down your face as you learn secondhand of how beautiful a love story can be when you allow God to write it! Only God can bring together two people who perfectly complement each other in every sense of the word. 

Okay, so you may not experience waterworks when you read this story but you most definitely will smile as you read the journey Jared Taylor took to the altar with his wife Vanessa. You will learn the value of patience as a virtue and you will be reminded that friendship first with Jesus Christ as the cornerstone is the foundation that helps romantic relationships last and flourish. 

So go ahead, pick up a box of Klennex (just in case you cry) and be prepared to believe in true love again as you read how God brought a "French Girl" known for her beauty and love for God, together with a man with a passion for Jesus Christ, who was raised in the home of his heritage, Trinidad.

Yes, the story is THAT good. 

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Complement- "something that completes or makes perfect"

Jared and Vanessa Taylor's true love story

I met her in college--an exotic beauty. The “French Girl” we called her. We were friendly but not friends. At the time she had a boyfriend whom she seemed really into, plus I had other interests, including her roommate.

Fast forward a few years to the heyday of the social networking site Hi 5! I stumbled across “The French Girl’s” profile and sent her a friend request. Surprisingly she accepted. Turned out there was an attraction on her side as well. We exchanged numbers but our conversations were off and on.

Shortly thereafter “The French Girl” whose real name is Vanessa, completed grad school at Andrews University in Berrien Springs, Michigan and moved to Maryland. We hung out from time to time, even dated occasionally but we both had other things going on so we never became more than friends. However we became close, confiding in each other, encouraging and supporting one another.

The first time the idea of Vanessa being more than just a friend happened was in October 2010. I had received some disturbing news one Friday evening and I called to share it with her. She dropped what she was doing, came over to my apartment, prayed with me…and just held me. I’ve had people pray for me before, but there was something different about the way this chick spoke to God. Where most people seem to be detached and formal, she seemed way more intimate and familiar; like He was someone she really knew as a real person and not an abstract concept. It was a breath of fresh air! I took notice and thought to myself, “That’s what I’d want in a wife!” Then the moment quickly passed and life continued on as normal…for a few months.

In January 2011 I enrolled in a Master of Arts in Youth Ministry Leadership Program and was required to attend an “intensive” session in Daytona, Florida. On the 12 hour drive home, my friend Keith included me in an email to his friends with a YouTube link to a sermon series by Pastor Henry Wright entitled “The Holy Spirit a& Choosing A Mate.” I listened to pass the time and found it enlightening. I wasn’t actively looking to get married, but I was looking to give my attention fully to a single individual and I found this sermon helpful in evaluating my options, which at the time didn’t include Vanessa.

The end of that semester found me having to conduct surveys for a project on how people viewed God. Vanessa was one of the persons willing to be interviewed. We made plans to go to the movies and decided to meet early to knock the interview out before other people came to the theatre. As I recorded Vanessa’s responses I had several of those “That’s what I’d want in a wife!” moments. We ended the interview, watched the movie and went our separate ways, but unlike the first time, the moment didn’t pass. My curiosity was piqued. I purposed in my heart to take a closer more intentional look into Vanessa and see what she was all about. So I began using her love of food to create opportunities for my investigative endeavor!

When I left Trinidad to return to the United States in 2004, I had a firm grasp on where I believed God was taking me and what he wanted for me. Listening to Pastor Wright's presentation in 2010 helped me get a clearer picture of what a complement to that would look like. To my very pleasant surprise…in 2011, it looked like Vanessa. I recognized it pretty quickly but took time to do my due diligence, spending time in prayer, just to be sure.

I shared my intentions with Vanessa but she wasn’t really feeling it. We were cool, but she wasn’t feeling me like that. Yet, she didn’t say no! In that moment I saw a glimpse of God’s love for me, the certainty of His love and His continual demonstration of that love despite my reluctance to fully accept it. I determined to mirror the love I received from Him in my interactions with her, until she made a decision one way or the other! It wasn’t easy being around while she explored her options. It wasn’t fun being referred to as vegetables (the stuff that you know is good for you) as opposed to Fritters (a favorite food that excites). 

However God kept on loving me and likewise I continued to demonstrate my love for Vanessa, until eventually she returned the love I showed. On December 1st, 2011 I proposed to her and she said "yes". On May 27, 2012 we were married. 

We thank God every day for the opportunity to experience His love in such a marked way and desire to share it with everyone with whom we come in contact!

~*~
Author bio: Jared Renaud Taylor is a graduate of the Huntington University Masters of Youth Ministry Leadership program. He also holds a Bachelor degree in Computer Information Systems from Andrews University.

Jared is the author of New Lenses: How I Met Jesus on MTV. He is also the creator, producer and host of Water For The Thirsty, an online web series which facilitates daily personal devotion and Bible study.

Currently Jared works at CGI Federal as an IT Support Specialist.

Jared has two charming sons, and lives in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area with his wife Vanessa, whom he loves dearly.

True Love Stories: Long Distance Love

They say long distance love relationships don't work. 

Max and Claudia's true love story proves the critics wrong.

Read how this couple made it work...

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Long Distance Love
Max Elliot Anderson's true love story

Some couples talk about their long distance relationships, but we took the concept to a whole different level.

I met my girlfriend early in the summer that year while working in my father’s film production company. She came from Virginia to work at a nearby Christian conference grounds for the summer.

We actually met, for the first time, on a movie set. Claudia, and a number of other summer workers, had come to the studio to sit in a restaurant set as background extras.

As the season continued, Claudia and I were together as often as our work schedules permitted. It was not long before our love grew.

At the end of the summer, I drove her back home to Virginia so I could meet her family. In September of that year, my draft board sent me a “Greetings” letter, and I was inducted into the U.S. Army soon after. To complicate matters, this also happened to be right at the height of the Vietnam War. But after a few months on a post in Washington, I was reassigned to Germany.

It’s important to note that our relationship developed before the time of cell phones, computers, or any of the other communications methods young couples have available today. We had to rely on phone calls and letters. But, before I left for the army, I bought two small recorders. Ours were reel-to-reel tape machines. They enabled us to send recordings to each other, in the mail, which helped keep a more human connection between us.

Claudia and I had talked about getting married, but it didn’t make sense because there was always an uncertainty that I might be sent to a war zone.

My father’s film production work required him to travel the world. I knew he had a trip scheduled to Brazil for business. He also had a contact there who specialized in diamonds.

“I can get you a really nice one for a great price,” he told me. Before I was sent to Germany, I picked out a setting, but hadn’t seen the stone yet.

Off I went to Germany where my assignment landed me in an armored battalion. My first job was as the loader on a tank. The funny thing is, I’m a little over 6’ 4” tall. That meant, when I stood straight up, I could see out of the loader’s hatch when it was open.

Later my dad made the Brazilian trip and my new diamond was placed into the setting I had previously selected. I’d also asked Claudia’s father for permission to marry his daughter when I visited them a second time in Virginia.

“Yes,” he said, and promised to keep it a secret.

It turned out to be a good thing I’d had a typing class in high school. While in basic training, I took a typing test which showed how many words I could type per minute. As a result, my records indicated that a job I’d be qualified for was a company clerk. Not long after arriving in Germany, I heard that the clerk in my new unit would soon be returning to the states, so I put in for his job.

On a subsequent business trip, my parents later traveled to Europe and arranged to visit my base in Germany. There they were able to show me the finished engagement ring.

“It’s beautiful.” I said. The diamond sparkled in the early morning sun, and the setting looked perfect.

“What do we do next?” my mother asked.

“When you get back home,” I said, “mail it to Claudia. Be sure to include instruction not to open it until I call her, and I’ll tell her the same thing.”

About two weeks later, after I knew for sure the ring had arrived, I called and asked her to open the package while I was on the phone. I heard a scream as the phone dropped. She picked it up again but could hardly speak.

That’s when I asked, “Would you be my wife?”

The tears and excited screaming on the other end of the line told me she had accepted. We were engaged, over the phone, by long distance, with an ocean between us.

We decided I would return home on leave a few months later and we were married one year earlier than we had originally planned, allowing us to start our life together in Europe for the first year of our marriage. And because I had been promoted to the clerk’s position, I had a fairly normal office job for the rest of my time in Germany. We rented the off-base apartment, bought a very old Volkswagen Beetle, spent our first Christmas together, and traveled around Europe.

Looking back, we’re both amazed at the way God brought us together and how He has kept us together through forty-seven anniversaries since then.

~*~
Author bio: Max Elliot Anderson grew up as a struggling reader. After surveying the market, he sensed the need for action-adventures and mysteries for readers age 8-13, especially boys. 

Using his extensive experience in the production of dramatic motion pictures, videos, and television commercials, Mr. Anderson brings that same visual excitement and heart-pounding action to his stories. His books include different characters, setting, and plot as well as two series.

Ten middle grade books are published, sixteen more are under contract, with several additional manuscripts completed. Young readers have reported that reading one of his books is like actually being in an exciting movie.

Connect with Max: 

Books for Boys blog - http://booksandboys.blogspot.com 

Author website - http://www.maxbooks.9k.com/index_1.html

YouTube Channel - http://www.youtube.com/user/Maxbooks100?feature=watch

True Love Stories: I Was Blind But Now I See

"Love at First Sight" apparently not only happens in real-life, it lasts for a lifetime! Such is the story of Ginger Marcinkowski who knew she loved her now husband from the moment their eyes locked. 

God works in mysterious ways-- a saying that rings true for most things in life. But who would have thought that God would bring two people--an American soldier and a rebellious teenager hitchhiking across Europe with her best friend--together at the famous Hofbrauhaus in Munich, GERMANY?

And who knew that after only two days of dating, a marriage proposal would happen? God works in mysterious ways indeed. 

Read on to find out how in Ginger's true love story...

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I Was Blind But Now I See

Ginger Marcinkowski's true love story

An old man kneeled at the foot of a featherbed crowded with children and quietly prayed. He knew their lives were filled with the pain of an alcoholic and abusive father and a rebellious mother. With his voice just above a whisper he asked God to direct the lives of those children and someday provide them with spouses who had hearts for the Lord. I was one of those children and the old man was my grandfather. 

At the age of 17, my best friend and I, both unsaved and rebellious, boarded a Freddie Laker airplane and departed for Scotland where we spent several months hitchhiking across Europe. More than one time, we found ourselves in dangerous situations, but God’s hand was upon us. Late on August 4, 1971, we sat in a Rome train station trying desperately to panhandle enough money to get to Munich, Germany, where money from home awaited. I tried to sell my graduation watch to passing tourists, but no one spoke English. We sat in the cold terminal, lonely and discouraged. Moments later, a woman who’d been watching our dilemma finally spoke. “Girls,” she said in perfect English. “What do you need?” Excitedly, we explained our situation. Without hesitation, she gave us the needed money and promised to pray for us.

Our next day arrival into Munich gave us reason to celebrate. It was my eighteenth birthday. We cleaned up at our youth hostel and departed for a night on the town at the famous Hofbrahaus. As we cautiously stepped inside the doors of the local meeting place, hoots and hollers of joyous patrons filled the air. The sweet smell of bratwurst and hops permeated every corner of the building.

“Hey!” My head swung around in time to catch the wide smile of a uniformed soldier. “American girls!” Another soldier was standing on the table waving his arms. “Over here.” Too young and foolish to refuse, we made our way to the long wooden table where eleven soldiers stood politely, each eager to find a place beside two girls from their homeland. I squeezed in between two of the young men, when one of them exclaimed that the seat next to me belonged to another soldier who had gone to the rest room. We talked and laughed for a few minutes, sharing news of where we were from and what we were doing in Germany.

Signaling my friend that it was time for a powder room break, we excused ourselves and rushed toward the back of the building. As we rounded the corner, I almost bumped into the backside of a soldier bent over a cigarette machine. I gasped and then giggled, poking my friend in the side. “That’s the man I’m going to marry,” I said. The soldier stood and turned around. Our eyes locked and in that one moment, I knew I loved him. Two days later, under the clearest star-studded sky I’d ever seen, he asked me to marry him. 

It’s been forty-three years now. I reflect continually on how the prayers of my grandfather and the grace of God worked to bring us together. Without the kindness of a stranger in that Rome train station, I might never have met the man I so love. Had it not been my birthday, I might have never gone to that restaurant. Had it been any other day, my husband’s Special Forces team would not have been in Munich.

I didn’t come to know the Lord until my late twenties. My husband’s salvation came years later. For thirty-nine years, we never fully recognized how God’s hand had brought us together. Even as Christians, we failed each other so many times in ways that would tear most marriages apart. Forgiveness was difficult and trust elusive. Through it all, God gave us a reason to hang on. Finally, as we fully submitted ourselves to God, we came to recognize His plan for our marriage.

Looking at my precious husband today, I see the true beauty of God’s hand on our lives. Drifting into retirement, our hearts are again as joyous as when we were newlyweds. God brought us full circle so that we’d recognize the promise we made to each other even before knowing Him as our Savior. He made us realize that His hand was on that special moment we first met. It was He who directed every scene to draw us fully into the blessings He has given us today.

Now, when night arrives, my husband and I sneak into our visiting grandson’s bedroom and kneel at the foot of his bed to pray for the Christian woman he will marry some day. As we rise, he kisses me gently as a reminder that someone prayed for us.

~*~
Author Bio: Ginger Marcinkowski is the author of newly released, The Button Legacy: Emily’s Inheritance, a story of one man’s legacy of faith, told through buttons, and widely acclaimed Run, River Currents. She currently writes a monthly column for Book Fun Magazine which boasts over 400,000 subscribers.

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Buy Ginger's books: 

Click here to purchase Run, River Currents 

Click here to purchase The Button Legacy: Emily's Inheritance 

Connect with Ginger: 

Email: grm55@yahoo.com

Blog: http://gingermarcinkowski.wordpress.com/blog/ 

Facebook Author Page

Website: http:///www.gingermarcinkowski.com

Twitter: @grm55grm