Shannon here: Betty Woods shares how she met her husband, plus a chance to win a copy of her Contemporary Romance, A Mother for His Son. Comment or answer the question in this post to enter the drawing for a print copy, US only. Deadline: July 23rd, 11:59 pm central time. Here’s Betty:
When God says our ways are not his ways, he sometimes proves it in ways we never thought he would.
I didn’t expect to meet my future husband six days after I told God I’d like a Christian boyfriend. With a strong emphasis on the friend part. Only months after going through a painful broken engagement because of an unfaithful fiancé, I had no desire for a serious relationship. All I wanted was friend to talk to and have fun with who shared my values.
Enter a dear friend, Bobby, who was a soldier stationed at Fort Hood Army Base about 115 miles from my home. He’d asked a few weeks earlier if he could bring a new guy with him the next time he came home. I agreed as long as everyone involved understood I wasn’t interested in any kind of romantic relationship. Bobby assured me that Craig’s main interest in coming was for Christian fellowship.
Memorial Day weekend turned out to be the next time Bobby could get away from the base. He told me his friend, Craig, was coming too and they would be in town Saturday afternoon. I had plans to be at a city park with our college group at church. Bobby said he and Craig would meet us there. So far so good with my idea for only friendship.
Craig drove up to the park in an eye-catching lime green 1970 Dodge Challenger. I was duly unimpressed since I wasn’t a muscle car fan. My girlfriends immediately noticed the car and the cute guy driving. Fantastic. If Craig happened to be looking for a serious girlfriend, he’d have several options without focusing on me. Plus, we were playing touch football when he drove up, and I’d been going out for a pass. Another great way to unimpress a guy.
Bobby introduced Craig specifically to me, but with so many people around I wasn’t concerned about anything going wrong with how God was answering my friends-only prayer. Church on Sunday would be fine since we’d be with a lot of people there.
Except that evening after I went home, plans changed. Bobby called my parents who were like surrogate parents to all my friends, asking for a huge favor. The people who had said they’d give Craig a place to stay had something unexpected come up. Would my parents be okay taking in a lonely GI with no place to stay? My mom and dad offered their couch for him to sleep on since Craig was Bobby’s friend.
Sunday went mostly as planned. With so many friends at church, I didn’t have much time alone with Craig. He’d heard about Six Flags Over Texas and asked if I’d like to go there Monday. Going to such a crowded place couldn’t be considered a date, so I said yes with the understanding that I’d pay for my ticket.
We had a great time on our first “date” since we both liked amusement parks, roller coasters and all. Standing in line for rides along with a crowd of other people meant our conversation didn’t get too deep or too personal. Plus, Craig wasn’t the talkative type.
That evening, my parents told Craig he’d be welcome to come back if he’d like to get away from Army life and enjoy going to a good church. Craig was a fairly new Christian, hungry for Christian friends and fellowship. He thanked them and said he’d be back.
True to his word, Craig came back. Every weekend but one until we married in March of 1974 the next year. The tentative friends-only relationship we each said we wanted quickly changed to love. We celebrated our forty-eighth anniversary this year.
Never underestimate God’s ways of answering a prayer. Maybe that’s one reason I had so much fun writing A Mother for His Son. God surprised Rachel and Mac with love neither of them expected to find.
Question for Readers: Has God ever surprised you by answering one of your prayers in a way you never expected?
About Betty: Betty Woods writes heartwarming romance with a Southern accent. She and her husband, Craig, share their Texas home with a spoiled Chihuahua. RV trips to small towns are one of her favorite ways to find new story ideas. Inspiration can strike while walking down a street, enjoying an out-of-the way restaurant or getting lost in a local museum or book store. Using her make-believe world to uplift or encourage someone brings her great joy. Learn more & connect:
Betty’s Website Betty’s Facebook Betty’s Twitter
About the book – A Mother for His Son:
A temporary home…or the start of happily-ever-after?
Back in the little town of Sunrise, Texas, to help her grandmother, Dallas chef Rachel Landry plans to use the time to heal her broken heart. She has no need to help handsome neighbor Mac Greer with his guest ranch. But her growing affection for his little boy could be just the push she needs to once again see the possibility of something more…
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A Mother for His Son Betty’s Books
Come back July 15th for Kelly Irvin!
I have a similar story about meeting my husband. I was a single mom of 2, totally not interested in a relationship. Did not plan to ever remarry, been there, done that, it was painful. My plan was to meet Christian men who I felt would be good role models to my children and who would be good influences for them. Tony and his roommate showed up at church one Sunday, both were in the Air Force and were looking for Christian friends. He and his roommate sat with my best friend and I that Sunday and went out after church to eat. That started an every weekend get together with dinner and Blockbuster rentals. Met 1 Nov, first date 4 Dec, met his family in May and married 1 Oct (11 months to the day that we met!) We will celebrate 34 years together soon!
Yes! It seemed so impossible I hadn’t even thought to pray about it. My I do family genealogy research. I wanted to know more about my mom’s side before my grandfather. I had no idea where to go for that info. I had no names or dated before him. ( I also knew we had cousins somewhere.)About five or six years ago my brother started going to Armenia to humanitarian irk for a couple months every summer.
I had a few documents and things that were my grandfather’s. On his trip about three years ago he asked me send him what info I had. One was a letter written in Armenian to my grandfather back in the 1950’s from his brother. (He thought his brother had been massacred durning the Hamidian Massacres in the 1890’s. Both his parents had been massacred during that time!) My brother and his interpreter decided to start at the address on the envelope. Well, to his surprise our cousins are still living there! All these water years of not knowing this. But, I guess it wasn’t in God’s timing until then x See, it had been almost 100 years since the family lost contact.
Only God could do this even without prayer. It’s been fun (even long distance) getting to my cousins and learning more about family.
Thank You, Lord for answering a prayer I prayed for. You the my desire.
My husband and I met at Church.
We’ve been married 46 years, but only knew each other for 3 months.
Thanks for entering me in the giveaway.
I love that story… It’s shared so beautifully and makes me want to read your books.
It’s also a good reminder to me to wait on the Lord’s timing for love (if it will happen) and not worry or be in a rush for marriage to come or not come. God has a plan.
Yes, in so many ways God has answered prayers so much differently than expected. His ways are always better than anything I could come up with.
I have a winner! Abigail Harris won the drawing. I appreciate Betty for being my guest and everyone else for stopping by.