Some of you have seen this
coming for some time, for others this may come as quite a surprise... I am now
engaged to the love of my life, Lisa Sauer!
How God brought us
together
Lisa and I first met at the
end of February last year when she came to visit a friend at the Bible school
in England where I was studying. As she stayed there for several weeks, we were
able to get to know each other a little and also like each other. But neither
of us realised at that time that the interest was mutual. After Lisa left, we
communicated a little via Facebook, but when one message was not delivered,
both of us thought that the other was no longer interested. Besides that, I
didn't think I had much of a chance with her anyways as I was in England
training to serve God in Mexico and Lisa was studying in Germany. So there was no
more communication between us for the rest of the year...
But all the while, both of
us were hoping to find that special person to love and be loved by, a person
who loved Jesus above all else. I was praying that God would give me a wife who
would want to join me in serving God in Mexico. Unbeknownst to
me, Lisa's prayer to God regarding her desire for a future husband was that he
would be someone who wanted to serve God in a foreign country.
In recent years, there have
also been other young women who I was interested in, but those relationships
never came to anything. I never had a girlfriend. I knew that marriage was good
because it was instituted by God and I knew that He had given me a desire to be
married, but I could not understand why God never seemed to bring that person
into my life. I prayed earnestly to God that He might give me a wife and that
He would make me into a man after His own heart, a man who would be able to
love his wife “as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it.”
(Ephesians 5:25) I also prayed that God would take my desire for a wife away if
His plan was for me to remain single. As I got to know God better and as I
learned more about Him in the Bible during that time, He gave me an unshakeable
confidence in three of His wonderful attributes:
1) God is all-powerful and completely
sovereign.
“For with God nothing shall be impossible.” (Luke 1:37)
I
rested in the fact that it was not beyond God’s power to give me a wife. He was
completely in control of all things and could do so anytime and anyway He
pleased.
2) God is all-loving and completely
good.
“How excellent is thy lovingkindness, O God!” (Psalm 36:7)
I
rested in the fact that God loved me and desired my good. I had already
experienced His love and goodness to me in so many other areas and I knew that
He was hearing my prayers.
3) God is all-knowing and completely
wise.
“O
the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how
unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out!” (Romans 11:33)
I rested in the fact that God would answer my prayer in the way that was best
for me and that would give Him the most glory. In His wisdom, God would know
best why it would be better for me to wait. And if He did not intend for me to
marry, then I knew that He knew the reasons for that.
All in all, the more I
learned about God through His word and the experiences I was going through, the
more I learned I could trust Him, knowing that He would do and give me what was
best.
In the words of Charles
Simeon,
Infinite wisdom has
arranged the whole with infinite love; and infinite power enables me – to rest
upon that love. I am in a dear Father’s hands – all is secure. When I look to
Him, I see nothing but faithfulness – and immutability – and truth; and I have
the sweetest peace – I cannot have more peace.
As time went on, I believed
more and more that I would not marry before going to Mexico.
And I was content with that because I knew my God and I knew He loved me and
was sovereign over all of my life’s circumstances. I had placed all my hopes
and desires and my life into God’s hands.
And then, at the beginning
of this year, God showed me again just how sovereign and good and wise He truly
is…
On 16 January 2012, I
received an e-mail from Lisa in which she asked me if I could correct an
English paper she had to do for one of her classes. The paper was about Mexican
immigrants to the USA and she knew me as a native English speaker who was
preparing to go to Mexico. She had no other intentions or ulterior motives in
sending me that e-mail – just hoping to find someone to correct any spelling or
grammar mistakes in the paper.
Well, I was delighted to
hear from her after such a long time and, of course, very happy to help her
with her paper. It also then gave me the opportunity to ask her how she was
doing and what her future plans were etc. And so our communication became more
and more frequent and extensive and we learned more and more about each other
and found that we had a lot in common. I prayed that God would make it clear to
both of us if He intended to bring us together. And God answered prayer. Our
communication was very much focused on God and on what He was doing in our
lives. I also learned and was very pleased to hear about her interest in
having a part in bringing the gospel to other parts of the world. We quickly found out that we were interested in one another. During a
long phone conversation, in the early morning hours of 15 March, after much
prayer and with much nervousness on my part, I told her that I loved her and I was
pleased that God had answered my prayer and my declaration of love was well
received. What followed was a series of short visits – often only on weekends –
during our school year until Lisa came to my graduation on 19 July. Since that
day, we have enjoyed a time period of over a month in which we were able to spend
every day together, visiting family and friends in England and Germany and
celebrating our birthdays on 6 and 12 August.
Our engagement
After celebrating my
birthday at my mother’s house, we had arranged that the three of us would
travel down together to Lake Constance to celebrate Lisa’s birthday at her
parents’ house with her two older sisters and their families and her younger
brother. At the beginning of June, I had the opportunity to see Lisa’s parents
in private and ask them for her hand in marriage. I was so thankful to God to
receive their permission and their blessing.
On 11 August, the day
before Lisa’s birthday, I told her that I wanted to take her to Lake Constance
in the early morning of her birthday so that we could enjoy the sunrise
together. So we left the house at around 5.25 a.m. and we found a nice spot by
the lake. Before the sun had risen, at about 5.55 a.m. on 12/8/12, I asked Lisa
if she would marry me and she replied, “YES!!!” :-)
After I placed the ring on
her finger, we enjoyed the sunrise together, which was at about 6.15 a.m. We
were the happiest two people on earth in those moments.
When we returned to the
house for breakfast, we found the entrance decorated with flowers and the
family was ready to congratulate us. As it was Sunday, we went to church in the
morning and then also were very pleased to announce our engagement there.
We had a lovely afternoon
together with the family and then went out to the lake again in the evening
where we saw a beautiful sunset. What a special day this had been! We started
the day as an engaged couple watching the sunrise and ended it together with
our family watching the sunset.
We want to join the
Psalmist in saying,
Praise ye the LORD.
Praise, O ye servants of the LORD, praise the name of the LORD.
Blessed be the
name of the LORD from this time forth and for evermore.
From the rising of the
sun unto the going down of the same the LORD'S name is to be praised.
(Psalm
113:1-3)
Apart from giving thanks to
our family for making it such a special day, we want to thank and praise our
God, not only for that day, but for all that He has done for us and for how He
brought us together and how we can look forward to a life together with Jesus
in the centre.
This is the LORD'S doing;
it is marvellous in our eyes.
(Psalm 118:23)
