Part 3.....The True and the Real

I promised to tell you how God spoke to Gene in our courtship and today seems to be a good day to do that.
We have figured it back as best we can and we believe it was the exact same day that God so clearly spoke to me and told me Gene Adkins was going to date me, that God also spoke to Gene.

We had both been attending Living Stones Church for about 3 years.  I remember him going forward and the body of Christ ministering when he lost his grandmother.  She was one of the few other Christians in his family.  His cousin was one other and had encouraged him to come with her family to fellowship at Living Stones.  Thanks Abby and Russ!

This particular day, two weeks before Thanksgiving, God spoke to each of our hearts.  He told Gene to ask me out but Gene told God that I would never agree to go out with him, after all I had a college education and he was, well, nothing but a soldier.  A soldier working in a printing business.  A nothing.  It took Gene 3 weeks of hearing what he was to do before he acted upon it and finally he made a decision.  He would ask me out -- one time.  If I said no, he would buy and horse and forget about relationships.  He had had one relationship and one additional date both of which had not worked out and he is not much of a risk taker.

So he mustered all his courage and asked if he could carry me to English's.  I have always thought the Eastern Shore peculiarity of "carry you" meaning "take you to" was very "funny" but this time I didn't laugh, I was delighted and instantly,  in.....stant......ly the words spoken in my heart 3 weeks earlier came rushing back.  I knew right away I should accept and quickly made adjustments in my plan for the day.

After that day where we were together all day, several days passed without hearing from Gene.  Wednesday, he called to ask if he could wax and buff my car.  It was November and he had been reaching out to the single women in the church to help them with a task he does very well to prepare their cars for winter weather.  I gratefully accepted and Saturday, the arranged day, with  hidden excitement got my gear together to go swim at the YMCA and arranged to have Gene drop me off at the Y and take my car to his house to the work he wanted to do.  I arrived at his house and we got to talking and he got to waxing and I never did go to the Y that day!  When the car was done he confessed his desire to begin a relationship with me and I suggested he ask Pastor Dick who had known both of us for several years and had had many private discussions with each of us.  We went to Pastor Dick's home [my father had died many years earlier and I looked to Pastor as my father figure]  and I waited in the kitchen while Gene talked privately with him.  Finally they came out and Pastor spoke with both of us on the "rules for dating" and gave us his blessing to see what God was going to develop between us.  Four months later Pastor Dick officiated at our wedding!

Next time on the Real and the True, I tell you about the first meeting of Gene and my family, and the movie we  watched or maybe the planting of the Christmas tree or maybe his marriage proposal at the traffic light and then there is the story of what happened down by the pond after we were married.  Good Stuff!

I am thankful ...every day!.