The Boy, the Kiss, Another Tree, and a Proposal

I became physically sick and anxious about my whole life, and ended up with a high fever and stomach pain. My mom, the nurse, suggested I take time off from teaching and come home to get better. She had just remarried and moved to Santa Barbara where her new husband worked at Westmont College. 

Westmont College also just happened to be where that boy Bill was going to school. Here we were, many months later and halfway across the country, both in the same town, unplanned by us. 

After a few days, the doctor thought it best to admit me to the hospital for further testing. He put me in an ambulatory ward so I could leave the room and the building for brief periods with family or friends. My mom let Bill know where I was and he began showing up at my hospital room … every day ... with flowers. Different flowers every day.

Now you might remember from my account of summers in Oklahoma that Bill was rather different than what I had imagined I wanted in a husband. I was about to have my perspective dramatically and permanently reoriented. He would sit and talk with me, walk me in the sunshine outside, and just listen to my heart and share his. Every day for three weeks he kept coming.

One day, we walked to a nearby park. We found a tree to climb and sit in and again talked seriously about life. Somewhere in the talking came the first kiss ... and the proposal. It all happened so very fast and was so very unexpected. But after those three weeks in Santa Barbara we were engaged ... and married three months later. (In this drawing you can see where the proposal happened. The branch was really a low branch, but I love Ethan’s picture below anyway!)

So God reached into my heart to heal me and gave me His biggest gift since Jesus--someone else who loved me when I didn't deserve to be loved, someone else who would protect me all my days and love me more than my human heart craved. He gave me a man with whom I would spend my life, one that I needed if I were to do His will on earth: His biggest provision, my husband Bill.

During this time and forever after, Bill loved me, accepted me and even when he saw my broken box, he loved me and believed in me. More than all that, He saw the good that God had put in me and rejoiced that I would be his. From him I learned of the Father's love for the bride, and for the prodigal son. And in the years that have followed, I continue to learn from Bill of the constancy of the Father's love--ever caring, providing and loving.

2 songs describe this season: Oh, the Deep, Deep Love of Jesus (starts at 1;07) and Amazing Grace

Exodus 34:6-7: “The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands,and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin."