Marriage from A to Z

“Have you ever been set up by God?”

     There are some places that God wants us to go that we may not go voluntarily, some things that God wants us to hear that we might not listen to voluntarily and some things that God wants us to do that we might not sign up for but when God wants you to go some place, hear something or do something, He has a way of setting you up so that you can do exactly what He wants you to do.  Do I have any witnesses?  To be set up is to be put in a specified position or arrangement place.  I was apart of one of God’s setups last week, and I want to share it with you.

     Last weekend my husband and I went to a wedding in Baltimore, Maryland.  After the wedding, everyone proceeded out of the church to get into their cars and drive to the reception.  A few of my husband’s co-workers were attending this wedding with their wives or significant other.  As we were on our way to our truck, we spoke to one of his co-workers.  Two seconds later, his co-worker discovered that his car was not in the place where he parked.  His car was gone.  He had parked directly across the street from the church.  No, it couldn’t be gone.  No one believed it.  Was it towed?  None of the other cars were towed.  We later find out that it had been stolen.  Can you believe this? While everyone was enjoying the wedding, some one was outside stealing a car.  It was a Honda Accord and we were told that this is one of the number one cars stolen.

     Long story short, my husband I stayed with the co-worker and his lady friend, let’s just call them Tim and Tracey  (they were not married).  It seemed as if the police would never get there so we offered Tim and Tracey a seat in our truck.  My husband and Tim work together but he had never met Tracey, and I was meeting them both for the first time. Since Tim’s car was stolen and we spent about 2 hours in front of the church waiting for the police to come.  We all began to talk and that is when I realized that this was all a set up.

     You see Tim and Tracey were very good friends.  They were not from the area but both moved here for work.  Tim had a place here and then Tracey moved to the area.  They live together and Tracey shared that she was praying that they would soon get married.  Tim didn’t seem to be against the idea, he just needed some encouragement and some guidance on preparing for marriage.  So what better people to be stuck in the car with then William and Carolyn Tatem.  If you know us, we have a passion for marriage and marriage preparation.  We were able to have a good conversation with Tim and Tracey to encourage them to get counseling and pursue God’s wonderful institution.  We were also able to share the resources that are available at our church.

     By the way, the police finally arrived and we were able to make it to the wedding reception.  We took Tim and Tracey to the reception and then drove them home.  By the time that we arrived home, Tim called to thank us and said that the police had found his car.  It was not far from the church.  It appeared as if someone went joy riding and left it around the corner from the church with no damage.  So the conclusion to the whole matter is that God allowed this to happen to get Tim’s attention.   Tim and Tracey were stuck in the car with us for over 2 hours.  They could have been stuck with anyone else because there were other co-workers present.  However, God had us to be the ones to stay with them.  We were able to get to know each other, talk about marriage and the need to prepare.  Tim and Tracey were very receptive and are making preparations. Sometimes God will orchestrate a set up to get your attention.

Until next week . . .

Carolyn