Marriage

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Heaven’s GPS is the perfect guidance system for your life! We followed it and became husband and wife.

GPS stands for God Personally Speaks. As only God can do, He orchestrated an amazingly complex and intertwined series of events so that we would meet each other and marry. Our story shows how much God loves and cares for His children as He guides their paths. He wants to communicate with us. And He reveals Himself to us in so many different ways.

As you read our story, you’ll recognize how God personally speaks to you when you activate your Heaven’s GPS System. Except for the two of us, all the names have been changed because of privacy concerns.

“Trust in the LORD with all your heart
And do not lean on your own understanding.”
Proverbs 3:5 (NASB)

• God speaks to us through natural events that change the course of our lives.

Quite a number of years ago, Joanie was engaged to a man named Lawrence. The wedding, scheduled for July 31, was less than a month away. During the Fourth of July holiday week, Joanie became very ill, experiencing a fever, chills, aches, nausea, and other symptoms associated with the flu. Yes, full-blown flu in the summertime! At one point, the doctor was ready to admit her to the hospital, but she was able to remain at home.

Because of the severity of her illness, the wedding had to be called off. The long recuperation period gave Joanie time to think about her life. Although Joanie and Lawrence never fought and had a good relationship, she began to understand that he was not her soul mate and that marrying him would be a terrible mistake. Joanie subsequently returned Lawrence’s engagement ring and all of the advanced wedding gifts that they had received.

At the time, Joanie never associated God’s speaking to her with the flu she came down with in July. It was only years later after becoming a believer that she would fully understand what God did for her. Sometimes, God may need to give you more than a subtle hint to prevent you from doing something that is not according to His plan for your life.

“In all your ways acknowledge Him,
And He will make your paths straight.”
Proverbs 3:6 (NASB)

• God speaks to us through things we come across seemingly by accident.

A few years after Joanie ended her engagement to Lawrence, God spoke to us in a much different way.

Way back when, before the advent of speed dating and Internet matchmaking sites, real-life matchmakers introduced men and women. While still in a relationship, Ely spotted an ad for a matchmaker in a newspaper that he very rarely read. God spoke to Ely’s heart and motivated him to cut out the ad and set it aside. As we shall see, this was a divinely inspired coincidence.

At about the same time, Joanie’s father found an article about the same matchmaker in a local magazine. Even if Joanie hadn’t been dating someone at the time, she didn’t feel that she could ever consider meeting someone through a matchmaking service. Later on, her father convinced her otherwise.

To make a long story short, Ely and his girlfriend broke up. Joanie and her boyfriend realized they could never be more than friends.

As the story continued to unfold, God clearly made His plan for us known in yet another fashion.

“Indeed God speaks once,
Or twice, yet no one notices it.”
Job 33:14 (NASB)

• God speaks directly to us through people we know.

Ely found the ad he had stashed away and through the matchmaker met and briefly dated a woman named Melissa. Joanie met and dated a man named Ron through that same matchmaker. Ely and Melissa enjoyed their time together but realized that they were not compatible enough for a long-term relationship.

Joanie and Ron’s relationship soon came to a standstill. Joanie did not feel comfortable taking it to another level. When Joanie would not go along with Ron’s not-so-subtle requests, the disagreement led to a heated argument on the phone one evening. The conversation ended with Ron angrily shouting into Joanie’s ear that she should go out with a guy named Ely. Ron went on to share Ely’s age, the fact that he had never been married, and other pertinent information about him.

Ron then loudly and emphatically declared, “He’s PERFECT for you, do you hear? PERFECT FOR YOU! “ Even though Ron had never met Ely himself, he had dated Melissa who told him about Ely. God made certain of that connection.

The very next day, Joanie called the matchmaker and requested that she be introduced to Ely. The matchmaker quickly sent a letter to Ely, and the rest is history.

Our first date lasted for six fantastic hours. On the surface, it was a blind date. In actuality, it was so much more. After a wonderful evening of dining, walking, and nonstop conversation, we made arrangements for a second date the following week. Five weeks later, we decided to get married. Decided is the operative word because Ely never needed to formally propose! Marriage was the next natural step to take. Eight months after meeting, we got married.

You may be wondering why we were not introduced through the matchmaker initially. You see, when Ely had his interview, he specified a maximum of a 25-mile radius travel distance to meet prospective matches. The distance between our respective homes was close to 40 miles, way out of range. Obviously, that wasn’t an obstacle for our heavenly Matchmaker to overcome.

More than thirty years later, we know without a shadow of a doubt that ours truly is a match made in heaven. And if we ever wanted another sign from the Lord above, we got married seven years after that fateful bout with the flu forced the cancellation of Joanie’s marriage to Lawrence. Seven—God’s perfect number!

“Do not cast me away from Your presence
And do not take your Holy Spirit from me.”
Psalm 51:11 (NASB)

As we journey through life in our remarkable walk with God, we become increasingly aware of many other ways in which He communicates with us, including the following:

• God speaks directly to us through His Word in the Bible.

• God speaks directly to us through people we don’t know.

• God speaks to us through symbolism.

• God speaks to us through the miracles He performs for us.

• God speaks to us through the gut feelings we get.

• God speaks to us by performing acts that defy our logic.

• God speaks to us by inviting us to be part of His family for eternity.

No matter what the form of communication, we must always be listening for God’s voice. We know for certain that however God conveys His wishes for your life, they truly are PERFECT FOR YOU!

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