2 years and a lesson learned
by Rebecca on 2009-11-22
On Tuesday, we celebrated our second wedding anniversary. Time flies.
We had some friends over for dinner last night, Williamʼs old Elderʼs Quorum president who just got married a month ago at the ripe old age of 32. His wife is lovely, and we are thrilled to see him in such fine hands, after his many years as Austinʼs Most Eligible Bachelor.
Over dinner, we compared “How We Got Together” stories. Our friend and his wife dated at BYU nine years ago but things didnʼt work out then, and they only recently reconnected and were married last month. William and I met on my first Sunday in Austin in 2004, didnʼt speak again until a year and half later, and didnʼt start dating for another year after that. We finally got married in 2007.
I was thinking about these stories this morning and how Things Always Work Out in the End. I left Provo in 2004 wondering what would become of me. After living in Austin, jobless, almost friendless, and (worst of all) boyfriend-less, in spite of my best efforts not to be so, I wanted out. “Time to move to X and start over?” I prayed. “No, you need to wait. Wait.” And so, I waited and waited. The job came after a year. Friends trickled in and out. But still no boyfriend. I prayed again, “Iʼm done looking for what I think I want. Show me whatʼs out there. Maybe thereʼs hidden potential that Iʼm not seeing.” And I waited. About a month later, I was given an opportunity to see what was out there. And nine months later, William and I were married.
The lesson I learned this morning as I thought about how long it takes some people to find a spouse/have a child/achieve some far off goal is this: sometimes, the hardest thing that the Lord asks us to do is to wait. We are so accustomed to setting a goal and knowing the timetable in which the goal will be achieved (e.g. If I exercise and watch what I eat for X months, I can lose 2 pounds a week and be at my ideal weight by the summertime.) And so, when we do all we can by living righteously, keeping the commandments, serving others, attending church, and honoring our covenants, it is frustrating not to see the outcomes that we desire in the timetable that we desire. But as is usually the case, the blessings that we desire and ultimately receive from the Lord are always, always worth the wait.
Now, I canʼt leave you without some pictures, right? So, a brief history.
2006 (long before we started dating)
2007 (still before we started dating but only about a month before)
2007 (obviously, after we started dating)
And that brings us to now, 2009, with everything that was totally worth the wait.
