MATCH RESULTS: a PRINCESS & a PRISONER

(Excerpt from "Once Upon a Time in Paradise".....Coming Soon!)ComparabilityI wonder what the “match results” would be if you put, “I need a helper comparable to me,” as an answer to one of the questions on an online dating service website?  Would it be able to match you with your suitor?  Maybe actually, ha! So why can’t we trust God—the Ultimate Matchmaker—if we are willing to trust a computer for our suitor?I am not discrediting anyone who has used such services, because God will use any avenue to bring people together, but I want to make it clear that if you don’t invite Him into your “search,” how can you be sure that these exterior avenues will find you a helper comparable to you?It is God who said of Adam, “I will make him a helper comparable to him” (Genesis 2:18); thus, I don’t have to google search “a helper comparable to me” and then fill out a questionnaire based on my compatability preferences. Hair color. Eye color. Height. Weight. Beliefs. Hobbies. Why?  Because there is no heart monitor, and God is the only One in the heart matching business.  He compares the hearts and knows who will be truly fitting and adequate for one another---just right!“Adam, God has already made a helper comparable to you, and you may or may not be with her now. But regardless, now is the time to realize what that means.”Since God said it, there is nothing base about it.  It was not a statement  that placed woman below man as just his helper.  Just his assistant.  No way!  Actually, the word ‘helper’ means “partner’ or “one who helps.”  In fact, the same connotation of ‘helper’ is used to describe God when He comes to our aid as seen in Psalm 33:20—“Our soul waits for the Lord; He is our help and shield.”Not so base afterall!  A helper comparable to you is to be a companion just like you, with similar intelligence, personality, ethical and moral sensitivity, and most importantly spirituality.  All of these comparabilities are internal qualities.  Now do you see why it is crucial to allow God’s “x-ray vision” to bring you to your suitor, and not simply a computer.If I’m making all of this sound so easy, that’s because it is. I’m not saying that finding or building a relationship doesn’t take work, but I am saying that it will become easy if you allow God to do His work. Comparability then, isn’t based on your ability to compare, but it’s based on God’s ability to compare. It’s based on God’s ability to repair that which you wrongly paired. His ability (and want) to be your center as the point that you begin at, and go from there. How do you do this?I didn’t put in a comparability form with my compatability preferences as I prayed out my desire. I just prayed for my future wife from the center position in Christ.  And when this “search result” brought back one match, I wasn’t notified.  It wasn’t that my internal inbox rung off as an indicator that my pre-ordered “Eve” was on her way. Not at all. I prayed it, left it alone, and let God sort it out. Almost 2 years passed.  But I stress the time to let you know that during this period, I was (and still am) obediently responding to the prerequisite of Psalm 37:4. I remain delighting myself in the Lord—my first love—and that is why I am not surprised that He has given me the desire of  my heart in the person of Sarah. She mirrors my love for our Savior, who is our center.But let me digress for the sake of my “Once Upon a Time” story in the beginning.  I never imagined how He would bring Sarah to me, because I repeat, there was no Sarah at this point. I didn’t expect an answer from God in the way He did, not while I was in prison at least.  And not even with the person He picked as a helper comparable to me. What did I know?I knew Jesus. I trusted Jesus.  I desired Jesus.  And because I removed all restraints or expectations, God did give a princess a dream and told her to marry a prisoner.  And as she was trying to figure out her hearts void—(chapter Eve’s Desire)—it was God who redirected her path.  What would make a college student at Memphis University in Tennessee, who was a sorority beauty and highly sought after bachelorette, suddenly come home from school and pursue a relationship with a prisoner? I would tell you, but that’s her story to tell. I know I know, get on with it already!  But what’s the rush? You don’t think a “once upon a time” story can really happen to you?Well it can, because once upon a time, it happened to me.55:11 Publishing presents Once Upon a Time in Paradise.....Coming Soon!