"For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." - Jeremiah 29:11
Let me start off be saying that I am SO glad that the Lord has plans for my life. I am SO glad that I can give Him the control of my future and trust that He will give me what is in my best interest based on HIS perspective, and according to HIS perfect timing.
Because if I had MY way, I wouldn't be where I am today, married to the most wonderful man I have ever laid eyes on. The man I'm blessed to call my husband, my soulmate, my best friend. The man I truly believe was created with me in mind. The answer to my unsaid prayer. Gerard Butler Brad. I kid, I kid, of course Brad ;) ...Leave it to me to make a bad joke in the middle of a heartfelt honesty moment. In all seriousness though, for those of you familiar with the movie "PS I Love You", Brad is my Gerard Butler, my Gerry. He's a manly outdoorsman whose calluses for hands would wrestle a bear unconscious to save my life, just as soon as serenade me to sleep playing Lifehouse's "You and Me" on the guitar. He is, and always will be, the Gerry to my Holly.
For those of you who don't know us, let me give you the 10 cent tour of our personalities. Brad is VERY laid back and easy-going, nothing gets him phased, and I mean NOTHING. (well...pretty much nothing, apparently I exaggerate) If he asked for strawberries, and life gave him lemons...he'd not only make lemonaid, but lemon pie, lemon poppyseed muffins, lemon pepper chicken, you name it! and invite everyone over to share in the lemons he received, and he'd do it all with a smile, while whistling. Me on the other hand, if I asked for strawberries, and I got lemons...I'd probably turn into a giant stressball wondering "what am I going to do with LEMONS? I don't know any good recipe's for lemons. I'm not prepared for lemons!" yadda yadda yadda, you get the picture. Not my finest personality trait to say the least, but it's true. I tend to be a worrier, I typically don't deal well with unexpected change or short notice, I'm your classic "Type A". It's terrible. But I think that's why God gave me Brad (and Jeremiah 29:11), not only to test the limits to which I will bend before losing all sanity ;) but also to show me how to relax more, to be more spontaneous, to trust God with the things in my life I so desperately want to control. I'm learning. Slowly but surely, He's working on me. With Jeremiah 29:11, He's working on me.
Before I met Brad I was a stubborn headstrong driven girl who's life goals included becoming a crime scene investigater and saving the world one DNA sample at a time (thank you CSI for THAT wonderful obsession, and thank you Lord for the veto!) and moving to Italy to further my own artistic endeavors, gathering inspiration from some of the greats, hoping to leave my own mark in art history.
Those of you that know me, (know that I'm still stubborn-as-a-rock) but also know that the second goal is much more plausible. I'm a proud-to-be art geek; I love being creative and artistic. Not only with painting and drawing, but with decorating and organizing. I love the challenge a messy disorganized space brings! However, that overseas adventure was also not a part of God's master plan for my life, at least not yet anyway. And I'm fine with that, because I feel that I was blessed with something SO much better. (Yes, we're back to the mushy. Bring out the tissues or stop reading if you have a sensitive gag reflex...)
It's amazing how God works! Here I was a grade 12 student wrestling with that burning question "what am I supposed to DO with my life?" when Jeremiah 29:11 hits me. "For I know the plans I have for you" declares the Lord. And it was like that v8 commercial, you know the one. "BONK! Shoulda hada v8". It was like God reached down and gave me that "bonk! shoulda hada little faith before exherting so much energy stressing about the decisions in your life Gen. I, the Lord, know the plans that I have for you, you don't need to waste time worrying about it." So I didn't. I became more involved in church and started attending youth group and turned my life around, back to Jesus, away from the self-absorbed "what do I want to do with my life" attitude. And low and behold, who did I meet at youth group...you guessed it, my Gerry, my Brad, and I wasn't even looking for him. It's amazing how God works!
Brad and I were "officially" dating for 14 months, and engaged for 5 of them before we got married. And it's funny, we both realised we were meant for each other at the same time, after a lengthy car ride spent talking, honestly and openly about EVERYTHING, before we started dating "officially". It's probably our most memorable "date" (aside from our engagement) and we frequently go on car ride dates even now in which we. just. talk. about everything and anything. That redneck man makes my heart melt, and I don't care how many times I have to watch "Shooter" or "Strange Brew" to prove it! He is, and always will be, the Bob to my Doug McKenzie, the Gerry to my Holly.
