Joy to Those Who Wait

1 Thessalonians 4:4-5

GOD’S WORD Translation (GW)
⁴ Each of you should know that finding a husband or wife for yourself is to be done in a holy and honorable way, ⁵ not in the passionate, lustful way of people who don’t know God.

Recently I was honored to be invited to attend the wedding reception of a former student of mine. She was an excellent student in college. She didn’t major in math, but I have long since forgiven this error in judgment on her part. She had a polymath interest in the world of knowledge. She and her brother and friends loved climbing in Joshua Tree National Park with us when a group of us went out there.

Her parents were missionaries to a foreign land for a time while she was growing up. This experience greatly enriched her understanding of the world. It helped her put many of the pettiness of American fads and fancies in proper perspective. On the other hand growing up as a missionary kid during formative years often results in the child’s being somewhat socially maladjusted when he or she returns to live in the homeland. The effect in her was barely noticeable except that she didn’t seem to have a lot of guys falling over each other wanting to date her. 

As a leader in her high school student association, she was privileged to attend a special leadership retreat held for leaders in all area Adventist academies. While there she became friends with a young man from another academy. They took several classes together while students at La Sierra University, but their friendship didn’t grow into the romance that makes a “happily ever after” story that warms the heart.

Instead, he went off to medical school and she to a different graduate school. He earned an M.D. and she a Ph.D. They lost touch with each other. She obtained a professorship and started going to Joshua Tree with us again. I noticed, with concern, that she was depressed to the point that she had lost some of her normal, spontaneous joie de vivre.

Then, suddenly her Facebook entries became radiant with joy--and pictures of her and the young man she had met the better part of a decade before. The romance deepened. She no longer joined us at Joshua Tree. She was totally taken up with this wonderful courtship. After their simple wedding and honeymoon in Austria, we were invited, along with other friends, to celebrate with the family!

May God bless and prosper their union as well as everyone who reads this.