I am grateful to those who have shared their stories.
You women are a blessing!
I'll share mine and hopefully it can encourage anyone who thinks it's "too late" for God or for a husband. I'll explain but to anyone who wants to read further, I ask that the Holy Spirit help you to understand this testimony, because it is two-fold:
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I grew up in the church and of all my mom's four daughters, I was the one everyone most likely expected to be married w/ children right after high school. That was THEIR plan for me, though.. after I graduated I went to college and got buck wild (not too wild).
I told myself I'd never get married and offered anyone who took the risk of taking me out or making me a girlfriend nothing but hell and damnation. I was not to be "pinned down"!
Fast forward to three years ago, I "meet" my husband. I met him when I was just tired of relationships, tired of living any kind of way and just plain tired. I didn't want a man. I didn't want anyone around me, and was just about to give up on men, even God. I had been living with a "conscious" brother and his family ,who also was a self-proclaimed atheist and it got the best of me. I started to question God and it felt horrible..so at the behest of my mother through long phone calls, I started going back to church. She is one of those Prayer Warriors who have been saved most of her life. She gave me instructions on how to get right with God:
Go to church right away, bring with you a bottle of olive oil and have it blessed. Annoint your door and pray and plan to move out... FAST. At first I didn't want to do that but I was so drained by the Enemy, I needed to do it.
When I went to church that day, God revealed a lot to me. It was a church I randomly picked and I didn't know anyone there but I was familiar with the denomination. I didn't say anything yet the church members felt something during the service that made them start to pray and thank God. I was bit a bit irritated and almost turned around to go home, but I stayed. I knew there was a battle going on and my heart was racing. Sure enough, the pastor said he was compelled to pray for ALL the visitors. It was strange to me, because I'd never been prayed for as a visitor. Still, I obliged and I was the last one at the end of the line. Sure enough, when the pastor laid his hands on me the battle started.
I was on the floor the entire service. At some point, the leaders even asked me what my name was and I kept telling them my name, confused. It was then I realized I was oppressed and that one of those spirits from the house came to church with me that day and God wasn't having any of that. Fear set in for a moment. Toward the end of the service, they got me up from the floor. They asked me to drink some holy water and I refused. They asked again, I again refused. Then I finally did ...moments later, when I came to... I felt light and refreshed, as if I'd just taken a shower. It was a very powerful experience but I was not truly afraid because I really knew what was going on.
Service was over, and I was about to leave the church. But realized I still had that brown bag in my hand with the olive oil I'd bought at the store before service. What my mom had told me started to echo in my mind:
"Have the pastor bless your oil...". I shrugged and started to leave the church but stopped and turned back to the pulpit. I quietly walked toward the pastor and asked him if he could bless my oil... he just nodded. He prayed and after he prayed, he stared me in the eyes and told me whoever it is I am living with, I must separate myself from them. Tears rolled down my face and I thanked him and left.
This is how I know of Attestation! I had never met or spoken to anyone at that church the entire time I was there.
Sure enough, when I got back to the house, I anointed my bedroom door. The next day, the atheist's wife saw that I had put holy oil on my bedroom door).. All hell literally broke loose after that... so I
had to move out, quickly.
A month later I meet my DH.
I met him at his sister's house one day while getting my car serviced (her husband was my mechanic). He had comes over to visit his sis. We literally stared at each other. And I told him, "Hey... I know you!" and laughed. He was an old high school classmate. Better yet, we grew up on the same street! I always knew him but never interacted with him, even in high school. I always saw him as the shy one, and he thought I talked too much.
As we talked, we realized that over the years our paths crisscrossed and we "knew" that had we hooked up in high school, we'd have years of marriage and dozens of children..
He really came along just in time...and his real name literally means "Friend of God.
Six months later, we married. We talked marriage from the beginning, so there was no "dating" per se. It was a timely courtship because our pastor was speaking on fornication and sanctification at the time.
What's ironic is I had gotten saved around age 11 and grew up in church. He never grew up in church and got saved later in life. God used him to draw me back to him... and because of DH, I joined the first church since my old church back home, more than 20 years later.
My family jokingly calls us Sarah and Abraham. We're both in our early 40s but he has a daughter and I am raising a teen nephew, but we are open to having more children. In James 2:23, God calls Abraham his friend.
It's an irony that keeps me and hubby laughing all the time.
So if anyone here is just tired and about to give up, I encourage you to
RUN to God.
He'll fix everything and deliver to you a husband he's designed just for you. This is how I feel about my hubby.
Today was his birthday and we hung out all day together. He's a very modest man, but my present to him was a diamond watch he gawked at at the jewelry store when we bought our rings. The store manager knew that and he and I manage to keep the purchase a secret. He not only gave me a great deal on the price (and a discount on the inscription in the back), he gave my hubby a nice birthday card and signed it when I came to pick it up.
I felt blessed indeed.
Thank you Lord!
Shimmie, it's just a beautiful thing for you to have put up this thread when you did.
To those who are praying for a hubby... don't give up on God, he knows what he's doing!
God bless