Kathy was a gift from God to me.
I could see that committing to marriage was not compromising my life and future. It was quite the opposite. It was taking advantage of the blessings God was sending my way to make the most of my future. Divine Love was revealing a plan for me to learn the lessons and blessings of Love and had provided the institution of marriage and the strong moral and spiritual basis it requires for success, to fulfill them. It was up to me to take advantage of the opportunity and make the most of it.
After three dates over seven months or so (we lived 1,200 miles apart), I was shopping for an engagement ring. On the fifth date, Christmas Eve, 1986, I proposed, and the wedding date was set.
The ceremony was planned over a couple of months and went well. We had a memorable honeymoon, and soon settled into our new life as farmers and orchardists in the state of Washington.
Kathy left everything in Denver to live with me on the ranch, figuring this was where we’d spend the rest of our life together, or nearby, anyway. I even had a place to build a house all picked out on the banks of the beautiful Snake River. And she liked it, a lot!!
But life did not go as planned.
I was miserable on the farm. Something Kathy didn’t realize when she married me…
More on its way…
Evan, So grateful for the honest sharing of your process with getting married and marriage. It’s placement in S&H implies its importance to the human experience. It’s up front with Prayer and Atonement and Eucharist, which has significance. It seems to say, if you master prayer, atone and develope your oneness with your christlyness, your ready, ” chapter three “. My two favorite sentences are “Both sexes should be loving, pure, tender and strong”. And ” There should be the most tender solicitude for each others happiness …” If I ever get married I want that quote on the wall of our home, ” There should be the most tender solicitude for each others happiness …”.
Sincerity of intent, seems
To be the true deciding factor with courtship. That’s why the fatherly question “What are your intentions?”.
In the tender beginning, we all have a ever and very present heavenly father who will always be asking ” What are your intentions?”. Demonstration seems to be an important part of courting- taking the brave steps to demonstrate ones true affections. It seems if properly
Done, courtship is the perfecting of reflecting “The sweet amenities”.Some relationships seem more like assignments than the luxury of romance. If God thinks enough of us to trust us to spend our lives ( our mental atmosphere, growth, and trials), with one of his loved ideas, what more can we ask for ? A very important sentence , “Be not in haste to take the vow “until death do us part”. Consider it’s obligations, it’s responsibilities, it’s relation to your growth and to your influence on other lives “. Thanks so much for the thought provoking process of one of the greatest wonders and grandest demonstrations, marriage.
Can’t wait for the rest of the story!
The human experience, Mrs. Eddy says, is “earth’s preparatory school”. Or could we say a laboratory for proving God’s goodness? I love Mrs. Eddy’s statement that marriage is a “union of hearts”. A good marriage is a wonder.And it takes prayer, commitment,humor, grace, fidelity, and selflessness to make the long run.Thank you for this insight into marriage, Evan, it’s lovely and strengthening for all of us, married or not!
Evan, according to the Psychologists, long distance relationships usually doesn’t work out which, in itself is a demonstration in your case, to show them wrong. Material thinking is always wrong, it’s the spiritual that guarantees success in any endeavor, be it marriage or any thing else. You can never go wrong when you put God first. I enjoy reading about your marriage experiences. They are practically parallel to mine.