Robert & Gloria will be married for 57 years in June. And while many people often say phrases like “God put them together” or “they were created for one another,” their story truly exemplifies how God already knew what He was doing when bringing them together.
Robert and Gloria both had been engaged to marry other people. Gloria’s fiancé was killed in Vietnam, and Robert’s fiancé broke off their engagement. Speaking to them, he recalls exactly the way things happened. His passion was always playing baseball, and on top of working a full-time job, he was squeezing in any extra time to play in baseball leagues. Those would also lead to hanging out and drinking afterwards or going out to a bar when the game ended. His fiancé lived in a town nearby, so it wasn’t as convenient to spend time with her. It was something that needed to be intentional and planned out.
One day, he received a call from his fiancé, and she asked him to come over because her parents wanted to speak with him. When he arrived, her father was holding the box with the engagement ring. He sat Robert down and explained that they no longer thought it was a good idea to proceed with their wedding. He pointed out how little time he was spending with their daughter, who was planning to be his wife. Robert looked at his fiancé and asked if she agreed with this decision, and all she could do was heartbreakingly cry, being at a loss for words.
Robert left her house that day saddened; but he also couldn’t help but think that God was protecting this young lady from the life she would have had with him. He knew himself – and even though he was raised within a Christian family and knew of God, he realized that he wouldn’t have been a suitable husband for her in being a godly leader for their marriage and family. His thoughts were that God must have known and must have been looking out for this young lady.
Robert eventually met his future wife, Gloria. And sure enough, he put her through the hell that the previous fiancé would have endured with him. But by God’s grace, He rescued him from that destructive life, and he was now serving the Lord. Years later, he encountered someone from that small town who coincidentally knew his former fiancé. He was curious about her and inquired about her. It turns out that she also married someone else, but her life had taken some twists and turns. In her marriage, she suffered the death of a child, and she also sought out love outside of her marriage and fell into adultery.
When Robert heard about that, his thoughts went back to the day that he left her house for the last time and the thoughts he had as he drove away. All these years, he always thought that God protected her from him. But now looking back at the kind of angry and violent man he used to be, he now thanked God that He was protecting them both from each other. He knew that if she had been his wife and had committed adultery, he would’ve wound up in prison after the actions he would have likely taken.
We may not always understand God’s plans.
Many times we are brokenhearted and question His ways.
Many times we are disobedient and choose people we know aren’t good for us, and then we blame God when life isn’t so happy.
This story is a true example of how only God knows what our future holds and why He allows some things to happen and doesn’t allow others. We can’t see the bigger picture in the future, but He can.
By God’s grace, Robert & Gloria, who are my parents, will celebrate 57 years being married this June. The first 14 of those years were painful, destructive, and filled with anger & hate. By God’s grace, the last 43 have been a completely different story. On January 20, 1982, my dad gave his life to Jesus Christ; and on January 25, 1982, my mom did the same. They have never looked back or fallen back into their old ways. They haven’t been perfect, but they have set Jesus Christ as the foundation of their marriage, and they have lived out a love story in ministry to serve the Lord and serve people.
FindJoy 