It’s interesting to ask people how they met. Each story is unique. God has many ways of bringing people together. Moses was watering some camels and ended up marrying the oldest daughter of the man who owned the wells. Boaz paid off a distant relative’s debt by buying their land and got Ruth along with it. The Benjaminites grabbed women at a party and carried them off. Jacob worked 7 years for Rachel and got another woman on his wedding night (her sister). Xerxes held a beauty contest and married the winner, Esther. Hosea married the woman God chose for him but she had children by other men and ended up in prostitution. And a man named Salmon married a Gentile women from Jericho whose name was Rahab. Tradition identifies Salmon (Matthew 1:5) as one of the two spies Rahab hid in Jericho.
It was unheard of for a woman to be mentioned in the genealogies of Israel, but Rahab is listed as an a great-grandmother of King David and an ancestor of Jesus Himself (Matthew 1:5-6). She never thought God had a plan for her that included such things. She never imagined being married to a Jew, either. Yet that was God’s plan for her.
Seldom does anyone look at their life and say that it played itself out as they had expected. Virtually all of us are surprised by the turns and twists that come along. Still, life doesn’t just ‘happen.’ God has a perfect plan for each of us. He chose these things even before the creation of the world. This includes the person we marry. Sometimes we think they are the greatest blessing in the world, other times we may wonder if we made a mistake in whom we chose. But if we are following the Lord we know that He did the choosing and He never makes mistakes. If you marriage is going very well – thank Him. If there are struggles and difficulties, remember that this is the mate He chose (or allowed) for you and it is now His perfect will for you to grow together. Thank Him for it. He put you and your mate together to be a picture of heaven on earth, to live out in a daily way His love for us as His bride. Follow His example in this and, no matter how strange a start your marriage had, it is guaranteed a happy ending!
(If I can answer questions or offer personal counsel, or if you would like a free copy of my Spiritual Warfare Handbook, email me at Jerry@ChristianTrainingOrganization.org or download it from http://sw.christiantrainingonline.org/. My next book, Spiritual Warfare in the Bible, which is a more advanced treatment of spiritual warfare, is also available there for free.)