A Redeeming Love

The Summer is here and the Romance Novels are filling the shelves at most book stores.  It’s the simple pleasure of loosing yourself in someone else’s life and dreams.  It’s the easy read while you’re at the beach.  It’s so much fun! 

I think that every story of romance is worth telling.  As I recall my own, I myself am amazed at the woven tapestry of love, heartbreak, tough lessons learned and bliss. 

I hope you’ll join me every Friday this Summer for my Summer Romance Series:

A Redeeming Love

Chapter 1

 It was a romance that was 9 years in the making.  9 years of surprises, falling in love, heartbreak, break-ups, pain, healing and redemption.  It was 9 years of butterflies, smiles, tears, questions, loneliness and discovery.  It was 9 years that taught me what love is and what it is not.  It was 9 years where God showed me His lavish love for me and taught me to settle for nothing less.  It was 9 years of waiting and trusting that God’s timing was perfect.  And indeed, it was.

 As a I child I dreamed of getting married.  I wanted to be married and have children more than anything.  I didn’t have any grand career aspirations because I thought I’d just get married and have babies.  I viewed college as a “time killer” until I met the one.  I never thought I’d be the girl who never dated anyone and wouldn’t get married until I was 31 years old.  But then again, I never dreamed that I’d live a life of adventure and travel the world as a single woman either!

 I never dated in high school and it wasn’t until college that a boy asked me out on a date.  I remember it clearly – he asked me to dinner and drove me to a small restaurant in Malibu.  I had no interest in this boy, but having no experience with boys asking me out, I didn’t know how to turn him down!  Dinner conversation was random and I was mostly dreading the bill… who would pay?  Clearly it was a date, but I didn’t want to presume that he would pay, so when the bill came I quickly grabbed my wallet and offered to pay.  He let me.  That was the last time we went out. 

 I had lots of guy friends and spent time alone with them here and there, but nothing ever serious and definitely nothing romantic.  And then everything changed my senior year at Pepperdine.  I was living with 2 juniors girls and together we had many mutual friends.  One evening a house of junior guys invited us over for dinner.  Their new roommate, a transfer student, would be joining us.  I already knew a lot about him, he had been the topic of most conversations amongst our friends.  He was tall, very handsome, kind, a Christian, and a gentleman.  All the girls had their eye on him!

 I wrapped up my lifeguard training class and headed over to the guys’ house with wet hair in a knot and no makeup.  At dinner I was seated next to the eligible bachelor but honestly didn’t think anything of it, after all, I was a year older than him and not nearly as interested as all the other girls.  So, no one was more surprised than me that he called me the next day for a date.

 For our first date he made dinner reservations (I was already impressed!) and picked me up right on time.  As we headed down PCH along the ocean, we hit some traffic and quickly realized that we would not make our reservation.  We got off the coast highway and headed into Westwood to find another place for dinner.  One thing he didn’t know about me is that I have low blood sugar and as we drove around looking for somewhere to eat, it got later and later.  I started feeling faint.  I began sweating and tried to roll down my window just to have him tell me that my window didn’t work!  We were stopped at an intersection in the little village and I kicked into fight or flight mode and unbuckled my seatbelt and jumped out of the car!  There was a bakery on the corner and I just needed a piece of bread.  As I ran inside, he parked illegally and came in to find me munching on a roll.  The joke became, “If you’re going to ask Jones out on a date, make sure you have some groceries in your trunk!”  The evening ended well and in spite of my dangerous attempt to save myself from passing out, he asked me out again.  He was the first boy that peaked my interest and I was excited at the prospects of more time with him.  Little did I know that more time with him would eventually mean an adventure to Venice Italy.