Three years ago, I wrote a devotional story, "Sands of Time", for my book Lord of the Ringless after a phone call from a dear friend of thirty years:
"The last of her high school girlfriends was getting married, leaving Gabriella to wonder why she was still single.
“Gabriella said maybe if she hadn’t gone away to college she would be getting married too,” her mother, my close friend gently told me, quite possibly remembering she was the first of our group to marry. I am still single and still…the last.
“This is the first wave of weddings,” I explained to her, “and depending on when she gets married there could be two, three or many more waves to come. Either way, at some point she will discover that location does not make a difference.” My tone softened. “It’s all in God’s hands.”
My friend married at nineteen and is still married at fifty. She never experienced feeling left-out from fulfilling the divine desire for marriage or the frustration and anxiety her daughter is already learning to cope with. How Gabriella processes the inevitable questions that arise when it seems others desires are met, and hers remain just beyond her reach, will affect her closeness to God. Learning to trust God’s faithfulness, even in her disappointment, will determine the quality and fullness of her life."
Yesterday, my friend, who is now a wedding florist –is helping her daughter Gabriella—plan her October wedding. Tears rose to her eyes when I opened the page to this chapter in the book and we recalled the passing of another season of life.
Two years after I chronicled her story, Gabriella was in another wedding party. This time she waited and prayed with the rest of the wedding party for the safe arrival of one of their groomsmen. He had endured some obstacles and detours attempting to drive cross country from the East Coast on his motorcycle—in time for his best friend’s wedding. She admired his perseverence and loyalty to his friend.
That day as she waited with the others, little did she know-- he was to be her knight on a shining black motorcycle.
(Lord of the Ringless can be ordered by simply clicking the purchase button on this blogsite or visit deeaspin.com )

