Testify, Part 5

After publishing part 4 today I felt totally exposed.  I haven't felt right all day.  My mom reads my blog in all randomness and today I found out that she has been reading my Testify series this week because she actually did forget about the rape (which I was praying for anyway).  Well with the band-aid off and me waiting for her to forget again I wanted to speed things up a little so we can get to the good part.  Tomorrow will be Part 6, the final post in the series and I must say I will be glad to have it behind me.  I know you all have been reading as well, even with the lack of comments (I mean seriously, I don't blame you, what is there to say about it ) and I thank you all for your encouragement.  So here is part 5 and I promise part 6 you will see some of the many things that make me smile.

To read Part 1, click here. 
To read Part 2, click here. 
To read Part 3, click here.
To read Part 4, click here.

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Last time we left off about some beauty from that mess I told you about...

Back to the story...

Senior year of college was when I found Christ.  I mean truly found Him.

I, of course was still looking for "boys" to fill that piece of me when I started working at a grocery store that my summer internship helped me land.

I simply needed a job to make my car note and to keep me busy after classes so I gladly took it on.  I didn't know that the previous course of events in my life had landed me in this grocery store for a reason.

See now that I stayed off campus I had to have a car to get back and forth to school and my car died over the summer.  I got a used car and I had car payments so I had to have this job.  I had to have the car.  I needed to get to class.  It was senior year, it was time to start getting things done.

I had the option to choose the store I wanted to work at and of course I chose this particular store because in every major college area down here where I live there is a Bi-Lo for each college.  You have the Clemson Bi-Lo and the Gamecock Bi-Lo.  I went to USC so I was definitely down for working at the Gamecock Bi-Lo.

Gamecock Bi-Lo was a distance from where I live.  There was a Bi-Lo right behind my apartment complex but I just had to be at the Gamecock store.  So I drove 20 minutes (light traffic) to get to work.  This is where I met my husband.

First time I laid eyes on him I was already playing around with someone.  Nothing serious because the guy I was seeing was not someone you got serious with.  I had learned this the hard way the prior year after about losing my darn mind over him.

When I first saw my husband I thought to myself "look at this male-whore" (we still laugh about my misconception about him to this day).  I concluded this because he wore his diamond studs, drove a black maxima on rims, and the girls in the store often commented on his past flirtatious ways with some other female co-workers.

Of course I learned none of this was true.

See Theo was quite opposite of what anyone expected.  I expected him to be a player because of how he dressed and what everyone else said about him.  He actually had an unstable relationship with his ex girlfriend and had recently broken up with her, unbeknownst to me.

I thought I would use this opportunity to add another tally mark to my little black book so I let it be known that I was feeling him.  Of course he flirted back.  I wasn't having it any other way.

Our beginning didn't start out all innocent but basically I learned that He was saved, not interested in being my boy toy, was a mama's boy, and ushered faithfully at his church.

He is what drew me to Christ.

See by the time I found out all this good stuff about him we agreed to just be friends because he was trying to live his life right, and I well ummm was living by the wayside.

I remember calling my mama crying like a big snotty nosed baby telling her that I had finally did it.  I finally ran off a good dude.  A dude that was saved, loved his mama, would be a perfect boyfriend.  I told her how I had ruined it by seeking a "unwholesome" relationship with him and I wish I could take it all back.

At this point I was tired of living the mess of a life I was living and I was growing weeeaaarrrrryyyy!  I knew that this man was different from all the rest and I felt something tugging at me and I just didn't know or understand what the heck it was at the time.

So one night at one o clock in the morning I called my pastor from back home and gave my life to Christ over the phone.  A lot led up to the process but by that point I knew and recognized that it wasn't just the relationship with Theo that I wanted or needed, it was the relationship with Christ that I needed all along.

It would have been great if I had recognized that all those years earlier instead of sifting through many men to learn that.  Anyways, shortly after dedicating my life to Christ that's when I approached Theo again.  We were still friends so we decided to just go out to the movies.

2006, 1st month of dating

That evening was one I'll never forget because it was as if God was finally bringing a man into my life that would walk with me as I grew in Christ.  Theo asked me to be his girl and I said yes.

I joined his church shortly afterward and began my walk.  I know you are probably thinking "whooptidoo, what's the story behind all this"?  Be patient.  I'll tell you next time.


To read Part 6, click here.

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