Martin and Debbie's Testimony: Part I
This is Martin and Debbie's journey of service and healing and a divine encounter through cyber-space. They met in December 2004 and married April 2006. God does answer prayers!
What was the toughest part of being single? How did you encourage yourself?
Martin: The toughest part for me was to be patient that there was a person to share my life with. The way I encouraged myself was with prayer and trusting that God would bring that person into my life.
Debbie: The toughest thing for me was having to change my own oil. Seriously, as a single parent trying to find the time to date was always an obstacle. I used to pray and journal my feelings a lot. I always believed the Lord was going to send me a Godly husband and He spoke clearly to me to write down the things I did not like about being single, so that WHEN I got married and the enemy tried to make me think the grass was greener on the other side, I could go back and read my journal as a reminder. This has been a wonderful gift and I encourage it for all singles. Of course you need to write down the good things as well.
What was the best part of being single?
Martin: The fact that every action I took only affected myself. When you share your life with someone, you have to think twice before doing something. You have to make decisions in your life based on consensus in what is best for the whole family.
Debbie: I could be selfish for awhile and only deal with what I needed. I could attend any service or conference I wanted without having to check in with anyone else’s calendar. I enjoyed hanging out with my friends and sharing our dating nightmares.
During your single hood, how did you spend you time i.e. did you date alot, pray, use Internet dating?
Martin: I didn’t date a lot. I dedicated a lot of time for prayer and spiritual growth. I discovered many of the spiritual disciplines practiced by early Christians. I spent a lot of time with my daughters and with some of my best friends. By the end of 2004, I joined Christian Café and started communicating with some women.
Debbie: I was very active at my church, serving on the prayer team, doing outreaches and co-founded a Christian Singles Network (3D Productions). I spent a lot of time taking classes to improve my relationship skills for when God sent me the one and I went through inner healing counseling. Most of my weekends were spent with a great group of friends. A few of us were trying various Internet dating sites.
How did you meet one another?
Martin: I believe God used the Internet (Christian Café) for both of us to meet. We have gone through similar experiences in our lives and we both have a passion for serving God and for impacting the lives of others through our own examples. I believe God has been in the middle of our relationship from the beginning of our journey. We have seen God move in powerful ways, and we have seen the enemy try to destroy our relationship. However, God has been our rock that has been holding our lives and our relationship.
Debbie: We met on-line. I was impressed with how his love for the Lord shined even through his profile and how he was so humble and kind and did not “try” to impress me with a bunch of bragging. In fact, Martin and I chatted several times before he finally told me he was a pastor. In one of our first conversations when we were “just friends,” the Lord told us He would replace what the locusts had eaten. At the time I wasn’t sure what He meant but it always stayed with me.
I was always so busy serving at my church that I never had the chance to see Martin preach. One day after we were engaged, we put together an evening benefit service to raise money for a friend who was diagnosed with breast cancer. It was my first time seeing him preach and I couldn’t believe how anointed and dynamic he was! I was in awe and wondering why the Lord hadn’t shown me this BEFORE we got engaged. Later, Martin shared that his ex wife only married him because of his Sr. Pastor “status”. She loved the preacher, but not the man and soon after they were married, she left him for another man. I know the Lord wanted to show Martin that I loved him for him and not for his gifts. We knew it was God’s perfect timing and He IS making everything new again.
Tomorrow, Part II of Martin and Debbie's story.
What was the toughest part of being single? How did you encourage yourself?
Martin: The toughest part for me was to be patient that there was a person to share my life with. The way I encouraged myself was with prayer and trusting that God would bring that person into my life.
Debbie: The toughest thing for me was having to change my own oil. Seriously, as a single parent trying to find the time to date was always an obstacle. I used to pray and journal my feelings a lot. I always believed the Lord was going to send me a Godly husband and He spoke clearly to me to write down the things I did not like about being single, so that WHEN I got married and the enemy tried to make me think the grass was greener on the other side, I could go back and read my journal as a reminder. This has been a wonderful gift and I encourage it for all singles. Of course you need to write down the good things as well.
What was the best part of being single?
Martin: The fact that every action I took only affected myself. When you share your life with someone, you have to think twice before doing something. You have to make decisions in your life based on consensus in what is best for the whole family.
Debbie: I could be selfish for awhile and only deal with what I needed. I could attend any service or conference I wanted without having to check in with anyone else’s calendar. I enjoyed hanging out with my friends and sharing our dating nightmares.
During your single hood, how did you spend you time i.e. did you date alot, pray, use Internet dating?
Martin: I didn’t date a lot. I dedicated a lot of time for prayer and spiritual growth. I discovered many of the spiritual disciplines practiced by early Christians. I spent a lot of time with my daughters and with some of my best friends. By the end of 2004, I joined Christian Café and started communicating with some women.
Debbie: I was very active at my church, serving on the prayer team, doing outreaches and co-founded a Christian Singles Network (3D Productions). I spent a lot of time taking classes to improve my relationship skills for when God sent me the one and I went through inner healing counseling. Most of my weekends were spent with a great group of friends. A few of us were trying various Internet dating sites.
How did you meet one another?
Martin: I believe God used the Internet (Christian Café) for both of us to meet. We have gone through similar experiences in our lives and we both have a passion for serving God and for impacting the lives of others through our own examples. I believe God has been in the middle of our relationship from the beginning of our journey. We have seen God move in powerful ways, and we have seen the enemy try to destroy our relationship. However, God has been our rock that has been holding our lives and our relationship.
Debbie: We met on-line. I was impressed with how his love for the Lord shined even through his profile and how he was so humble and kind and did not “try” to impress me with a bunch of bragging. In fact, Martin and I chatted several times before he finally told me he was a pastor. In one of our first conversations when we were “just friends,” the Lord told us He would replace what the locusts had eaten. At the time I wasn’t sure what He meant but it always stayed with me.
I was always so busy serving at my church that I never had the chance to see Martin preach. One day after we were engaged, we put together an evening benefit service to raise money for a friend who was diagnosed with breast cancer. It was my first time seeing him preach and I couldn’t believe how anointed and dynamic he was! I was in awe and wondering why the Lord hadn’t shown me this BEFORE we got engaged. Later, Martin shared that his ex wife only married him because of his Sr. Pastor “status”. She loved the preacher, but not the man and soon after they were married, she left him for another man. I know the Lord wanted to show Martin that I loved him for him and not for his gifts. We knew it was God’s perfect timing and He IS making everything new again.
Tomorrow, Part II of Martin and Debbie's story.
Labels: Testimonies
2 Comments:
Wow - I didn't realize that i was there at the first time Deb ever heard Martin preach! I saw all the "frogkissig" that Debbie had to do along the way in internet dating, but she always picked herself up and got back on the horse and didn't get discouraged. It's obvious that perserverance is one of the most powerful forces that God has made.
You're right. It's all about perseverance. With all the weird enncounters I've had in cyber-space, I was ready to kiss internet dating good-bye. Might now be open to it.
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