In the previous post I mentioned how Dustie was the man I was made for. I don't want to leave my 2 readers :) hanging for too long, so I'll tell our little love story.
I guess I should begin with a very basic version of my testimony because God truly is the foundation of our relationship.
I grew up in a Christian home, so it wasn't much of a surprise when I was ready to ask Jesus into my heart at the age of seven. Looking back, God's hand is evident everywhere in my life from protecting me, to giving me the biggest dose of conviction ever! My Junior year in high school I knew God was calling me to ministry, but He didn't reveal any specifics. A couple of guys that were in my youth group surrendered to the call of youth ministry & a girl to foreign missions. I didn't know what I was called to, but I knew I was called. God waited a few years to reveal it to me.
I met Dustie Dunn Sophomore Year in high school & wasn't his biggest fan at first. :) He took my gum & stole my homework & that was the extent of our relationship.
That summer, I found out that D worked for the Karate school where my brother took Karate. It's funny, my Mom would always come home talking about how she liked Dustie Dunn (even if she thought he was dumb b/c he copied my homework) & how she thought he was a catch! I always laughed her off & told her she was crazy.
The next year, we had Spanish II together & actually started to become pretty good friends. We later found out that we were both going to go to Louisiana College. This was a big "God thing" because, unlike myself who knew since the age of 10 (b/c that's where my Mom went) I would go to LC, D had never heard of LC. His Youth Pastor submitted his name for a scholarship for students going into the ministry & Dustie interviewed & won a FULL SCHOLARSHIP to the school. (My parents weren't that lucky!) We were excited to already know someone at our future school. [I even remember the fleeting thought that D might be the boy I was gonna marry.]
Freshman year in college we became closer & closer friends. We were such good friends, that both guys I dated throughout mine in D's friendship mentioned that maybe I should date D. (Lol whoops!) I think most of our friends saw that we should be together, but we were clueless for a while.
When we went back to LC for Sophomore Year, D told a mutual friend of ours that he was probably going to ask me out, then he found out I was dating someone at that time. Not too long after school started, he started dating a girl. Things were ending with the guy I was dating. I knew I wasn't going to marry him, so we broke up.
At that point in my life, I had not been single for about 3 years & I decided that I needed to have a little time alone. I started a Bible Study/Book entitled Lady in Waiting. It was about what to do while waiting to find the man of God you're going to marry. While doing that Bible Study, God revealed to me that I was going to marry my friend Dustie Dunn! The funny thing was, at this point, he was dating a girl who was actually a friend of mine (I couldn't even hate her dern it!). I thought it was so crazy, yet I was so sure, that God told me who I would marry. I told one friend of mine & wrote it in my journal at the time so I would be able to have some kind of proof that I knew ahead of time.
Since revealing that to me, God sure did take some time to build my character. D continued to date my friend on-&-off for a couple of months. (Didn't he know he was wasting his time?! haha)
It wasn't until after our Christmas/Semester break that we started spending more time together & going out. Finally, after doing this for a few weeks, I decided I had to TELL Dustie that I liked him. [He said he didn't know if I liked him, or if I was just being nice. (lol, wonder if he still thinks I'm so nice!)] So, I did, & we dated for about 9 months.
One night, we had planned to go out, so I was waiting for D to call & tell me he was at the Girls' Apartments to pick me up. (Guys couldn't go into the girls' dorms & vice versa.) While I was waiting, my friend came to my door with an envelope with a note & a key in it. It was from D. The note said to go to his mailbox & check it. From there, he sent me to a park that we liked to go to w/ some friends, then Taco Bell (my fave place to eat lol), Finally, I got a note that said for me to go to our church. (The place D was youth pastor...30 mins away!) To be honest, I just thought this was a sweet date with a fun scavenger hunt & I was actually annoyed I'd have to drive that far. I was ready to see my man! I got to the church, went in the door & the hallway was lined with lit candles.
From this point on, it was like an out-of-body experience. The candles led me down the hallway into the sanctuary. Once in the sanctuary, I saw that D put all my love letters & little gifts I'd given him on the altar table. (We had a long distance relationship the summer between Soph. & Jr. year (2 hours apart)-D worked at school & I went home to Shreveport to do a summer internship. He got a LOT of mail from me.)
D walked into the sanctuary, up the aisle & met me at the altar. He got down on one knee & asked me to be his wife.
[Later, when he told the church, he said that the altar was where he made all his important decisions in life: where he made his salvation public , he answered his call into ministry & where he asked me to marry him. (He's the best...I know :))]
Obviously, I said yes! :)
We were engaged for 7 months before we got married. Early on during those 7 months, I had an epiphany (more like a total "duh" moment). God finally revealed my calling! I was called to be a Preacher's Wife!
When I say Dustie was the man I was made for, I mean, I truly feel that our relationship was ordained by God.
I'm so thankful for my husband, the life we live together, & the calling I was chosen for.
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