A Love Story

Here's an excerpt from one of the love stories that's shared in my book....

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I was at a casual barbeque get-together with a small group of my secondary school classmates when I met Jacie (not her real name). She was the wife of my classmate, Stanley (not his real name) who were recently married. This came as a bit of a surprise for most of us because we knew that Stanley had been happily single all his life. With Stanley being a man of few words, having Jacie there with us that evening was like a breath of fresh air!

 

My curiosity got the better of me, and so I had to dig deeper into how they got together.

 

I asked Stanley, “I thought you didn’t wanna get married?”.

 

“I didn’t”, he replied and paused. “But God kept bringing her name up when I was praying. I don’t know why.”.

 

I was stunned and looked at Jacie. She nodded and added, “Yeah. I actually liked him many years ago but he didn’t feel the same way.”.

 

This really piqued my interest. “Wow! I’d really love to hear more about it some day!”

 

So some time later, after their extended honeymoon, I met Jacie to get the lowdown of their love story.

 

Usually before an ‘interview’ like this, I’d pray on my own before the meeting to commit this time to the Lord and let the Spirit lead us to His glory. So it was a pleasant surprise to me when we were about to start, Jacie asked if we could first pray together. Praise the Lord for His affirmation!

 

Jacie shared that when she was younger, like most young Christian girls, her criteria for an ideal husband would be a man who’s ‘godly’, handsome and wealthy. Basically a man out of a romantic, Christian novel! As she matured, she came back to reality and just wanted a man who’s serious about church life and with God. However, she did have just two deal-breaking traits for a man: gambling and smoking.

 

When she was in her late thirties, she met Stanley when he visited her cell group. It turned out that it was the last time she’d be attending this cell group because she was transitioning to a Chinese-speaking cell group, while this was an English-speaking one. About a year later, they both met again when Stanley brought some people to their church’s Chinese ministry.

 

“Since both of you are in different ministries, how did you both become friends or had more encounters together?” I asked.

 

“Our mutual church friends and pastor seemed to be hopeful in wanting to pair us up since we’re both single. So they created many opportunities for us to meet again through group gatherings and events.”, she replied. “After a few gatherings, I tried to use a common interest as an excuse to ask Stanley out one-on-one, but to no avail. He finally told me politely that he’s really not looking to be in a relationship.”

 

Jacie was a little sad, of course, but she appreciated his honesty. So she decided to simply surrender this to God. She also thought she’d try going for some singles events, though nothing meaningful came out of them. She even remembered that when she visited Israel in 2019, she offered up her prayer at the Western Wall that she’d be married, hoping that it’ll be more powerful.

 

Then in early 2020, just before Singapore went into a lock-down due to the Covid-19 pandemic, Jacie’s laptop computer broke down. She was rather anxious about this as she was supposed to be attending a virtual conference conducted by the church during the lock-down. She knew that Stanley had also signed up for the conference, so she thought she’d ask him to accompany her to find a suitable new laptop. She was really thankful that he agreed to help. But during the whole lock-down period, she couldn’t understand why she kept dreaming about Stanley!

 

Then a few months later in December, she had to be hospitalised for a few days due to a chronic condition. Unfortunately, this condition makes her susceptible to regular visits to the doctor. Incidentally while she was hospitalised, Stanley texted her out of the blue. That’s when he was informed that she’s hospitalised. So he asked if he could visit her. When he did visit her, he stayed and talked with her for four hours!

 

At this point, I was wondering if this could be the beginning of something. Perhaps Stanely’s heart had softened for her? I guess Jacie was also thinking the same, because about a month later, she thought she’d invite him to visit the Green (Rail) Corridor hiking trail. And he agreed!

 

She didn’t want to get her hopes up first, because there’s a chance that he could invite along his other friends for the hike. She also didn’t want to be specific about whether she’s inviting him alone or not, remembering what he told her many years ago that he’s not looking to be in a relationship. She thought she’d just let God’s will be done.

 

She also decided to pray the night before the hike. She prayed that God would confirm that Stanley was indeed ready to be in a relationship with her through a sign. And that sign would be that Stanley would hold her hand. Simple enough, isn’t it?

 

When they finally met the next morning, Jacie was quietly happy that Stanley came alone. So they went about their morning enjoying the beautiful nature around them, until they encountered an obstacle in their path. They had to climb over a fallen tree. Being a gentleman, Stanley quickly climbed onto the tree trunk and offered his hand to her to help her climb over. Jacie looked at his hand and was stunned for a few moments. Is this the sign?, she thought. Before she could finish processing this, Stanley called out to her with his hand outstretched. She quickly grabbed it and climbed over the tree trunk. After which, he promptly released her hand.

 

They continued on with their hike but soon encountered yet another obstacle. Stanley repeated what he did earlier to offer his hand, while Jacie was dumbfounded yet again.

 

This can’t be, right?, Jacie thought. He’s really just being a gentleman and helpful. Right, God?

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Would you like to find out what happened next? Read the rest of this story in my book!