Wedding Day

“Likewise, teach the older women to be reverent in the way they live, not to be slanderers or addicted to much wine, but to teach what is good. Then they can train the younger women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled and pure, to be busy at home, to be kind, and to be subject to their husbands so that no one will malign the word of God” (Titus 2:3-5).

Today is my spiritual daughter’s wedding day. I have plenty of Kleenex ready because I know there will be tears of joy flowing freely later. She will be a beautiful bride.

Last night I had a flashback to when I first met Lara, almost fifteen years ago. I was working in Public Relations at San Antonio International Airport and there was an opening on the PR staff. I prayed the Lord would bring a young woman who I could mentor. Lara popped into the airport without an appointment asking, “Do you have any openings here?” I asked God, “Is this the one?”

As it turned out, Lara went through the interview process and did get the job. She had moved to San Antonio to take care of her dying mother and I realized our working together was not by chance. God was using me and other women in the workplace to comfort Lara during a difficult time but he was also drawing this young woman to him and using me to be a light in her path.

In between work assignments there were opportunities to talk about faith. Lara believed in God but wasn’t too sure about Jesus’ resurrection. I asked her why she didn’t believe. When she didn’t have a good answer, I challenged her and said, “Before you don’t believe, why don’t you find out more about what you don’t believe in?” She followed my advice and attended Bible study for the first time in her life. It was through studying the Word and later, a spiritual retreat, that she began her journey. It was full of ups and downs, forward progress and backslides but God never let go of Lara. When her mom passed after a long battle with cancer, I felt like the Lord told me to step in because she needed a mother figure in her life, so I did.

I constantly encouraged Lara with a verse from Matthew 6:33: “ But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness and all these things will be given to you as well.” It is a Biblical promise that we all have trouble living out but when we put him first, God takes care of all the other details. It works!

I was there through Lara’s moves to Chicago, New York, through many different boyfriends, and at long last, to the DFW metroplex where I live. It was here where I saw Lara’s wobbly spiritual legs become stable. She got connected with a dynamic church and was drawn into leadership at her congregation. At some point, she did surrender all of her life to God and began to seek him first. That is when I saw her life fall into place. She longed for a husband but the right one never seemed to enter the picture. That’s because God wanted to be the center of her life and when he was, her Prince Charming, Bowen, arrived. A perfect match, put together in Heaven long before the two of them were born. Bowen, a 41 year-old on-fire Christian, never married. Lara, 39, to be married for the first time as well. It has been beautiful to watch the Lord, who invented love, put this special union together.

So ladies, always be on the lookout for a young woman who needs godly counsel. It is a great privilege to be used by God to direct a life into one that glorifies him; to live out Titus 2:3-5.

There is nothing better than being a spiritual mom.

And today at Lara’s wedding, I am honored to sit on the front row where her mom would have sat if she had lived. Last night I asked the Lord what Lara’s sweet mom might say to her today from Heaven and it was, “I miss you dear Lara. I wish I could be there today to share in your happiness. But I will be watching with great joy from above.  You are a beautiful daughter and never forget I love you.”