My Favorite Love Story

Tears streamed down my face as I laid prostrate on the living room floor of my luxury downtown apartment. The message I received was clear, but it wasn’t what I wanted to hear.

Three weeks prior, I began tithing — giving one-tenth of my biweekly paycheck to my church. I had recently finished a series on the benefits of tithing and felt spiritually led to try it out for myself. After contributing for three paychecks in a row, I gazed at my bank account and determined that I couldn’t afford to continue. If I did, I would have little to nothing left to budget for myself.

I thought, “Surely God doesn’t want me out here broke.” Right? At least, that’s what I wanted to hear.

But mentally, I flashed back to six years prior. It was early January; I lived in New York and had just gotten accepted into my dream graduate program in Washington, D.C. However, with only two weeks prior notice, I didn’t have enough time nor the funds to make the relocation process flow seamlessly. So I hopped on a one-way train to D.C., leaving everything behind, except for a large suitcase filled with winter clothing and a backpack of school supplies for my first semester.

I took a leap of faith, and spent my first two months camping out on a friend’s couch until I was able to snag a job and rent a room for myself. After spending so much time living on a couch, I had almost forgotten the luxury of privacy. I was appreciative of my room and grateful to have a door to my own space that I could open and close as I wished. I didn’t care that the floor was slanted, so things often rolled from one end of the room to the other if left unattended. Inside, all I had was a sleeping mat and a small cardboard box that I turned upside down to serve as my makeshift nightstand.  

“How could I forget,” I murmured back to my old supervisor as I waited for my order number to be called.

I smiled and thanked him.

Back in my apartment, I placed my food on the kitchen counter. Suddenly, I felt God’s voice in my heart say, “Sometimes, I have to allow you to see what I brought you through to remind you that I will never abandon you — that’s why you ran into your old supervisor. And the extra two meals that you got, that’s to remind you that I will always provide double than what you ask me for.”

Immediately, the tears gushed from my eyes, but harder and faster than they did earlier. I got on my knees, said a prayer, and directly paid my tithe online, which I was so reluctant to give earlier.

Before meeting him, I spent years praying for my spouse and asking God to take me out of toxic relationships and to lead me to the one that He created for me.

My husband is by no means perfect, but he is far more than anything I could have ever imagined or asked for.

This Christmas, and every day, I am grateful for my husband, who is my greatest gift and a daily reminder of my prayers personified.