Our Love Story, Part Five
It’s been a while since I shared “Our Love Story”, and with February being a month we focus on love and Valentine’s Day, I thought it would be an appropriate time to pick it back up where I left you with:
“Sometime in the future, I look forward to sharing a miraculous gift God gave Mark.”
Have you ever heard of The Five Love Languages by Dr. Gary Chapman? I loved his work so much that I interviewed him on episode 85: Five Love Languages with Dr. Gary Chapman. It turns out I’m a quality timer. That means I experience love when someone chooses to spend time with me. When Mark asked me out in July, his job still required 100% travel. However, right as we began dating, God gave us a gift. Mark was placed on a new project, based out of Atlanta! After graduating from Georgia Tech, he had never been on a project in his home state, let alone his home city! Home Depot was his client and the graduate school I attended was just minutes away, which is a miracle, in the traffic-laden city of Atlanta, GA! Our time together and affection for one another continued to increase.
We did hit a busy season early on, when we couldn’t find a day on the calendar to sync up our schedules for our next date. Mark was most freed up from work on weekends, but I was oftentimes busy with weekend intensives for school, to complete my program in two years. We finally found a Tuesday night that would work and we set aside every Tuesday night following. We had no idea date nights would be our trademark savvy sauce (check out episode 11 The Inside Scoop on Chick-fil-A with Mark Dugger to hear his well-articulated reasons for it!)
We have been married nearly 17 years at the time of publishing this and Tuesday night still remains date night for us. It feels like a vacation every week, and the blessings from Tuesday nights overflow to all other areas of the week. God has protected these set aside Tuesday nights in a special way, and through almost two decades together, we can count on one hand the amount of weeks we’ve missed Date Night, mostly due to the four births of our beloved daughters.
Our plan was to try something new each week. We grew closer through experiences such as dinner at new restaurants, nights at museums, dates to the Fox Theater, Georgia Tech sporting events, picnics in the park, conversation with 360 degree panoramic views overlooking the city, coffee dates on the Chattahoochee River, extended time at an aquarium, and we thoroughly enjoyed cooking together in each of our homes.
Though date nights were our favorite, we still valued cultivating friendships too. We played softball together in a church league Mark organized. We hiked, surfed, played frisbee, camped, and played sand volleyball with friends. We attended lots of friends’ weddings. We also spent time with one another’s families, and it was exciting as our lives were overlapping more and more. Mark didn’t care who was around - he would compliment me and flirt with me and make sure I knew he only had eyes for me. I constantly felt pursued and it was a continual reminder of God’s pursuing love for each of us. I was humbled to experience love like this, a love fueled by the Father’s love for us.
“We love because he first loved us.” 1 John 4:19 (NIV)
During our time of courting, we were growing closer spiritually as well. Mark would lead us through prayers together and I loved the conversations where we shared what God was teaching each of us, individually. One time he was remarking about how much he loved my Bible (Quest NIV). He mentioned he would like to have that same one, and he thought it would be really helpful for his daily coffee and quiet time with the Lord. After leading his small group one evening, he asked his roommate Parker about a Bible that had been in their apartment for as long as he could remember. Parker said it was not his. Because their apartment was the hangout, things were frequently left there, so they started asking friends who it belonged to. One day Mark opened the Bible and realized it was a Quest NIV! Nobody else had claimed it for over a year, so I told him I believed it was actually God’s gift to him: a perfect gift given at the perfect time. I’m so grateful God allowed me to witness this miracle and I’m so glad God gifted Mark something so personal. This Scripture showed up to reveal that this gift is just what God describes for us in James:
“Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.” James 1:17 (NIV)
He still enjoys that Bible today, and more than 15 years later, nobody else has ever claimed it. Thank you, God, for perfect gifts!
May you richly experience our Father’s love for you and freely receive every good and perfect gift He chooses to give you, knowing it is coming down from an everlasting and faithful, never-changing God.
Blessings to you,
Laura
About The Savvy Sauce
Practical chats for intentional living
A faith-based podcast and resources to help you grow closer to Jesus and others. Expect encouragement, surprises, and hope here. Each episode offers lively interviews with fascinating guests such as therapists, authors, non-profit founders, and business leaders.
They share their best practices and savvy tips we can replicate to make our daily life and relationships more enjoyable!
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