I started following Christ when I was a freshman in college. While in school I was introduced to the concept of praying for my husband, even though I didn't know who he was. I thought the concept was good and I'd occasionally remember to do it, but it wasn't anything I did regularly.
A few years later I was at a conference and the speaker talked about how, when he was single, he picked a star in the sky to be his reminder to pray for his (future) wife. This man wasn't talking about "Wishing upon a star", but he used the star as a reminder to pray to the One who created the stars for the woman he would eventually shar his life with. Since I'd already proven to myself I wasn't very good at remembering to pray for someone I'd never met I latched on to this idea and decided to adopt it myself. I picked the middle star in Orion's belt.
Though I didn't know it at the time, on November 8, 2002 God introduced me to the man I had been praying for. Our first date was December 8, 2002 and we both knew fairly quickly this was "it". In March, 2003 my (now) husband told me he knew he was going to marry me, but he wasn't ready to ask me, yet. (Aside: 9.5 years and two kids later I still think that's the dumbest thing I've ever heard because were 26 and 36, he had a steady job, he owned his own home and I couldn't think of a single thing to wait for, but that's a story for another day. After we got engaged I told him how I felt back then and he still thinks it's hilarious; in fact, he tells me if he'd known how ridiculous I thought it was he would've waitied longer to propose. Goof.)
Memorial Day weekend, 2003 we loaded up my (now) husband's Nissan Xterra and headed for the mountains. We didn't really have a plan, we just wanted to get out of the Phoenix heat and spend time together (I worked one full time job as a flight attendant and a part time job working retail so I had insane hours and we didn't have much free time together). One of the ideas we'd talked about was just throwing a couple of sleeping bags in the truck and sleeping there.
Eventually we made our way to far Eastern Arizona and ended up camping there the entire weekend. I had never been to that part of the state and immediately fell in love with it. (I was already in love with the guy I was with!) One night during our trip we found our way to a meadow where we were just staring at the stars and talking. Even though we couldn't see it in the summer sky, during that conversation I told him about Orion's belt and how I'd used that as my visual cue to pray for him.
This past week our little family of 4 rented a cabin about 20 minutes from that campsite that is so special to me. As we were getting out of the car after dinner last night I looked up at the night sky for the first time all week. Whether it was because of the time of year or time of night I couldn't quickly find Orion (it was COLD and wanted to get the kids in bed so I didn't look long), but I told our 6 year old and our 4 year old about how I prayed for Daddy years before we met.
Last night as I tucked my 4 year old into bed she and I prayed for her husband. Orion and Eastern Arizona are significant in the story my husband and I share. Now every time I see that constellation, or am in that part of the state, I am going to pray for two more I haven't met, yet: my future daughter-in-law and my future son-in-law.
I love this, Heidi!!!
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