Tim and I Part 1

Hi folks!


I've been home from College sick for the last two days, and to amuse myself (in between essay writing and coughing) I have been looking at a few stories on people's blogs about how they ended up with their respective spouses. It's rather fun, often over the top, and many times makes me laugh- because these greeting-card worthy love stories of patiences and romance are so different to what happened to us. And yet it is the same God who brings them about. So it inspired me to write about how me and Tim got together. He is still deciding if he is willing for this- so if you see this up he must have said yes!

To start off with, I should paint a picture of what kind of girl I was . Though its probably hard to believe if you only know me now- I was painfully shy when it came to guys I was interested in. When I liked a guy, it was often more in my head than based on any flesh and bone realities! At 22 I had never had a boyfriend, and this worried me greatly. I wasn't a flirt, I knew I didn't want to be a flirt- but I worried this would get in the way of me being noticed. A wise older Christian friend gave me wonderful advice- focus on serving God- and that will attract the kind of man you want to marry anyway.

Unbeknowns to me, I had already had some contact with the man I would marry. My first memory of Tim was from the year before we met. He was doing a book review at a camp we were both at, and I have a very vivid memory of the first thing I heard him say "Hi, my name is Tim Grant, and I like wearing shorts!". His somewhat comical book review that followed gave me the impression that he was a funny guy- but as I wasn't generally interested in funny guys, I didn't give him another thought. My second memory of him was at a friends party (we were often at the same parties, but as we'd never been introduced we never talked). He'd been to a wedding that day, and rocked up in his suite, and I remember thinking that Tim Grant scrubs up alright, he looks very good in a suite!

Several months later I was on a camp called the Victorian Christian Youth Convension. Me and my friend Fi had invited members of our youth group to come and none came along to the day session- much to our disappointment. However, during the day we bumped into Tim and his friend Mike Veith, who Fi knew from previous meetings. Since we all weren't doing anything that afternoon we hung out, and Mike and Tim joined us for a BBQ with the young adults from church.

That night, after the session I sat down next to Tim and we talked. Because I wasn't interested in him (as I said, I never liked funny guys), I was alot more comfortable with him than I usually was with guys I didn't know. He asked me about my future plans and we talked about how we both wanted to do ministry. We both smiled at each other and in that moment the following thoughts went through my head We both have the same ideas about the future, I feel really comfortable with him, he's a lovely Christian guy, I wonder why I don't like him, wait a minute I think I do!

Tim's interest in me was growing that night as well.

That night I had a dream about him, where we had had a really deep, wonderful conversation. I knew it was just a dream, but still, it suggested to me that my subconscious was interested too! But I remember praying and praying because I didn't want to like him for the idea of him but for him. So I prayed the words I would repeat over and over to God over that next year Father, make me sensible about him, and not silly!

Tim, meanwhile, just like a guy, promptly forgot about me ;)

Next installment coming tomorrow!