“I hate Valentines Day,” K* once told me several years ago.
“Why?” I asked.
Her answer indicated the “day of love” was not a day that made her feel loved.
“Well. why don’t you come over on Valentines Day and we’ll have fun!” I told the student.
She and her roommate accepted my invitation and arrived at my home where I had prepared a gift for each of them, and had also set up a chocolate strawberry making kit.
I could tell by the light on their faces that they were delighted. And when I asked them to choose a movie to watch for the evening, I was thankful they chose Fireproof, a movie about God’s love in marriage.
Around a year later, K.* decided to become a believer and was baptized.
Another year later, while on a conference call with my co-worker, who lived in the same state where K* is now working, and I received some surprising news.
“K* and I met up the other day,” said my co-worker, “and she introduced me to her boyfriend.”
Inside I groaned. More often than not, in my experience, when an international student from China, as K* is, comes to Christ while attending a university in the states, he/she ends up marrying a non-Christian. Such a student is either too young in the faith to stand strong and wait for a believing spouse, or the student is discouraged because they can’t find a Christian to date.
“Is he a believer?”, I asked with trepidation.
“Yes,” my co-worker replied.
Relief washed over me.
Several weeks later I received a text message from K*, “My boyfriend said his pastor wants to make sure that I have a solid, Christian friend/mentor to talk to and consult with, so I thought of you.” J
Humbled and honored, I messaged her saying how thankful I was to be regarded in his way, but asked if there might be any women of faith in her local area rather than someone a state away. She told me she was still getting to know the people in her church, having only moved to the area a year previously, and having switched churches recently to attend one nearer to her home.
Satisfied with her answer, I set up a time to talk with her, and during that conversati she gave me details.
It seems that after having a bad dating experience, she had become determined to date only someone who was strong in the faith. She put up a dating profile online and wrote that she wanted a Christian. After several one time dates, she and her current boyfriend met and discovered they had a lot in common. I asked what drew her to him, “His strong faith in God,” she replied.
At another point in our conversation, she held up a book she was reading by a Christian author on romance, “Do you remember I had a talk with you about guy-girl relationships?” she asked me. I had no recollection of such a conversation, but ah … wait … yes, I did remember! K* had come to my home after putting her faith in Christ, to ask about my view on relationships. I was able to share what trustworthy, married Christians had passed on to me, and also recommended several Christian books about the topic, one of which we read together. Praise God for this!