Did you ever pray upon a spouse? Share your story.

[Kalashnikova]

Cool story about how God answers prayer:

At our church in the US a basketball player Damien got saved. He became a very devout Christian and was a pretty good looking young man. Our pastor told us that Damien was praying to find a wife. At that time there were many good looking Christian ladies at our church.

But after a year Damien was still single and wasn

[DaughterofKing]

aww, how inspiring. I often wonder about that. God works in mysterious ways...your story has inspired me to pray for---Leo Dicaprio!

[Guest LadyC]

pray "upon" a spouse? i recall praying "for" a spouse. i'd been a single mom for ten years, and had decided i'd never marry til the girls were grown. i had grown to the point of realizing God could meet all my needs, aside from physical comfort of a man. but people at church kept telling me i should pray for a husband. they suggested i make a list of every quality i wanted in a man, and pray for God to bring me that man. i thought that was absurd, and still do. everytime i'd found a guy that met my qualifications, the relationship fell flat. i wasn't very good at picking for myself.

so one day in november, i was driving along and started praying. a condensed version of what i prayed was 'God, you meet all my needs, but i think i'm ready, and i'd love to have a husband, someone who could help me with the kids. i'm not going to limit you by telling you what i want in a man, because i know that you know better than i do what i need, and i trust you to bring me your very best for my life, and for the girls' lives..."

then i thought about that for a minute and said 'but do you think you could bring him to me by spring? may would be nice!"

that was my one and only prayer for a spouse. little did i know, however, that God heard my prayer. that same week of november, a man in a nearby city filed for divorce from his wife. they had both struggled with substance abuse, but the man was determined to quit... unfortunately, his wife had no desire to quit and kept enticing him back into the substance abuse... he filed for divorce not because he didn't love her anymore, but because he knew that they were killing each other with this addiction.

several months later, the very last day of may, i saw that man. we'd known each other all our lives (his father is my cousin), but we hadn't seen each other for years. we began talking that day, and we became each other's best friend... each other's support. well, he had the support of the rest of my family too. he offered companionship and helped me with the girls, and i helped give him the encouragement he needed to stay clean. after a few months, we realized our feelings had grown deeper than mere friendship... that scared me to death, partly because i thought surely God would not approve of such a relationship, and second because he didn't meet my requirements (which included someone who had never had a history of drugs and someone who had not been emotionally attached to anyone for over a year).

after studying scripture, and discovering that God had indeed ordained many, many marriages between "first cousins once removed" (and in fact, even first cousins, although that didn't apply to me), i quit fighting my feelings for him. we got married 7 months after our friendship began, on january 1, 1999.

amazing how God begins revealing his plan after you are obedient to His will. mark told me to quit work and stay home to raise the girls... and i did. then my father, whom i had always believed was only hanging onto life until he knew i was securely married to a good man) began to lose his health. he became incapacitated. since i no longer worked, i was there to not only raise my girls, but to help my mother care for my father. dad's health began deteriorating only a few months after i got married, and went downhill rapidly. he lost his sight, most of his hearing, his ability to walk, then his ability to control his bodily functions, and within four years, he lost his life.

not only that, but my daughters finally had a father-figure they could count on. they didn't always like mark's rules, and he could be very strict, but they also knew that he was the first to defend them when they were treated unfairly. and when my oldest was punished at school for something she'd been a victim of, believe me, mark took the day off work to "handle" it... and went to the school and confronted the principal himself. (she had been suspended for 38 tardies... but those tardies was because a bully would block her from her locker so she couldn't get to her books... in the end, my daughter was assigned a new locker in a new hall, and not suspended... but she was punished for one unexcused absense that we discovered she'd had during that confrontation... she was never tardy again, and never skipped a class again.)

mark stayed clean for five years. he recently fell back, and struggled for two years, but because of a group of online prayer warriors and another group of prayer warriors at the church we began going to (and are now members of) mark has been clean for three months again, and more determined than ever to stay that way.

he's been a rock for my children, who are both now grown. when my youngest daughter moved in with her dad for a year, she learned real quick that a lack of rules was not a good thing. she wanted to come home, but stayed without complaint until the school year was finished, because we'd always had a rule that if the kids wanted to live with us, or live with their dad, wherever they lived they stayed until the end of school. during that time, she became pregnant, because her dad allowed her boyfriend to sleep in her room during the holidays (she and her boyfriend flew back and forth during all holidays to see each other.) her dad wanted nothing to do with her. he wouldn't even buy groceries because he was angry with HER for getting pregnant, even though he allowed her to have sex under his roof.

she intended to have an abortion. she was terrified of mark finding out she was pregnant because she thought he would not allow her to move home. instead, he was her number one supporter... told her whatever decision she made regarding the baby, he'd stand behind her... and that if she wanted to come home, the door was open.

mark and i just celebrated our 7th anniversary... just one week after becoming grandparents to my youngest daughter's son.

and as for my other daughter, she's a Marine, and leaving for iraq next week. she at one time wanted mark to adopt her, but of course he couldn't because her dad wasn't going to give up his paternal rights.

God has blessed me!

[DaughterofKing]

GROSS!!!!!!!! You married your cousin! Are you from down South? If you guys have kids they'll have hoofs! EEEWWWWWW!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Kalashnikova]

Good luck, Mrs. Decaprio. There are Christian brothers that are not worse than him.

aww, how inspiring. I often wonder about that. God works in mysterious ways...your story has inspired me to pray for---Leo Dicaprio!

[Kalashnikova]

I'm happy for you.

pray "upon" a spouse? i recall praying "for" a spouse. i'd been a single mom for ten years,

and had decided i'd never marry til the girls were grown. i had grown to the point of realizing

God could meet all my needs, aside from physical comfort of a man. but people at church kept telling me i should pray for a husband. they suggested i make a list of every quality i wanted in a man, and pray for God to bring me that man. i thought that was absurd, and still do. everytime i'd found a guy that met my qualifications, the relationship fell flat. i wasn't very good at picking for myself.

so one day in november, i was driving along and started praying. a condensed version of what i prayed was 'God, you meet all my needs, but i think i'm ready, and i'd love to have a husband, someone who could help me with the kids. i'm not going to limit you by telling you what i want in a man, because i know that you know better than i do what i need, and i trust you to bring me your very best for my life, and for the girls' lives..."

then i thought about that for a minute and said 'but do you think you could bring him to me by spring? may would be nice!"

that was my one and only prayer for a spouse. little did i know, however, that God heard my prayer. that same week of november, a man in a nearby city filed for divorce from his wife. they had both struggled with substance abuse, but the man was determined to quit... unfortunately, his wife had no desire to quit and kept enticing him back into the substance abuse... he filed for divorce not because he didn't love her anymore, but because he knew that they were killing each other with this addiction.

several months later, the very last day of may, i saw that man. we'd known each other all our lives (his father is my cousin), but we hadn't seen each other for years. we began talking that day, and we became each other's best friend... each other's support. well, he had the support of the rest of my family too. he offered companionship and helped me with the girls, and i helped give him the encouragement he needed to stay clean. after a few months, we realized our feelings had grown deeper than mere friendship... that scared me to death, partly because i thought surely God would not approve of such a relationship, and second because he didn't meet my requirements (which included someone who had never had a history of drugs and someone who had not been emotionally attached to anyone for over a year).

after studying scripture, and discovering that God had indeed ordained many, many marriages between "first cousins once removed" (and in fact, even first cousins, although that didn't apply to me), i quit fighting my feelings for him. we got married 7 months after our friendship began, on january 1, 1999.

amazing how God begins revealing his plan after you are obedient to His will. mark told me to quit work and stay home to raise the girls... and i did. then my father, whom i had always believed was only hanging onto life until he knew i was securely married to a good man) began to lose his health. he became incapacitated. since i no longer worked, i was there to not only raise my girls, but to help my mother care for my father. dad's health began deteriorating only a few months after i got married, and went downhill rapidly. he lost his sight, most of his hearing, his ability to walk, then his ability to control his bodily functions, and within four years, he lost his life.

not only that, but my daughters finally had a father-figure they could count on. they didn't always like mark's rules, and he could be very strict, but they also knew that he was the first to defend them when they were treated unfairly. and when my oldest was punished at school for something she'd been a victim of, believe me, mark took the day off work to "handle" it... and went to the school and confronted the principal himself. (she had been suspended for 38 tardies... but those tardies was because a bully would block her from her locker so she couldn't get to her books... in the end, my daughter was assigned a new locker in a new hall, and not suspended... but she was punished for one unexcused absense that we discovered she'd had during that confrontation... she was never tardy again, and never skipped a class again.)

mark stayed clean for five years. he recently fell back, and struggled for two years, but because of a group of online prayer warriors and another group of prayer warriors at the church we began going to (and are now members of) mark has been clean for three months again, and more determined than ever to stay that way.

he's been a rock for my children, who are both now grown. when my youngest daughter moved in with her dad for a year, she learned real quick that a lack of rules was not a good thing. she wanted to come home, but stayed without complaint until the school year was finished, because we'd always had a rule that if the kids wanted to live with us, or live with their dad, wherever they lived they stayed until the end of school. during that time, she became pregnant, because her dad allowed her boyfriend to sleep in her room during the holidays (she and her boyfriend flew back and forth during all holidays to see each other.) her dad wanted nothing to do with her. he wouldn't even buy groceries because he was angry with HER for getting pregnant, even though he allowed her to have sex under his roof.

she intended to have an abortion. she was terrified of mark finding out she was pregnant because she thought he would not allow her to move home. instead, he was her number one supporter... told her whatever decision she made regarding the baby, he'd stand behind her... and that if she wanted to come home, the door was open.

mark and i just celebrated our 7th anniversary... just one week after becoming grandparents to my youngest daughter's son.

and as for my other daughter, she's a Marine, and leaving for iraq next week. she at one time wanted mark to adopt her, but of course he couldn't because her dad wasn't going to give up his paternal rights.

God has blessed me!

[Guest LadyC]

GROSS!!!!!!!! You married your cousin! Are you from down South? If you guys have kids they'll have hoofs! EEEWWWWWW!!!!!!!!!!!!

careful condemning what God has ordained. are you aware that mary and joseph were first cousins? i'm sorry you feel so strongly about the myths that you've grown up hearing that you feel free to make such judgements and in such a way as you just did, on a christian forum.

[ted]

and as for my other daughter, she's a Marine, and leaving for iraq next week.

Hoorah!

Hey, LadyC, is she still home with you now, or has she gone back?

If possible, I'd like to call and send her my prayers before she goes.

I'll PM (at the other site) or call this weekend.

GROSS!!!!!!!! You married your cousin! Are you from down South? If you guys have kids they'll have hoofs! EEEWWWWWW!!!!!!!!!!!!

DofK, if you have a point to make, this isn't the best way to go about it.

t.

[DaughterofKing]

sorry, what I meant to say was cousins marrying each other is disgusting!

[Guest LadyC]

ted, she's in camp pendleton right now... she goes back and forth to... whatever that place is about an hour away everyday to do her MP training...