One year today!

365 days ago, he was sitting opposite me eating the fish porridge I had prepared for a sick boy. It was Tuesday. He told me on Sunday- the day mum left Beijing, that he needed to talk to me. After some days of fearlessly showing my parents around on his own last week, and trying to communicate with them with his broken Chinese, I was wondering if that might be it.

And of course I wasn’t all that dumb, after all JC years have taught me well- “guys simply don do things without a reason”, especially when they were exceptionally nice. So I had been thinking and praying about things for as long as it lasted- even though his signals were so confusing at his best.

Being able to spot me without fail every Sunday to sit near me despite his many commitments, but turning his back to ride home when he had the chance to walk me home. Trying so hard to organize group outings, but not keeping me company on my grocery trip when we bumped into each other in midst of Sunday’s Beijing shopping crowd at Carrefour.

All confusion aside, there were lots of godly American girls in church and many many Asian girls who were vying for his attention- and I was more than happy to let them have his. It was easy for me to brush any possibilities aside. My puny brain could not entertain so much confusion, nor was it keen to take on competition at all. We’re just friends- that is all there is. But yet the insane number of emails started to mean something along the way, his sms’s left her smiling to herself and the many casual conversations they had caused her to wonder if he was for real.

So this paranoid girl had been praying- and her very first prayer about him (specifically) went like this, “Father, I don really like him at this point that way, but I really really do like him as a friend. So if this is gonna go anywhere, You have my heart. make it fall in love with him.” And I guess He did.

On the day when his stomach was topsy turvy (likely to be psychological), and during a conversation about microwaves and ovens, he asked for a chance to pursue her. She darted her eyes all around the room, rambled on about this and that, recited her thoughts on the matter, and said a very confusing “yes”.

Some were skeptical of us making it through the distance and time apart, but here we are one year down the road, and she has said a even more significant “yes” 2 months ago. Some had asked her if it was too hasty; and she wonders still at times if “he’s the right one”. But every time, the answers return the same.

He had been with me right from the start on this, He was the one who made my heart fall for Arthur. And as clearly as I see his flaws and being one who was far from perfect- I see also clearly how we are perfect for each other. And when you meet the one you know He has meant for you to carry on the journey with, you cannot wait for the best possible mode of travel to start. This journey started with faith and every single day He had given is grace- may His love keep us till the end. Soli Deo Gloria.