Our Lady was protecting us beneath her mantle...
Almost two
years ago, Adam and I (Joslyn) became friends. We exchanged e-mails and instant
messages, but due to various circumstances in our lives, we ended up
losing contact. One day in April, I was surprised by an e-mail in my
inbox! Adam had written! He asked the usual polite questions like how I
was doing, etc., but he also wanted to know if I’d be interested in
catching up. Of course I took him up on that offer!
That night,
we talked for about four hours. It was an amazing conversation--we
caught up on each other’s lives and discussed various topics. At the
end of our talk, Adam wanted to know if I would pray with him. I was
stunned! No gentleman had ever initiated prayer with me before--most
especially a wonderful, godly, traditional Catholic man! It was at that
moment when I simply knew that Adam was the one God had planned for me.
Several months later, after countless hours talking and praying
together, several joint novenas, snail-mail letters, and face-to-face
visits, we were certain that our individual vocations to the married
life included one another! As the final “clincher,” Adam came to my
home to meet my parents and to ask my father’s permission for my hand
in marriage.
This was an especially worrisome event for us,
since my parents are staunch fundamentalist Baptists. (When I converted
in 2004, I became the only Catholic in my entire family, immediate and
extended). Surely the Lord was with us and Our Lady was protecting us
beneath her mantle, for not only did my parents accept him, but they
also offered us their blessing upon our future together!
Thus,
it was on the 15th of August, that Adam asked me to become his future
wife! We went to a Tridentine Mass that evening, and afterwards, knelt
at the statue of the Blessed Mother to finish our consecration (my
initial and Adam’s renewal) to Mary according to St. Louis De Montfort.
As we rose from praying, Adam took my hand and dropped to one knee. He
thanked the Lord for bringing us together, told me that I was
everything he had ever hoped for in a woman--quoting a large portion of
Proverbs 31--and then spoke some of the most beautiful words on earth:
“Joslyn, will you do the honor of being my wife?” I was crying at that
point, and so it was difficult to get out the “yes!” But I managed to
do it between a lot of sniffling and nodding my head.
What a
perfect way to begin a formal preparation for the awesome sacrament and
vocation of marriage! We hope to be married on the 13th of May, on the
Feast of Our Lady of Fatima. Also, as Adam is a Maronite rite Catholic,
we will be undergoing the traditional Rite of Betrothal soon. We hope
to be able to share some of those photos with you soon!
