A lot has happened in the last 365 days. It was Dec. 23, 2018, when God told me to take off my wedding ring. “It’s time,” was the resounding message. I waited until nearly New Year’s before making it somewhat public, blogging about it on Jan 1st. “You can learn a lot from someone’s hands,” I’d said in that blog post, hinting at, but not coming right out and saying my ring had been removed.

It’s been a difficult year, thinking that God asked me to take off the ring to focus on Him… which He did. And in this year, I started counseling because the counseling I was attending with my boys was no longer helping. The year grew darker and Dec. 23 further away. The loneliness became more overwhelming. I began to shrink from friends and family, throwing myself in any direction to occupy my time.

In March, God set me in front of a few pastors whom I call friends, and whose wisdom and care have comforted me through the darkest days. “God is at work in you. He’s preparing someone for you,” I was told… many times. I chose to not believe. I chose to say what I was supposed to say so they’d stop talking. I chose to not listen.

In August, I began to hear God remind me to turn to my pursuit of joy. At the end of September, He challenged my theology of gratitude. On my birthday (Oct. 1), I fully understood the call to gratitude and began starting each day with two “aloud” comments related to gratitude. That’s when the flood started.

On Nov. 17, 2019, I woke up to a picture titled “Streets of Gold” at the top of my Facebook feed. God said to me, “This picture is for you…to represent My blessing in your life and the blessings you will walk through.” I contacted the artist and made plans to purchase it. I was not expecting, nor was Carolyn, the twist in my story God was writing.

For the last 3 years, I’ve carried two candles at ther Candlelight service. On the same evening God told me to take off my wedding ring, He’d told me to blow out the second candle.

Tonight, 365 days later, I stood in the Candlelight Service again. This time, however, I was standing next to my fiancee: Carolyn Walker. God is so very good!