I asked members of the Insurgency of Love to share their own personal stories of how they’ve seen Love Win in their own lives. I’m thrilled to share the first response, which comes from Angus Matthie who lives in Motherwell, Scotland.
I found shyness a dreadful impediment as I was growing up and still find it a problem in social interaction. The most relevant part in what I am considering today is that I got to the stage of finding it difficult to accept that people would want to be friends with me, far less have a meaningful relationship. I realize that I had built a picture of what I wanted, which was in large part an answer to all the perceived wrongs and hurts.
My early attempts at romantic relationships usually foundered after weeks or months and this fed my feelings of low self-worth. However, this all seemed to change when I met a young woman at a Christian camp. The relationship blossomed to the point that we were engaged to be married. Despite warning signs that the relationship was based solely on physical attractiveness not backed up by other characteristics such as spiritual interest, I persisted in thinking that this was what I really wanted. My parents’ opposition, based on these same concerns, only made me more determined.
I am sure you will understand my profound shock when she suddenly broke off our engagement without warning or explanation. I was devastated and turned inwards saying to myself that I would never be able to have a trusting, loving relationship, especially as I later discovered she had been seeing someone else without my knowledge and he was also in a relationship with another woman.
Thankfully, a short time later, God intervened in my life and I started dating Elizabeth. We got on very well from the start and I soon realized that God provided not only what I had wanted but, more importantly, what I had needed spiritually and psychologically. We are now in our 40th year of marriage and I wish I had trusted God in the first place and had waited a bit longer for me to realize what He was doing for me. Her love and trustworthiness transformed my life and I am thankful that my serious mistake was so fully rectified.
Angus S. Mathie.
Have an example of how Love Wins from your own life? I’d love to share it! Drop me a note and let me know.
