Someone New

God's timing is sometimes really, really confusing.

I had some big plans. Plans I haven't told many people about because they weren't set in stone yet. Still aren't. But as the time draws near to start putting the plan into action, something has thrown it off.

I met a guy.

Now, I know what you're all thinking. Ok, no I don't. Because I don't even know who reads this. But my last post talked a lot about my experiences with dating. About 8 months after Mike and I broke up, I jumped head-first into the dating game. I went on a LOT of dates. There were a few I got fairly excited about, but most didn't make it past date #1. A couple lasted until date #3, but none lasted longer than that whether by my choice or theirs. So, because there have been a few I liked, I've mentioned "meeting a guy" to several people, several times over the past 2 years.

But this one...

We've made it past date #3 and I feel like it's still going strong, as we have plans for next Friday already (a whopping week and three days away). I mean...I feel like you don't make plans in advance like that if you're not interested, right? And did I mention that those plans involve him meeting my entire family? And did I mention that date #3 involved me meeting his family? I didn't? Well, it does, and I did.

On our first date, when I could tell there was already a strong interest on both our parts, I told him of my plan, the big plan that he was suddenly in the middle of. I told him that it scared me because I have to make some big decisions in the next few months and I don't know if that's enough time to determine if his presence in my life should affect those decisions (assuming he's around that long).

So, he knows about all this and has still chosen to date me. He's praying about it. He's praying about us. He asks me if I'm praying about us. (I am). I can't even tell you what it means to me to be with a guy who wants to be with me, but who wants to make sure this is what God wants, too. He tells me that thinking and praying about me keeps him up at night. I don't like that he's not sleeping, but I love that he's putting that much into it.

I was really happy with Mike. Incredibly, blissfully happy. I would have married him at any point along the way, because I was that sure he was the one. But just the handful of conversations I've had with this one, I'm realizing what a huge thing was missing between me and Mike. It was God. And it's a HUGE thing to be missing. It's one of those things I don't think I understood fully until now that I'm experiencing being with someone with whom I share that important detail. Mike never told me he was praying about me or for me. The one time I told him I'd pray for him (before a big job interview), he basically brushed it off, like it wouldn't really make a difference. NO guy that I've dated has ever, EVER told me he would pray about us.

It's funny because I feel so at peace about everything with this new guy. I feel like all the things I've been stressing about regarding these big decisions and this big change are suddenly not so stressful anymore. Yes, I still think about them...but it's different.

The idea of completely changing my plans for a guy I just met seems ridiculous. And it is, so I won't be making any big decisions just yet. But every time I'm with him I feel like I would give up just about anything to stay with him. The more I get to know him, the more blown away I am by everything about him. I look at him and I can't even believe this is happening to me. It doesn't seem real. It seems too good to be true. I feel like I should be scared to death right now, scared of getting my heart broken again. But somehow, I'm not. I'm not really sure if that's just me being stupid or if it's from God and I'm supposed to feel peace about it. He makes me feel safe, and that's something hard to find.

I know it's soon, and I know the last time I got into something this fast it didn't work out. But I feel like this one is based on something more solid and in many ways, already off to a better start. I just hope I'm not wrong.