Our Heavenly Father’s Match – Made in Heaven
Sharron’s Perspective:
I
use to say a prayer every night, as taught to me by older sister, Betty, who I
had complete admiration for: “Now I lay
me down to sleep, I pray the Lord my soul to keep, if I should die before I
wake, I pray the Lord my soul to take”.
I then included whatever came to my mind such as: watch over mommy,
daddy, Betty, Me, protect us while we sleep.
Forgive me of my sins (I listed them as they came to mind) and help me
to be better tomorrow. Amen. I was about four or five when I began to
faithfully say this prayer nightly with my sister. As I grew older, I still always included the
“Now I lay me down to sleep” part, just
incase I died before I woke!
My
grandma Mascunana on my mother’s side, use to tell me, during summers we stayed
with her: “Start praying now, while you are young, for your ‘Mr. Right’ and God
will bring him into your life. Let Him
know what you like, trust Him to bring you two together – He will.” So, I began to pray for my “Mr. Right” - that
is what I use to call him. I began to
think on what features I would like in a husband. At first, it was only: “Jesus, bring me my Mr. Right”, then as I approached my teen years
I began to think about this – features I wanted.
I
became infatuated with Dr. Ben Casey, and Dr. Kildare which were TV programs we
watched. I decided I wanted a
doctor! I told the Lord I liked doctors,
maybe my Mr. Right can be a doctor – I would research a little more. Next, my neighbor, Virginia, started dating a
soldier, but not just any soldier, he was a Green Beret! About this time also, a song came out, around
1966: “Ballad of the Green Berets”
which became popular and Virginia
Around
this time Troy Donahue (an actor from my day) came on the scene. He was blonde headed, blue eyed; tall, tan,
quite handsome so I decided then and there, I really liked blonde haired men!
I also loved blue eyes as my daddy had blue eyes – he had to have these
features! Now, was my list complete – I
wondered?
When
I was 21 years of age my high-school friend, Ellen decided to move to Marietta , Georgia Georgia Georgia ,
Ellen decided to move back to Florida
Each
time I found something important to include on my ever growing list for the
Lord, I added it. Some additional things
I wanted were: I did not want a guy that looked like me or matched me, he had
to like all foods – not be a picky eater as I loved to cook, and I wanted
someone that needed to be loved – I felt I had waited so long for my “Mr.
Right” and had saved up all the love I had for this person, I wanted to be able
to love them completely and not scare them away. I did not want to play the little tease,
flirty girly games – I just wanted to be me and love him completely without
reservation. I didn’t want it to scare
the guy off and I have never been able to “flirt” ever! I just wanted to be “me”.
I
began reading a book with a title something like: “Feminine Womanhood” (not
sure of exact title) but I read it, and also went to listen to this author
speak at a local church with one of my roommates. I had begun to feel like something was wrong
with me. Guys never paid much attention
to me, but always seemed to notice the other girls at church – it was like I
had become their big sister! They came
to talk to me about the other girls they were interested in! Although I was not the least bit interested
in any of them, it would have been nice to have been sought after! I recall my roommate, Helen, telling me many
times: “Sharron you need to get out and
go places to meet guys, as he is not going to walk up to your door and say,
“Hey, I am Mr. Right”. I would defend
myself by telling people that I was trusting the Lord to help me find my Mr.
Right and that He would make sure I was in the right place at the right time to
meet him, if I trusted Him and walked in His ways. Even my mother use to tell me: “Sharron, you need to get out and start
dating so you can practice on how to act when you do meet someone”. Again, I would stand my ground.
I
recall my dad telling me a few times while living at home: Sharron, I’m sorry you have inherited my nose as I have always hated
it, but they have procedures now where you can just pick out the nose you want
– you should have this done, who knows, some guy might fall in love with you.” Another thing I remember daddy telling me: “If you think you are going to find a man
that can be faithful to one woman, you are wrong as God hasn’t made the man
that can stay with one woman.” I
prayed earnestly for a man that would be faithful to me and show my dad that
God did have men out there faithful to their wives!”
I
had crushes on a couple of guys: Danny, best friend of my sister’s fiance – I
had a crush on him (in a daydream world) for four years! Then, when I finally had a chance to go on a
date with him (he was the first guy to kiss me!) I realized I did not like him. There were a couple of terrible blind dates
with drunken soldiers, and one – a guy friend set me up with had been married 7
times! Needless to say there was not
much action in my dating life. Also, it
seemed when I did like someone and prayed about it the Lord would always say
“No”. I hated even asking Him as I felt
like He was going to say no to everyone!
Once
He spoke to me in a dream, while I was living in Smyrna
One
Saturday afternoon while at our apartment’s pool, I was studying for my Sunday
school lesson, sunning myself. A very
nice looking guy swam over to me and asked me what I was reading. I explained I was preparing for my Sunday
school class tomorrow and we started talking, and before I left, he asked me
for a date. He was a soldier, handsome,
tall, and very respectful but no blonde hair or blue eyes (Oh well, perhaps I
could not get everything on my list, right?).
We started dating, but even then it was only a couple of times a
month. He was in the Army National Guard
Reserves, and worked for them too. On
weekends he and his brother would go home and help their parents on their
farm. I began to think he was the one –
I was comfortable with him, I was very attracted to him and as time went on I
knew he had very strong feelings for me.
I decided if he asked me to marry him, I would say yes! I decided I was not going to ask the Lord –
pray about it, as I felt He would say no, as I felt He said no to
everyone! But one day while I was
thinking on all this, (He knew my thoughts – imagine that!) the Lord
spoke: “Well if this is My no; imagine what My yes will be like – consider this”.
I decided to give this some serious
thought: “What would His yes be like?”
A
while into this relationship that did not seem to be advancing towards
marriage, I began to have what I came to refer to as “dark cloud
feelings”. I felt troubled and it seemed
to grow in intensity as the week passed by.
I would go home each day before my roommate got home and sit on the
floor before a chair, that in my spirit became the Lord’s lap, and laid my head
there praying: “What is it that you are
trying to tell me Lord – is something bad going to happen?” Each afternoon I sought Him out for an answer
to this terrible heaviness in my spirit but got no answer (I think He liked
having me cling to Him so He put off answering as long as possible). Finally, after about 5 days of this routine,
the Lord spoke to me the following: “Sharron, I am getting ready to bring the
right person into your life and he is going to be well sought after by others,
but I am going to give him to you”. I pleaded with the Lord not to give me a “well sought after” guy as I did not feel
I could hold onto such a person. I had
no confidence in myself that I could ever attract such a person, so after
pleading before the Lord over this, and knowing He was going to do it anyway, I
relinquished myself to His will in complete surrender and asked for His help to
keep this well sought after man.
I
began to look for him, anticipate my encounter – would it be at church or
work? I would get off the elevator, see
guys everywhere and wonder if he was working someplace here and I did not even
know it. How was the Lord going to do it
– where and how would I meet him? At
this time I was still dating the person I met at the pool, thinking if he asked
me to marry him, I would! (I know, I was
totally mixed up).
One
day, while I was in our cafeteria at work, I saw this very attractive guy that
we girls came to know as “the blonde headed guy with the square jaw”. I caught his glance and something in his eyes
told me that this guy was searching for the answers to life and I had what he
was searching for. I prayed that if the
Lord would help me to meet him, I would tell him about You.” I had seen him before many times around the
office and knew plenty of girls that tried to meet him They would pass their phone number to him for
a date, but he never took any of them up on it.
Some of the girls were very attractive in ways I was not and never would
be, physically speaking. I could not
understand why he said no to them all – perhaps he had a girlfriend. At the time he was attending college and
working at Gold Kist. A couple of my
friends – two sisters use to eat lunch with me and I would always speak of my
experiences with the Lord to them. They
worked with this guy – “Jack” and felt I should meet him as he had come from a
troubled childhood and seemed to be a good candidate for someone with my
convictions, to talk to. Rebecca, one of
the sisters, decided to invite him to breakfast one day to meet me and he
agreed.
Later
on that week she set up our meeting day and we both waited, but he never showed
up. Rebecca thought I was going to be
upset because he did not come (like all the other girls that tried) and
mentioned she would talk to him and find out what happened, when I suddenly
spotted him in the breakfast line! He
barely made it in, and Rebecca asked if I wanted to slip out the other way and
she would go find out what happened. I
decided to try the direct approach – go ask him myself. So I walked up to him and introduced myself. He apologized and said that he had gone out
drinking with his sister and had overslept, said he would get with me another
time, that he looked forward to it. I
left and went back to work – that was the end of that, right? My analogy: If he was a candidate he would
not have missed our breakfast (or so I
thought).
While
I was at my desk, the phone rang on our supervisor’s desk and while I never
received phone calls as my family all lived in Tampa
We
went out for that first date and I enjoyed our time together, as he was very
easy to talk to. I remember him opening
my car door, telling me I was the only girl he had ever opened a car door for,
walking me to our front door and asking: “so
how about a kiss good night?” Later,
after that first date, he phoned me and we talked for two hours. I recall I was going home for vacation when
he asked me out for a date and I was concerned that he would think I was
playing hard to get by turning him down, but he totally seemed to understand
and promised to call me when I returned.
My
roommate had gotten married so I moved in with a couple from our church that
treated me like their daughter, he was a deacon and she was my “G.A. Leader” at
church. One day after moving in with
them, my previous boyfriend called for a date. I do not think he was officially my boyfriend
but that is what I thought of him as. I
knew he was serious about me, but slow to make a commitment. Anyway we went out a week after my second
date (plus one 2-hour phone call) with Jack.
I wanted to see if I still felt the same way as before about him – when he
kissed me goodnight. I was surprised
that I did not! How could my feelings
change so quickly from literally melting into his arms when he embraced me to
disliking his kiss? Jack had changed
everything in just a few encounters!
Jack
wanted to be with me all the time. I
recall he went out while I was on vacation and got a new car (he had been
driving a very old, large Ford Thunderbird) and purchased a new Ford
Mustang. He also had bought some new
cloths for work. I had been driving a
fairly new Ford Pinto and one day while on my way to work, I had a wreck and
totaled my car. I had no car so for a
few weeks he would pick me up and drop me off each day.
I
immediately recalled my promise to the Lord, “If you will help me meet him, I will tell him about you” and
wondered how I was going keep this promise, but He began to ask me to tell him
about this “God” I served, and had questions for me. He had been through rough times while growing
up, had two older sisters, Deloris and Paulette and while Deloris was the
oldest and left home at age 13 to marry someone to get away, Paulette (9) and
Jack (6) got taken away from their parents and placed with two different family
members of their mother. Their mother
had a rough existence and lived many times homeless, drinking and had three
different fathers – Jack was not even sure who his real father was. He showed me his birth certificate one day
and asked me to notice the name on it – it read: “Jack Barry Crowe” but his
name as I knew him was: “Jack Barry Wright”.
I began to realize God’s hand in this situation little by little as it
unfolded before me.
Jack’s
mother had been with John Harold Crowe, but not married at the time of his
birth, who was not his natural father.
Later his mother married a man with the last name “Massey” (Paulette’s
father) so Jack went by Jack Barry Massey for a while. In 1957 when Jack was 7 years old his mother
married Archie Fred Wright and Jack became Jack Barry Wright. He petitioned the courts while in the army to
change his name officially to Jack Wright.
I had found my “Mr. Wright” and had been calling him that – it was as if
God had a sense of humor and changed his name!
But it does not end there, it gets better!
A
couple of weeks after we started dating, Jack went to church with me. At the end of the service when Brother Bobby
Moore gave the invitation to come forward to receive Christ as your savior,
Jack quickly walked down front and gave his heart to Christ! During our many conversations, I found out
Jack had a few other qualities on my list:
He was a soldier – in Special Forces, Med Aid man, trained at Ft. Bragg, NC – a Green Beret! While Jack was at University of Georgia
One
day about a year and a half after we had been dating, I had a dream. I dreamt that Jack had told me he loved
me. It seemed so real and I wondered
about it since Jack had never told a girl he loved her before – he would never
say it till he knew (or so he said anyway).
At about this same time, Jack went on an audit trip (he was an auditor
and accountant for Gold Kist) to South Georgia . While on this trip he went out drinking and
got into a really bad fight with someone much larger then himself. Evidently it was a very bad fight as Jack
came home afraid he was going to loose his job over the fight – he thought the
guy might call his work place and report him.
He seemed to think he could even go to jail over the incident – Jack had
training in Special Forces and had gotten the upper hand in the fight. I remember he told me that, all the way home
all he could think about was going to jail, and being away from me – he never
wanted to be separated from me. He said
he knew he loved me and if he did not do the right thing by me that he felt the
Lord would take me out of his life. It
just so happens that I had planned on talking to him about where our
relationship was leading and how he felt about me as I knew he was my “Mr. Right” but he did not yet. I remember
he came over as soon as he returned and said: “Baby, come over here – I need to
talk to you”. I recall my heart pounding
as I put my coat into the closet and I would not even face him. I asked the Lord to give me the strength to
handle whatever way it went as I anticipated him breaking off with me. When I sat down next to him, he told me what
happened and that he realized how much he loved me and “if you will still have me, we can get married”. I was shocked, and said: “When”? To this he answered: “next weekend if you want.” I told
him I wanted a wedding and my church to witness how the Lord had answered my
prayer for my “Mr. Wright”, so we got married two months later.
I
remember one day, a while after the proposal asking him why he never called any
of those ladies at work, as some of them were really beautiful. In answer he replied: “Because I would always watch
them first, and none of them “had their head together.” I am not interested in
playing their little games, and they always expect you to spend money on them –
I do not have money or time, putting myself through college and working full
time. I needed someone with strong
convictions and faith to answer my questions – you are the only one that has
ever given me the answers, that made since.” Through the Lord’s guidance, I had met the
love of my life and he was really worth the wait.
My
husband died from a brain tumor in 2004 and on a future story I will share some
of the fiery testing’s and trials I encountered with my husband’s 15 year
ordeal. He completed my life in such a
way, that even now I feel connected – I know he waits eagerly for my arrival in
Heaven. One day after his death, I was
thinking about the many Heaven conversations he and I had together, I began
wondering to the Lord what Jack thought about Heaven, now that he had arrived.
The Lord answered: “His greatest desire is to take you into his
arms and tell you how much he appreciates your steadfastness and long suffering during his time of need.” I have all
of eternity to share with my beloved and the One that choose him for me! What an awesome God we serve!
Here
is my list of specifications, for “Mr. Wright”:
- Doctor or person in
the medical field
- Soldier
- Policeman
- Blonde hair
- Blue eyes
- Could not look like
or “match”me
- Was not a picky eater
– loved all foods
- Someone that needed
to be loved
- Someone that allowed
me to be myself
- Did not like flirty
girl games
- Faithful to his wife
- A believer in Christ
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