Power of Prayer - My Testimony

I had my dream wedding on my birthday this year, but what most don't know is that it was the realization of a dream, an answer to my prayers of more than a decade.

I must have been 14, when a dear friend said that to get a good husband in the future, I should start praying then itself. I was surprised, but this spiritual friend helped me see that prayers now will keep our future partner to stay away from temptations, from doing things which would lead us to regret once our lives united. With these words of wisdom ringing in my head, I started praying for my future husband from then on, not really knowing what to pray for, but giving him in God's hands everyday. And it was my secret, even from my best friend who told me to pray in the first place.

Days went by, and since it was hard and too long to say, "God, I give into your hands the man you have destined for me," I felt I should start praying by a name. By what I believe to be divine intervention, I started praying for Andrew. It did seem odd, cos I had never seen, or known anyone by that name, but Andrew became a part of my prayers. I knew the person God meant for me need not come by that name, but I continued to pray for Andrew. 

Years rolled by, I was 23, and coming from a traditional Indian family, my parents were busy filtering proposals for me, their only daughter.  Meanwhile, I was too busy with my career, but everyday before going to bed, I prayed for Andrew.

Then trouble started, I started rejecting every proposal my parents brought up, and even I didn't know why. My parents started getting worried, but they did wait patiently for two years, I waited too. I remember one day, we were talking of a boy, and I told my mom, "Hmph, I can't imagine I was made from his rib" (Oh, yeah - Adam and Eve!).

And one day it suddenly dawned on me, after two long years - that I had moved from prayer to personification, that I was without even my knowledge waiting for Andrew, and I suddenly felt foolish. I am a strong believer in Christ, and believe that God works in marvellous ways, but it suddenly felt like I had been in a dream for too long, and the scales fell. I cried to sleep that night, it was a crushing thought knowing that I might have been going against God's will, and my parents wish by living in a dream, and now that I was awake, it was bitter. My last thought that night was a prayer to God that it might not be too late to go back to God's intended track for me.

Next day dawned, I woke up with puffy eyes, and I was getting ready to go to work, when I heard my mother on the phone. "Hmm, ok, tomorrow night? How about Lynns? Ok, Mumbai? Not an issue, whereever God wills. The eldest is it? I haven't seen him, what's his name? Andrew? Ok, sure, please tell them we'll be meeting tomorrow night. Bye!"

I stood there with my comb in my hair and my mind a total blank. You can imagine how it would have been, to finally get ready to meet a person by the name I had been praying for, for 11 years. All through the day I was praying, "God this is too good to be true, please let me not be disappointed."

We met the next day, and the minute I saw him, I knew it was him. Girls dream a lot, and I have been a dreamer more than most, and over the years, I had wished for many things, and talking to Andrew I realized he had it all. Silly things which no one would have thought about - That he should be the eldest in the family, so that I can be the Anni (Yes, he has a younger bro), that he should not work in the software industry (he works in an Oil and Petroleum major), that his family should be known to us (Maama and Maami were seniors to my parents when they were in college years ago), that he shouldn't be too older than me (he's older than me by 1 yr, and 18 days) and yesterday while we were talking we realized he met more than 15 items on my wish list.

God works in mysterious ways. We had gone to the same school all our life, he was just a year ahead of me all the time. And we went to the same Church all our life, and had never seen or heard of him. Everyone who knows me, know him and once the news got around of our wedding, everyone said it was meant to be.

And that's Andrew and me way back in 1991. We found out about it quite by accident after our wedding. It is one of my most precious photo of us.  

                                                                              

I know it sounds like a fairy tale, my own brother said so when I told him. It took me great courage to tell Andrew, cos I feared he might think I made it all up. But I did tell him (when he said I had stolen his rib and I couldn't resist telling him after that), and he believed it all, stunned though he was (which is very understandable.)

I am not a puritan, I do not say I am pure which is why my prayers were answered. I am a sinner like everyone else, and I feel humbled - I believe in God's everlasting grace, sympathy, love and glory. And now I am Vidya D. Andrew.

Andrew - Thank you for being mine; Maama, Maami, thank you for accepting me as your daughter; Papa, Mama,thank you for always, being there for me, I couldn't have done it without you both, and to my big brother, a huge thank you - for watching over me all through the years, and taking pride and joy in all my success. To all my friends and relatives - hugs for making it a day to remember with my family singing 'Happy Birthday' during the wedding cake cutting by Andrew and me. It will always be a day to remember, forever. Thank you all, so much.

And now I know for sure, that God does answer prayers, Miracles do happen, and will - as long as there is a God in Heaven above, and life on the Earth below!