I FOUND UNEXPECTED LOVE ON A CRUISE!
Going on a cruise has been one of the best decisions I have made. I didn’t feel like that at first. I want to share my story with you; so you can understand how amazing God is. I have been a single Christian for over 12 years now and over that time I have attended many conferences and singles retreats and events. I have changed and grown in faith but there is one area that my faith had actually decreased and that is in finding that special person and getting married!
I have been hurt over the years and felt the disappointment. I felt the rejection and loneliness. I felt like God has forgotten me or that I was supposed to remain single for the rest of my life. I have been in situations where I have been interested in someone and they were not interested in me or vice-versa. Or we were both interested in each other and because of circumstances it would not work out. This can be very frustrating and if you don’t have the right heart you can become bitter, faithless, and rebellious towards God or look to sin for comfort.
I have been in situations where my singlehood felt like a curse and not a blessing, I have given into self pity, being anxious worried, depressed and sinful. Luckily that is not the norm for me but the bad times at different points have been hard especially during the holidays and the end of the year! Here is a related story: Lessons Learned on the 2011 Singles Cruise
Last year I decided not to attend any more international singles events since I felt I was losing my focus and I wanted to increase my evangelism and serving and I felt I had spent too much time worrying about finding that elusive special one. For some people it seems so easy as they move from one relationship to another without seeming to get hurt. I usually take years to recover from a heartbreak.Some of the sisters from my church in Trinidad were really excited to go on the Singles Cruise sponsored by Disciples Today that was going to different islands in the Caribbean. Most backed out since they were saving to go San Antonio the next year for the World Discipleship Summit. I was not in the least bit interested; I decided that I would finish a few home improvement projects and travel somewhere a little quieter. I didn’t want to go on the cruise and see someone I like and get hurt. (Not very courageous on my part.)
One of the sisters I was close to really encouraged me to go and enjoy myself. Later on she sent an e-mail stating that they had waived the registration for the brothers since there were a shortage of brothers and I would get to encourage a lot of sisters. I didn’t budge much. Another sister who had decided to go on the cruise told me that I would really be missing out, she told me to forget about what could go wrong and just go enjoy the trip, the food and the fellowship; see new islands and do what you like to do serve. I was persuaded and I registered. I regretted it the very next day; I had to pray so hard to go on the cruise. A month before the cruise I decided that I didn’t want to go, I went on a 7 day fast and I got an answer to a prayer on the 7th day. I decided to go.
The DToday Singles Cruise was better than my expectations. The events on the cruise were amazing; you could do something literally 24 hours a day! I went on a few dates and on one of those dates I met my fiancée Eula McKinney. I thought she was out of my league so I never even considered pursuing her. She was so tall, 6’2” and I am 5’5”. We look very different but we have so much in common. You never know who you might click with. After our date she decided that she wanted to set me up with her friend in California. Eula had a few brothers interested in her and she was building relationships with them. I was actually interested in another sister on the cruise but she was not interested in me. Eula and I kept in touch since she was trying to set me up with her friend and looking out for her friend she got as much information on me and my character and I got to know her.
I decided to build this friendship because this door was wide open. We both want to be loved and feel respected. We wanted someone who we could feel safe with and who we feel would protect our heart. We love openness and transparency, we both like to entertain and we have a lot of close friends.
After we realized we liked each other we decide to visit each other. Eula actually decided to visit me first. I was a little nervous, but I had a lot of advisors some of the leaders from the different regions were helping me to think this through since I decided that if all goes well with my family, my friends and the leaders I would ask her to be my girlfriend. How did I ask her to be my girlfriend? How did I decide to get engaged after a short time? The rest I will save for another story. Here is a link for the 2014 Hawaii Fellowship Cruise.