This is a God story.

Over the years, God has taught me how to hear-and-obey the Holy Spirit in different situations; I have had the joy of seeing lots of miracles as a result. Those stories, in which I obey what I hear and end up seeing a miracle, are always the easiest to tell.

But today, I’m going to share about a time when I didn’t have enough faith to obey. I’m sharing this story because because how God handles our failures shows his/her true nature more than how God handles our successes.

Today’s story is about my wedding dress.

In 2015, God told me to write a list of qualities I wanted in my future husband. Then, he/she put me on the most unbelievable prophetic journey of my life thus far. Three years later, God told me to plan my wedding and buy my wedding dress because I would be getting married soon.

The problem was I wasn’t dating anyone. I was as single as single could be, and I had no prospects in sight. Needless to say, I was sort of angry at what God was putting me through as I waited on this prophetic marriage to come true.

I still tried my best to hear-and-obey, but I didn’t have enough faith to go it alone. So I asked one of my brothers-in-Christ from my house church to pretend to be my fiancée as I checked out a wedding venue. He and I had lunch at the Baltimore Museum of Art and spoke with the wedding coordinator about our “dream day”. It was a beautiful spot and I heard God say I would get married there. I didn’t know how I would ever be able to explain it if I showed up on the wedding day with a different guy on my arm. Ha!

Then, I asked another brother-in-Christ from my house-church to go dress-shopping with me. He pretended to be my brother in the dress shop and took pictures and videos of me in two different dresses that I loved. He held my hand and told me everything was going to be okay as I held back tears of frustration. The sales ladies couldn’t understand why I wasn’t gushing with excitement at the prospect of buying my wedding dress.

It took me about four weeks to finish my research for the entire wedding. I prepared a menu, a guest list, and a design theme. I picked out my wedding dress and shoes. I set my budget. Then? I chickened out! I just didn’t have enough faith to put down a deposit on the venue or to buy the dress I had found.

Understandable, right?

I mean, how many people buy their wedding dress before they start dating their future husband?

I decided to call my lack of faith “wisdom” and walk away with my head hung low.

God Shows Up

Four months later, I married the same guy who took me wedding-dress shopping in a whirlwind romance that lasted three weeks from first kiss to “I do”. Our first kiss came at God’s behest, and our decision to marry came when God reminded me of the list I wrote in 2015–this man had all the qualities I wanted. He proposed three weeks later on a Sunday. Then, we heard God say he wanted us to skip the long engagement and go straight to marriage, so we did—48 hours later. We married on a Tuesday night in front of eight friends in his living room and his parents on video chat. The first brother-in-Christ (my pretend fiancée) was my husband’s best man and a third brother-in-Christ from our house church officiated our wedding.

It was nuts! It was us. 😊

Marriage With A Backup Dress

Unfortunately, I didn’t have time to buy a wedding dress in 48 short hours (even though I looked), so I pulled the only dress in my closet that fit me at the time: a pink dress God had told me to buy in Germany one year prior. I never understood why he/she insisted I buy that dress back then because I never needed it for anything while I was there. But now, I know.

You see, God knew that right before I got married, he/she would tell me to buy a wedding dress and I wouldn’t have enough faith to obey. But God also knew I would have enough faith to buy a random dress for an unknown occasion, so God created a backup plan to bless me. He/she told me to buy a pretty dress I had been eyeing in Germany a year and a half before my wedding, just so that I would have something beautiful to wear on my wedding day.

That’s how good God is! When we are doing our best to obey God but our faith is just not enough, God’s faith carries us through to see our miracles come true!

If I could do it all over again, I would have bought the wedding dress. I regret disobeying God’s guidance, but I am so glad God prepared a plan B for me. Next time, I have hope that I will have enough faith to obey even more daringly.

Update

By our third wedding anniversary , I realized that I still have a longing to have a bigger celebration of our vows. I believe this is why God directed me to prepare for a snap-wedding in the first place. There is something heavy about living with regrets and God didn’t want that for me. My husband and I have talked about throwing a wedding reception in the future to fulfill this desire. ❤️