Olivia

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Olivia was sixteen when I started mentoring her. At our first meeting, we settled in at a table at Tree of Life, ordered dollar lattes (oh how I miss those!) and cracked open our already-read copies of The Prayer of Jabez to see if there were any new things we could learn from its few chapters.

In the years to follow, we read other books (I think my favorite study we ever did was Elizabeth George's book Beautiful in God's Eyes - a study on Proverbs 31), prayed endlessly for each other, got together for coffee dates and home movie nights, and even worked out together now and then. (She slaughtered me in every workout. Stupid ten year age difference.)

Olivia was the one who sneaked into Tree of Life one day while I was on a first date, and peeked out from behind a bookshelf just to see what this guy looked like. She was also the one who concocted a terrific story to get some pictures of one of my die-hard crushes as a Christmas gift for me one year. She's been known to bring me frappes on days she sensed were unraveling me, and while in college, would drop by my office just to give me a hug. She was also the one to hit the floor in prayer with me the night before my desert ended.

In college, she began to date an amazing guy. No seriously. Amazing. Check this out. After they started to date (and I'd riddled her with questions about him and was dying to see him) he showed up in my office one day, stuck out his hand and said, "Hi, I'm Tom. Olivia's told me so much about you and I just wanted to introduce myself."

Shut up. Are you for real?

Indeed he was. Together they actually asked to come over to my house for Sunday lunches because they liked my cooking. On my birthday, they showed up in the morning to bring me pancakes, sausage, and scrambled eggs they'd made in a kitchenette on campus. I loved those two and the way they loved me.

They were one of those rare God-ordained couples. A couple that embodied what it meant for two to be better than one. A couple you'd look at and say Man, I hope they make it because they will pour the love of God into everyone they meet.

This past spring, they graduated from college and moved away into the real world. Olivia and I still do our once a week meetings - by phone, now. And last week, she sent me an email to ask for prayer. She didn't know what was happening, but something seemed amiss. Of course, I went straight to prayer - for wisdom for her and Tom.

Saturday night, as I watched some sappy Hallmark movie and recovered from shoveling, my phone rang. Call from Olivia.

She sounded like she was crying.

My heart stopped beating (literally) as she began to speak. "I was just wondering if you would honor me be standing up with me in my wedding?"

That boy proposed to my sweet girl. I was so glad. I did not want to have to hunt him down and have words with him.

I don't know if I cried more over the proposal or the invitation to be part of her wedding. She reminded me (after half a dozen EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE's!!!) that I'd not answered her question. I said, "Are you for real?"

She told me I've been influential in her life and in their relationship, and she wanted me standing with her that day.

As she shared with me the details of how he proposed and how God had led him...prompted him...assured him....confirmed that this was His plan for their lives, my heart swelled with hope. Hope that God still speaks to men's hearts and that men still listen to Him and follow in obedience.

Will I be her bridesmaid? Oh yes. I will be honored and humbled to stand beside her that day and watch her step confidently into her promised land.