Waiting For Love: An Allegory

by Kristy Pellegrin
(Ocala, Florida)

Of all the dreams I have ever held most dear, only one has filled my heart with constant longing: the desire to find a love that would last a lifetime. My greatest goal has always been to become the wife of a man who loves and fears God with all of his heart, and to spend my life loving that man with everything inside me. Some people walk through their life taking a casual look at love…if they find someone to love forever, then fine, but if they don’t find someone to love forever, well then that’s fine too. That was never me. Every hope and every prayer of my heart had always been that God would bring the man He had chosen for me into my life.

But my journey to love didn’t turn out like I had thought it would. Although I was following the road I believed God had placed before me, there was no sign of the future love I had thought would be waiting for me. Each step I took seemed harder than the last. I hadn’t counted on the despair of loneliness, or the heartache of seeing my dreams postponed, or dealing with the fear of never finding the one thing I had always searched for. And so it was that I found myself walking through life alone, and the soulmate I had thought would be walking beside me was nowhere in sight.

“Lord,” my heart cried, “where is he? I’ve waited for him for so long. Why doesn’t he come to me?”

God’s answer was a gentle whisper of “Trust Me.”

Taking heart, I continued walking along the road before me. In the distance, I could see clouds beginning to form, and soon the entire sky above me was a solid wall of gray. “Lord,” I prayed again, “are You sure this is the right way? I can’t see where this road is leading me anymore.”
Once again, I heard the answer, “Trust Me.”

With a sigh, I obeyed. The God who loved me would see me through. He had never let me down before and he would not do so now.

Then the rains came down. Soaked and weary, I struggled onward, trying desperately not to lose sight of the road. I had never felt so alone. The husband I had longed for was nowhere to be found, and now the skies would not even permit me the comfort of sunlight to guide my way while I looked for him.

“You don’t need to look for him,” I felt God speak to my heart. “I know who he is and where he is…and when the time is right, I will bring him to you.”

I had a choice to make at this point. Was I going to continue to trust God even though I could see no possible way that what He had promised would come true? Or was I going to abandon His path and choose my own way?

But then I knew deep inside that there was really no choice to make. God was the most important Love in my life, and His will for me was the only path I wanted to take. Regardless of how long it took, I knew that God’s plan for me was perfect, and far above anything I could design myself. “I trust You,” I whispered. “No matter what comes, I know You are with me, and I trust You.”

The storms cleared, and sunlight broke through the clouds. It reminded me of God’s grace falling on me from heaven. It was beautiful.

And then…suddenly…there he was; the man I had waited for my entire life was finally walking towards me. His eyes scanned the horizon as though he was searching for someone, and his dark hair gently waved in the cool breeze. Then his gaze met mine, and in that instant, I knew that HE was the one I had always longed for. In those eyes I saw what I had always hoped yet never dared expect to find…I saw that he understood all that I had been through because in his own way he had been through it too, that he shared my dreams and also my tears.

A slow smile spread across his face, and then I realized that he knew I was the one he had been searching for. My heart began to pound, and I felt suddenly lightheaded. My first instinct was to run to him, wrap my arms around him, and never let him go…but I found myself unable to move, and all I could do was stand waiting for him to reach me, the beating of my heart cheering him on with each step he took.

When at last he reached my side, the brilliant smile on his face and the tender look in his eyes nearly took my breath away. We were both silent for a moment, both feeling a mixture of shyness and excitement. This was what we had waited for our entire lives, the one dream we had both held that so often had felt like it would never come true…and now it had. God had fulfilled our deepest desires and brought us to each other.

Reaching towards me, he slipped his hand around mine. “My dearest love,” he said softly, “thank you for waiting for me.”