N A FAUX-MAHOGANY CHEST OF DRAWERS IN MY BEDROOM SITS A picture frame. It was a wedding gift—now almost 11 years old—that holds three pictures. There are two small ones—one of me as a chubby baby with rolls and toothless grin, and the other, a photograph of my husband as a toddler with brown curls and tiny hands clasping a favorite toy. The third picture transports these babies 20-some years into the future. It is our wedding picture, and the intricate gold filigree bears the following inscription: “From long ago and far away, love brought us to our wedding day.”
I remember when we opened that gift and selected the pictures to put in it. I regret that I can’t remember who gave it to us, but I haven’t forgotten how I felt when we placed the photos and perched the frame on a shelf in our home.
It took my breath away. It still does.
Because as I looked at the pictures of a little boy born a Shiite Muslim in Iran and a tiny girl born a fourth-generation Adventist in Singapore, it seemed almost unfathomable that those two kids would find each other in this great big world.
Love did bring us to our wedding day, because God is love. It was God who put His hand on my husband and brought him to Him. It was God who put prayers in my heart that readied me for the one person He chose for me. And the two vastly different worlds we came from were no match for God’s plans.
Nothing can stand in the way of the dreams God has for any of us, and when you fully comprehend the magnificent ways He aligns paths, you will never be the same.
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Wilona Karimabadi is marketing and editorial director for KidsView.