Ten Years Ago Tonight

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'Just because something didn't last forever doesn't mean it wasn't meant to be.'

~ Stacee Harris


Tonight I'm celebrating ten years of Amazing Grace. I've often wondered what God intends, if anything at all. In other words, is this my path or His? Most of the time I choose to believe that it's mine, that everything that I am is the direct result of my choices and that He is just here for moral support. Then I think about May 8, 2002 and I'm not so certain.

I know that I am exactly where I'm supposed to be. I also know that I am here because of what happened on the night of May 8, 2002. If not for that night, I don't know where I'd be today. Would I be in Austin, in Texas? Would I have lived in Texarkana? Would I work for The World's Largest Home Improvement Retailer? Would I have met my Soul Friends or my PL (Platonic Love)?  Would I write? Would I have the purpose I have? Would I have experienced Heaven and Hell and found God? Would I be a Christian? Would I know Grace?  Would I be me?

In my life, there is before her and after her. Before her, I was lost; after her, on my way to being found. As crazy as it may sound, I can trace everything (EVERYTHING) back to our incredible first date at the Rosebud in Grand Haven, Michigan, exactly ten years ago tonight.

So much in me believes that we were intended. If I'm being honest, both our paths began that night. If not for us, would she be where she is? Would she be who she is? In other words, we had to happen for us to be where we are.

A lot of people over the years have scoffed in disagreement and said that if we were meant to be, we'd still be together. But what if being together forever wasn't meant to be? What if we were meant to be what we were and what we are? What if THIS is what God intended?

I may never know the answer, but I do know that every May 8 I'm going to pause like I've been doing for the past ten years. This is a special day for me. Ten years ago tonight I started down the most amazing path, a path that led me to God, Grace, and a Me I never imagined. In mind, if nowhere else, we were meant to be. For whatever your role in that may have been, God, I thank you.

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