For I know the plans I have for you…

Picture a country road in a quaint, little rural Kentucky town. Dust flies through the air as two young kids pedal their hearts out all over a little piece of land.

One a shy, backward kid who is all boy.

The other a tomboy of girl.

Billy and Teresa couldn’t really remember a time when they didn’t know each other. “Before time” were Billy’s words. A constant presence in one another’s lives. So intertwined were their familial and friendship connections that “they” just always were. Their parents fellowshipped together. These two went to school together. Went to church together. Played hide and seek together. They rode their bikes together.

“We rode bikes on this road never dreaming we’d live here one day,” Teresa said with a slight wave of her hand indicating the land she and Billy have called home for some time now.

Jeremiah 29:11

“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future.” 

If you live in our community at all, you know Billy and Teresa. They and their families have been prominent figures in our community for as long as I or my husband can remember. They basically grew up together and were always with one another, but it never really occurred to either of them that they would end up married one day. Thank goodness it occurred to God and was in His plans because this couple right here has influenced more lives than I, they, or anyone besides God himself knows.

We’ve all seen the movies with teenagers in budding new romances on the telephone, or been the teenagers in budding new romances on the telephone, having the “I love you more….No, I love you more” conversation.

As I sat in Billy and Teresa’s living room with her curled up in a glider and Billy nestled into the couch, both wearing their UK blue in preparation for the game they would watch together when I was gone, they were engaged in a conversation that sounded a lot like “You’ve pushed our family to love God more….No, you’ve made sure our family loved God more.”

It was truly a beautiful conversation because you could see where their priorities lie.

God, family, and the Kentucky Wildcats.

Teresa then turned to me and said, “You know, I don’t know that I knew enough to actually pray for God to send me a godly man when I was younger. I really don’t think I ever did. But, I am so thankful that He did. He sent me a godly man.” She glanced at Billy with a look that made the corners of my mouth turn up, a warmth fill my heart, and peace envelope my soul.

God has plans for us, each and every one of us. Those plans include our soulmates. Teresa was right. God sent her Billy, but He sent her TO Billy as well.

Their story. Their struggles. Their triumphs. Their happy times. Their hard times. God has been evident throughout it all, and I cannot wait to share more of what I have learned after sitting down with them.

I hope you’ll join me back here to hear the rest of their story very soon. Until then, God bless!

Erica