May 26, 2014
After hearing our pastor teach this sermon on prayer, I was encouraged to give my desire for a relationship with Derek to the Lord in prayer. The pastor had encouraged our church body to pray for some crazy things and I decided I would do just that. Here is a portion of my prayer journal entry from May 26th:
Lord, finally I lift up my desire for marriage to you. I thank you for giving me what Elisabeth Elliott referred to as “material for sacrifice.” Having an unmet desire is a bittersweet blessing because it causes me to draw near & depend on You daily. Jesus, I know my heart has been “boy crazy” in the past, yet I know You have been at work in me and have caused my heart to love you more than anything. I like Derek DuPrez and because of You in him, I’m not afraid of what may or may not happen. Many people have told me that he likes me and he spent much of the Musia wedding talking to me. It’s crazy Lord, and weird (at least from my human perspective). . . he doesn’t back down when I put up walls. He doesn’t flee the opposite direction instead he is kind and gentle and approaches me in a way that no else (human wise) ever has. He is so somewhat naive about basic life things (some. . . maybe it’s just church life) but he doesn’t even care. I love his heart for You, Jesus! I like too that I like him in a way. . . that I’m not distracted or anxious about it. He’s a great guy and while he’s young spiritually, I’m encouraged by his growth. We can have real conversations without flirting but still enjoy them and enjoy each other’s company. Lord I lift up this “like” to You – maybe it’s too early to pray that I could be his wife. I like him as a person very much and as my brother in You and Lord I pray that if it’s Your will, I would have the opportunity to get to know him better and to someday be his wife. Lord I pray that You would give me the grace to not be distracted by this but entrust it to You. . .”
June 1, 2014
Derek approached me at church on this day and asked me for my phone number. He said he wanted to hang out with myself and Courtney over the summer so he could get to know the people he was serving with. I was REALLY excited but I played it cool. I told Court that Derek wanted to hang out with both of us over the summer and she said, “Lauren, really?! Then why didn’t he ask for my number?” I just told her, “Well, he knows we’re roommates so he can just get it from me.” I still didn’t know for sure what Derek’s intentions were so I didn’t believe that he was interested in me. That afternoon Derek sent me a text and we texted back and forth a few times. Later that night I attended a staff meeting for the high school ministry but Derek was unable to go due to his work schedule.
After the meeting, the youth pastor’s wife asked me if we could talk outside privately. I started to get really stressed out thinking that something was wrong with one of the girls in my group and was wondering what could have happened since the semester had just ended and I felt that it had gone pretty well. I was overanalyzing about this in my head when she took me by surprise and said, “So, can we talk about someone who’s been giving you special attention?” I said, “Do you mean Derek? Oh, I don’t think he’s interested in me – just because a guy asks for your number doesn’t mean he likes you.” She said, “Actually, he does like you. He even asked Josh (the youth pastor) about pursuing you.” My response? “YAY!”
Read Part Five Here
