So.. This season has been a rough but growing/maturing season! Me & my fiancee’, Dominique in the past had prayed about when we should get married because we wanted to do everything on God’s timing! When we first got together, we believed that God wanted us to marry Dec. 6th, 2013. But after awhile, God was shifting a lot of different things in our relationship.. Everything that WE planned, ended up going out the window lol. It just went to show that “We can make our plans, but the Lord determines our steps” (Proverbs 16:9) ..Dominique desired to propose to me sometime in the summer of 2012, but God told him in Feb, 2012 to get engaged to me. When that took place, I knew that God wanted us to get married earlier than what we FIRST thought & believed. So one day I was at church & I prayed for God to show me when to get married if it wasn’t Dec. 6, 2013. I heard Him clearly say, January 15th, 2013… at the courthouse. I was like WHAT! HUH? WAIT? Idk bout that God, I thought you said the wedding was in Dec… He said, you asked when to get married! Not when the wedding should be. At that point I received it.. Dom did as well, so we both decided to have the wedding ceremony in June, 2013. The next move that I had to make now, was telling my parents! I was so hesitant to tell them, & when I did… My mom & dad were totally against it. See the thing is, my family isn’t saved.. So anything spiritual that you tell to those who don’t serve God, will sound FOOLISH to them. I explained the best way I could for them to understand that this was what God wanted me to do. They didn’t agree because my mom was born & raised in Catholicism.. My mom didn’t like the fact that we weren’t doing everything all in once, we were gonna do things separately! Let alone, she disliked the fact that we were doing the courthouse first because in her eyes she feels like that’s not really being “married” because I’m not walking down the aisle first with a white dress on! Smh.. She ended up trying to be controlling telling me that she wanted to me to get married by a priest & at a church. I’ve already desired to get married at a church, but I was in disagreement about the whole priest thing & that got her upset. She felt like I wasn’t really trying to include her traditions or her beliefs, etc. I let her know that I wanted to do things God’s way! Her & my father had came to a decision that if I chose to stick with where & how I was going to get married, then they would pretty much remove me from there life & won’t support me no more. It truly hurt to hear that come out of my parents mouth because I want them to be in my life, who wouldn’t want their parents to be in their life?! …I kept praying & asking God to show me more confirmation about if this is really the date that He wanted me to get married on & He showed not only me, but also Dom confirmation. My mom kept trying to convince me meanwhile that I should do things her way, especially since my parents were actually WILLING to help bless us financially when it comes towards the wedding planning! My mom had came up with a compromise with me that she’d be willing to allow me to get married on Jan 15. As long as I have the wedding ceremony that SAME week, on the weekend. Also that when I do get married on the 15th, come back home & stay with my parents so I can move in with Dom, after my wedding ceremony night. So I figured it was an awesome idea, as long as she gives me her blessing to get married to begin with… So now that we had all that down packed, it was time to start planning especially with only 7 months ahead of us now to get married…. Ugh, it was the wedding planning from Hell! Because everything seemed so RUSHED & unorganized & our budget was super tight! It caused arguments between me, my mom, and my fiancee’ Dominique. It was terrible. With how the outcome of things were looking, it was obvious that this wasn’t supposed to happen this way & that me & Dom should have just stuck with out FIRST idea & kept the wedding ceremony til June so that we would have more time to save up & plan. I was under SO much stress that I threatened to take my life.. Because after going back & forth about this subject with my mom was taking all of my energy. God literally put so much pressure on me in this season about us getting married, I truly didn’t understand WHY! ..Dominique seen how stressed out about it I was, so he thought that it would be better to just move EVERYTHING til’ June. That means NO MORE courthouse in January.. Just do it all in once in June. He came up with that idea because he figured it would be easier on my mom, maybe she’ll support it more because we’re doing it all in once & would less stressful in planning than having to rush everything in so little time. It didn’t sit right with me at first because I KNEW what God said, & I was tired of changing & compromising God’s plan just to PLEASE everybody. Because of me trying to please my parents in a way, I ended stressing out soo much because of the burdens I was carrying. I continued to pray about the date & somehow I received peace about it just being all in June. But then that peace went out the window lol. My friend had spoken to me & reminded me to keep the date as it was (Jan. 15) so I went back to that! …I wanted to make sure at this point after all this fighting & bickering that this was STILL God’s will before I make any other moves! ..One day I went to church & my Apostle had spoken into my life & was telling me everything that I was going through with my parents & had told me that I know what God said & I know what He showed me & to not listen to my mom or dad’s religious, controlling spirit & just do what God say do & STOP WAVERING… I felt relieved to know that I wasn’t crazy about this DATE!!! Lol.. but a couple weeks after that me & Dom had realized that we been struggling with lust for so long that we both think we just need to get married as soon as possible… Me & Dom both prayed if it was okay to get married BEFORE Jan 15. & We both heard God say YES. I began to get confused because I’m like okay God, well if that’s Your will then why did you say Jan. 15? ..I was talking to my friend about it, & was telling her how I really believe that God was testing my faith like He did Abraham with Isaac.. But the thing is, I didn’t know WHY? WHAT WAS IT FOR? WHAT WAS THE PURPOSE? ..So a couple nights after I prayed that prayer, I was worshiping God before I went to sleep & as I laid in bed, God dropped in my spirit to read “Genesis 21” ..The next morning, I got up & I read it.. It talked about how Abraham & Sarah gave birth to Isaac. I was like okay God, what are you tryna say in this? I don’t get it.. He said keep reading! So I went on to the next chapter & it talked about how God told Abraham to sacrifice Isaac.. Now see the thing about it is that God really DIDN’T want Isaac to die.. Because God been promised Abraham his son Isaac! The purpose behind God’s reasoning for doing that was because He wanted to see if Abraham loves God MORE than Isaac.. Or does he love Isaac MORE than he loves God?! ..The Word tells us, to love God more than ANYONE else in your life (family, friends, spouse, co-workers, etc.) …See God put me through this season because not because He wanted me to get married on Jan. 15th lol.. Because truthfully, God can care less what day you get married, He’s more so concerned about you GETTING IT DONE! …The purpose was God wanted to know, are you willing to sacrifice your PARENTS even if they threatened to not only pay for your wedding anymore but also remove you out of their life?! My parents were my Isaac. Pssh, EVERYTHING started to make sense.. Smh, most people wouldn’t be willing to give up an OFFER like that! But see with Abraham, after he was willing to be obedient to God.. God blessed him with the promised land & it didn’t just bless Abraham, but those AROUND him as well… BECAUSE of his obedience to God! God is a rewarder to those who love & obey Him. Even though here & there I kept changing the plans around because of my parents’ opinions & wavered. I STILL didn’t fully give in & call it quits on everything & just did everything how my parents wanted to do it & because of it God has been blessing me & my fiancee’ beyond measure due to our obedience! I’m talking providing for us with money that we didn’t expect to receive & showing us dreams of this home multiple times that we’re supposed to live in in the future. Not only will it bless us, but bless those AROUND us & prayerfully draw them to Christ! I had to trust God that He can provide FAR more greater than what my parents can provide for me or my fiancee’. Many times God will show you the promise, but He won’t show you the journey (how you get there) …But once you DO get there, you understand why you had to go through what you went through! …After the trials me & Dom faced.. & knowing that marriage IS God’s Will.. Dom & I will be happily getting married soon next month, Lord willing! If you know who God has for you, is for you.. Then there’s no point in WAITING any longer lol! ..Anywho, we will keep you updated! Just thought I’d share this testimony with anyone who is young, & trying to get married, that needs encouragement! Obedience is better than sacrifice.. God is a provider, let Him guide & order YOUR footsteps! If you continue to seek Him, EVERYTHING will be added to you :) Be blessed!