Love Story

Jeremiah 29:11

For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the LORD, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.
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Isn’t that verse comforting? Everything in your life can be going very, very wrong, and yet you can know and believe that THIS ISN’T THE END OF THE STORY. God has a plan.

About 10 years ago, things went very, very bad for a beautiful young woman named Tarah. Tarah seemed to have everything going for her, including a loving, wealthy family and a modeling career. But one night, while driving on a desert road between Arizona and California, Tarah lost control of her car.

When the California Highway Patrol officer found her, she was barely clinging to life. Her legs were badly broken and twisted, and she had already slipped into a coma. As the officer waited anxiously for a helicopter to airlift her to the nearest hospital in Arizona, he laid hands on her and began to pray. You see, this particular CHP officer was also a part-time pastor, and he knew that God was Tarah’s only hope. He claimed her life for God, fully believing she would recover.
However, in the weeks that followed, it seemed Tarah wouldn’t make it after all. If she did live, the doctors predicted she would be a vegetable, both physically and mentally. The CHP officer and his wife constantly lifted her up in prayer, and he continued checking with the hospital, but week after week she remained in a coma. And that officer became angry with God. How could He let this precious life slip away? But he didn’t stop praying, and one day the news changed. Tarah was out of the coma. Tarah was able to move. Tarah could talk. Tarah could sit up. And eventually, Tarah could walk.

I first met Tarah at one of our family get-togethers. She was engaged to my brother’s best friend since childhood. I fell in love with her the first time I met her. My whole family did. Her laugh and her smile fill up a room. If you didn’t know what she had been through, you wouldn’t realize she still suffers mild disabilities.

But that’s not the end of the story. In December I got a call from my brother, Dan. He said Tarah had recently broken up with her fiancé (Dan’s best friend). Once that happened, Dan was able to confess his love for her—a love that he had kept hidden all those years out of respect for his friend.

This weekend, I had the honor and privilege of attending Dan and Tarah’s wedding. The pastor who performed the ceremony was the very same CHP officer who rescued Tarah from her twisted car so many years ago. And that’s just half the miracle. Before my brother confessed his love to Tarah, he was a self-proclaimed atheist. The same day he called to tell me they were getting married, he also apologized for the hassle he gave me every time I tried to talk about Jesus. He said, “Cath, I know God is real. I know He saved Tarah’s life. Everything you used to tell me makes sense now. And for the first time, I know God loves me, too.”

I know that God is has a plan for Dan and Tarah, and that they are not too far from His kingdom. Please lift them up in prayer, that they will totally surrender their lives to Him.

Cathleen